Spectacular!!

Well, right off the bat, The Sims 2 is a pretty solid game. It's pretty much the same basic outline of the first one but with a bunch of chunky little extras. All those extras make life much more exciting for everybody who plays it. Even though it might be too complicated for the younglings to really understand, but for everybody else OH BABY!! It's a way good simulation of life's many trials and benefits. For nerds who never will have a girlfriend, just make your gorgeous looking man in the game and woo the ladies around town! Yeah....good times....but I wouldn't recommend a lot of that kind of stuff to little kids without parental supervision. Some of it is inappropriate to WATCH OUT!!! But just stay away from that stuff and this game is definitely worth your time no matter what age you are.

Graphics 10/10
Excellent! Superb! Fantabulous! Pretty much everything in this game looks exactly how it should be. The character making system is Phenomenal! You can choose every single tiny little detail of your sims. I have yet to see a game that compares with the creation system of this game. The one measly flaw with it is that sometimes you can make the camera go in places where it's not really supposed too. But oh well, not like you can avoid that. So yeah. Pretty much pretty good. They also have good censorship in this one. Unlike the first one, you can't just type in a cheat and have your people walk around in the nude. So that makes it much more presentable for the younger kids. Another cool thing is that you can paint a still life of whatever you want! Just get your sim to be relatively creative and you can take a screen shot of whatever you please and you can paint it! Or you can take one of your own pictures and paint that! That cheat was found by Gsgreg. Let's give a round of applause for Gsgreg! So yeah. The graphics pretty much own, even with their few minor flaws.

Sound 7/10
Meh....this didn't impress me nearly as much as the graphics did. They did a good job of giving sounds for all the things that happen in the game, what with all the beeping and the chugging. I especially liked all the background music that you always have. While your playing the game, you can listen to your sim's radio and dance along with your sims! Or you can turn it off and listen to your sims oh-so-interesting conversations. You can also listen to your own MP3s with the help of an interesting cheat found by Brado. There's only one minor problem with it, and it's kind of an opinion thing, but I think the sims sound like losers. There. I said it. I'm sorry! Anyway...You can buy all sorts of different stereos to listen to your many amazing songs on, if your sims have the money. If they don't, then just buy a cheap little radio for like fifty bucks! Of course it's no where NEAR as much fun as thirty-odd stereos lining the walls with dozens of sims dancing crazily to the music! Yeah....Buckets o' fun until the end of our run! Dang...that's a sweet rhyme.....Ok sorry I'll stop.

Game Difficulty 9/10
Fancy! Much unlike the first game, it's actually possible to keep your sims happy! Just keep doing what they tell you they want to do, and you'll get through life just fine. However, ignore their every little whims and they shall hate you as bees hate leprechauns. Which they do. A TON! If you just keep working on your sims needs to get promoted in whichever career path they chose, you'll be a rich old person in no time! It's pretty dang easy for your people to fall in love, but watch out because two men can fall in love with each other and it's rather disturbing. Just make sure that you don't get too friendly with people from the opposite gender. It can get ugly. If they do happen to fall in love, just have them start arguing, because that always solves problems. Just ask a lawyer! Anyhoo...With a little patience you can conquer this game as well as any other with no stupid little gimmicks holding you back! Hallelujah! Because as we all know, stupid little gimmicks are what cause people to not achieve their dreams. Stupid little gimmicks....

Game Time 9/10
I swear this game has an energizer battery...it just keeps going and going and going.....You can keep playing this game for freaking ever! Even if you get all the jobs and buy everything your sim could ever desire, you could just go buy one of the many expansion packs and conquer that! Honestly people....this game has so many hours of game-play, you'd get bored before your sims would. But if you just want to beat it quickly for bragging rights, you can also do that in a small amount of time. You just make a small family and get their jobs up and hey presto! You're done. Party it up! Woot Woot! But yeah. The game time varies from short and pathetic to long and grueling hard labor! So whatever fits your fancy, do it and just have fun! Party it up!

Replay Value 9/10
Like I mentioned before, this game has many many expansions. I think they're like up to something around 12 or summat like that. Even if you only have the original, you can still try different combos of families and try to master them all. Go from happy-go-lucky single guy to a Big ol' happy family! It's like replaying games that have different difficulties. You beat easy, you would want to go to hard, right? Correctomundo! Unless you just want to beat it just for the sake of saying that you beat it, but of course that's no fun! It's also a lot of fun to just do that same family set up over and over again until you have it completely mastered. Then it's tons of fun to get totally rich and blow it on thirty-odd stereo systems lining the walls and have dozens of sims dancing crazily to the music. Yeah...I know what I'm doing on Friday night!

So pretty much this game owns. There aren't a lot of flaws in it, and the flaws that are in it are pretty small so people usually won't notice unless they're seeking them out. Any regular person could spend hours a playing this baby. It's a lot cooler than the first one, but also a lot more complicated. If you're a simple minded person who likes the simple stuff, I would probably say stick with numero uno. Which means stick with the first sims for all you non Spanish speaking people. Nevermind. I don't speak Spanish either. So yeah...buy this game, and it will make your life complete! If bored, buy it now. If sad, buy it now. If angry, buy it now. And so on and so forth.
Once again, this is Sebbisismo, your home town hero, King of the Britains! Well not really...but anyway, hope you liked my review! Ok bye!

Reviewer's Score: 10/10, Originally Posted: 03/17/08

Game Release: The Sims 2 (US, 09/14/04)

A great, although repetitive, life simulation

I remember when The Sims came out some years ago. To put it bluntly, it looked awesome; plain and simple. And it was. Of course the Sims franchise is renowned for its slightly parodied simulation of everyday life. However, it also showed the world that a company could release a load of expansions that really enhanced a game. Over the last few years, there have been countless of Sims-clone, though none of them achieved the famous status of Maxis's creation.

The Sims 2 stays true to the original game, while improving it in many ways. The developers also realised that they had to include some of the features introduced in the first game's expansions right away to keep people interested.

When faced with a simulation game however, it is important to see if the game is truly better than the original. This should be, in my opinion, the heart of any Sims 2 review. As such, I will try to outline the strengths and weaknesses of the game while comparing it to its predecessor, as well as keeping it understandable for new players.

Gameplay 8

Ever heard of the famous SimCity franchise? You know the games in which you build and manage a city? The Sims is similar; only this time, you construct and manage a neighbourhood. The basic concept of the game is quite simple : you create families of digital beings called "sims" and you directly control them during all their life. Multiple families will make a neighbourhood come alive and you can have your families interact with each others.

Of course, the term "family" is quite large. One may choose to create a couple, a single man or a couple with four children. You can technically do anything you want.

Sims have needs much like ours. To keep them in a good mood, you must make sure these needs are fulfilled. As such, you need to make them eat to make sure they don't starve, they need to sleep to recover their energy and comfort, they need to use the toilet and the shower to maintain a reasonable amount of hygiene and, of course, spend some time playing or sitting in front of the TV to have some fun. A good mood will improved the sim's behaviour with others and at work; it is easy to understand why it is crucial to tend to their needs.

Sims have a personality. I like to call these "attributes", perhaps in tribute to hours of DnD gaming. When you create them, you have to choose whether they are neat or sloppy, shy or outgoing, serious or playful, etc. The nice thing here is that both sides are viable. For instance, it is perfectly fine, just as in real life, to be a serious sim and enjoy reading better than playing basketball.

Being a life simulation, it is easy to guess that money will have an important part. In the game, money is measured in Simoleons (which are essentially the same thing as dollars, euros, pounds, or whatever your currency is). To earn money, you need to work. Whether it is a job (the most obvious way of making money, more on this later) or painting at home the entire day, you will need to get some money sooner or later. Money is, of course, used to buy objects (from a huge TV to a toilet), to build your house (building walls and installing carpets costs some money, you know) and to buy food. Also, it is crucial to have a cash flow if you want to hire some services, such as a maid or a gardener.

Another important aspect are skills. You need skills. Using an oven without cooking skill will quite possibly resolve in a fire. A weak sim will loose every fight. A creative sim can write books that sell for quite a lot of money. Most importantly, you need skills to move up in a career.

While the game focuses entirely on the outside of work, everyday life of your Sims, jobs still have a great amount of importance (and take a lot of your time, too). There are ten career paths, each with ten (or so) possible level. In order to move up in a specific career path, you need skills, friends and a good mood, which, in my opinion, does somewhat represent what you need in real life. Of course it is ridiculously easy to move up the ladder (becoming a surgeon in a couple of days is no small feat!). This brings me to the first (so far) problem of the game.

It's easy to live. Way too easy. Even the lowest paying jobs will net you enough money to do what you want. Taxes are not particularly high, and buying food is a joke. While this is meant to encourage trying different styles of play, while keeping the game accessible to everyone, I think it should be a little harder to keep your sims alive i.e. it's fine to stay at the first level of a career if you are extra careful with the way you spend your money. Basically, adding a cost for, say, electricity might balance things up.

So far, everything I discussed could be applied to both Sims 1 and Sims 2. Let's get going with the new features.

There are two huge new features in The Sims 2. First are the aspirations, second are the genetic aspect of the game and the ability to create entire generations of sims spawned from the same Mr and Mrs Sim.

Aspirations are a great thing. Since managing the mood and needs is so easy, Maxis needed to create something that would throw some challenge. This is where the wants and fears (not to be confused with needs) come in play. When you create a sim, you have to choose an aspiration for him. Choose between Popularity, Romance, Family, Knowledge and Fortune. The aspiration will determine, along with personality, what the typical wants and fears of your sim will be like. As such, my Knowledge and neat sim wants to raise his skills, but fears to use a public toilet. It is important to note that wants and fears are also influenced by the way your sim's life evolves. Therefore, a Knowledge sim is not a typical nerd; he will want to share a kiss with his loved one, or have a chat with his best friend. In the same line of idea, a Romance or Fortune sim might want to raise his or her skills. As you satisfy wants, you get aspiration points that can be used to buy specific objects. Also, if you raise your aspiration meter to maximum, you gain a perfect mood that lasts for a specific time. Likewise, if it drops too low, your sim will be depressed and will need guidance. Aspirations are an extremely nice new feature, in my opinion.

In fact, since aspirations are so important, I thought it would be a good idea to comment on each one of them.

The Popularity aspiration is all about having lots of friends and having parties. The wants associated with this aspiration are therefore quite easy to achieve, since they usually involve talking with Mr X, telling a joke to Mrs Y or meeting new people. For these reasons, it is very easy to get the platinum mood with this aspiration.

The Romance aspiration is obviously about doing some serious kissing. This aspiration really encourages your sim to kiss anyone, cheat on their loved ones and have as many lovers as possible. Might be hard to manage, since it's like an extreme version of the Popularity aspiration.

Family is a hard one too. Sims following this aspiration will want to have lots of children, and show them how to walk etc. The way I see it, this aspiration is perfect for a sim who stays at home, while the husband or wife makes the money by working.

Fortune is all about money. Those sims will want to make money, buy objects costing a lot, selling novels that give a lot of money and fear the repo-man. Quite easy to manage as long as you have some money to buy objects they want.

Knowledge is my personal favourite. These sims will want to improve their skills (and eventually maximise them) and learn how to do things. They also sport a darker side, loving to see ghosts and aliens. However, as time passes, they tend to develop rather social wants, wanting to speak to other sims and kissing their beloved. Not hard, though not easy either, since it's touchy to raise skills once they are high.

Overall, I'd say the aspirations are pretty balanced for any style of play.

The other big chunk is that sims now age. A child will become a teen, who will become an adult, who will become an elder. Eventually, sims will die. The thing is, the game really focuses on generations. While it is a good concept, it needed something to keep it interesting. This is where the genetics come.

Sims have genes. Mr and Mrs Sim will therefore have children that somewhat look like them. Having studied in health sciences myself, I must say that at least the basics of genetics are in (two blue-eyed parents can't have a brown-eyed child, etc.; as far as I now, it's like this in the game too). Of course this is a much welcomed improvement, although it was somewhat necessary to make the new generation feature interesting.

There is a lot going on in The Sims 2, and I simply can't be sure I covered everything. I do think that I have discussed the important features, but I will surely update this review if I find I forgot something important.

So, why do I give gameplay an eight? Well, there's the little gameplay imbalance I mentioned earlier (the game being somewhat easy) to start with. The other beef I have with the game is that it's not that much different from The Sims 1. While the new generation and aspiration features really set the game apart, I found that I could do exactly the same thing in both games and achieve similar, if not identical, results. The fact is, gaining aspiration points by completing a sim's wants is not all that special. Generally, you'll just complete wants by playing casually. This resolves in a somewhat repetitive gameplay, in my opinion. After playing Sims 2 a couple of days, and un-glueing the generation features off of my eyes, I realised that the house I had built is surprisingly identical to the ones I used to build in Sims 1. Of course in future games I messed out with all the new building tools, but what I'm saying is that for someone who has played Sims 1 a lot (which is my case; by "al lot" I really mean it), the game might be repetitive a little. Once in a while, I think I'm playing Sims 1 with better graphics.

In my opinion, what really lacks in the wonderful world of Sims 2 is the ability to somewhat control your sims at their job. I realise this would be an extremely time consuming thing to do (since there are ten careers with ten levels each) but it would really set the game apart. Maxis already did it in the expansion "Superstar" in Sims 1, and something similar with each job would be truly wonderful. For example, the Medicine career would have a hospital with various objects that could be used once your sim has achieved a certain status (emergency beds or radiology for a specialist, operation room for surgeons, etc.).

Story N/A

Whether the story is good or not entirely depends on you (and your sims).

Video 10

I find it hard to find anything to criticise here. In my opinion, the graphics are perfect. Everything is perfectly modelled and skinned. If you enter a house using the free camera view, everything really looks real (at least with a decent computer).

Animations are great too. I was surprised to see that TVs and computers are also animated; that's a nice little touch. Of course interactions between sims are also flawless, from a fight to a cuddle on the crouch.

I can't say anything else here, except that the graphics are absolutely fabulous, probably exceeding by far today's gamers's expectations.

Sound 9

Well, there's not much in the sound department in this game. I give it a nine though since it fits the game very well. Every object susceptible of making a sound has one, sims perfectly speak their usual language (which I forgot the proper name) and there's always a nice, friendly music in the buy and build modes.

Not much, I hear you ask? Well, while music is extremely important for most games, The Sims 2 is a life simulation. It wouldn't make much sense to have a background music all the time. Actually, if you or your sims are music-oriented, then you can just buy a stereo system for your sims to mess with.

Replay Value 8

There is simply much to do in this game, whether it's playing through 15 generations of a same family, filling neighbourhoods of related sims or spending evenings designing houses, Sims 2 should keep everyone interested for quite some time. Add to this the fact that sims can be so different from each others and you have quite some replay-value.

I give it an eight in relation to the problems I mentioned in the gameplay section. I have no doubt that Sims 2 by itself will become repetitive sooner or later for most players. However, that's why Maxis releases tons of expansions. As of the writing of this review, the second pack is to be released in about a month.

Conclusion

Pros
-High-quality and well-made life simulation
-Parodied, yet somewhat accurate, view of everyday life
-Completely customisable characters and houses
-High-quality graphics
-Many interesting and new features, making the game unique
Cons
-Somewhat repetitive for dedicated Sims 1 fans
-Inability to controls sims at work, or to visit other sims's houses
-High-end computer required to get the most out of the game

The Sims 2 is a very strong game that expends on Sims 1's revolutionary concepts. While it might look somewhat repetitive for players who spent a lot of their gaming time with Sims 1, the game does leave the door open for many improvements that will undoubtedly come with all the expansion packs expected by the public.

In my opinion, Maxis should only learn that people might want a little more, whether in expansions or the next game in the series, such as the ability to do something more than hanging out in your house or at community lots. I am, of course, speaking about controlling sims at work, which is probably the only missing aspect that keeps the Sims franchise away from the "Near Perfect" or "Flawless" title.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 08/22/05

Awesome Game!

PROS: Much-improved character creation; enhanced AI; new aspiration meter works well; great graphics; good music; addictive; enough new stuff to keep you entertained for quite a while

CONS: Pathfinding can be a bit painful at times; item selection not big enough

Ah, The Sims. Likely one of the most original games ever created. Maxis clearly had a winner with the first- and all of its expansion packs- and decided to make The Sims 2.

The Sims 2 takes place 25 years after the original, and the only characters from the first game to be available are Mortimer and Cassandra Goth. Bella has vanished and Mortimer is now mayor of Pleasantview, one of the game's three playable neighborhoods. Each neighborhood already has a handful of Sims living in it, so you can go ahead and play out their stories before creating your own. There are also "stray" people that live elsewhere, something that the first game was sorely lacking. If you start an empty neighborhood, which you can, these people will show up to be your friends. However, you can't play as them because the game wants you to create your own sims.

Character creation in this game leaves the original game's in the dust. You no longer just choose a head- you get to make them. There are several hairstyles for each men and women available in only four colors. This isn't much, but it's enough. But the possibilities of doing faces are endless. You can even create yourself, your parents, your mate, or your siblings. You can even create someone you hate and make them suffer. Maxis and EA clearly spent a good amount of time on this and it shows. You also have a plethora of outfits to choose from, and you can even pick a top and a bottom. There is also a randomization feature, which is helpful if you need a Sim quick. You'll have to change the clothing, which comes in several categories- everyday, formal, undies, swimsuit, pajamas, and athletic- to match what you want, but it's more efficient if you want to get to the core of the game.

Character creation is like a game on its own here, but it's not what the game is about. Like in the original Sims, you get to build a house and act like God. Will Wright (who created The Sims) thinks that he's God so he makes several games based upon it (Wright's latest brainchild, SPORE, is coming out next year). You can boss around your sims all day. One of the new things is that you have some control over what they do at work, beyond telling them which job to take. Occasionally, a window will pop up on the screen giving you two options. One option will get you skill points, money, or a promotion. The other will fine you, dock skill points, or get you demoted or even fired. It's risky but you can always quit without saving if the results are too disastrous for you to continue. There are 10 different career tracks- Athletic, Business, Criminal, Culinary, Law Enforcement, Medical, Military, Politics, Science, and Slacker- all of which were in the original (with the expansions), but the new option windows will make it seem fresh. And you never know what the game will throw at you, so be careful.

And in this installment, your sims age with time. They grow old and die. They start out as infants, move onto toddlers, then kids, then teenagers, then adults, and finally elders. Another new feature is the Aspiration meter. You can choose between five different aspirations. Toddlers and kids all share growing up as an aspiration, but once a sim is a teenager, then you can choose between the main five: Knowledge, Family, Romance, Money/Fortune, Popularity. How well you fulfill your sims' aspirations will affect their lives. Make sure that you try to fill the meter, which is done by fulfilling one of four aspirations that are based on the main aspiration, before a sim evolves into their next stage. Certain aspirations are worth more points than others, usually based on difficulty or importance. Sims that grow up with a full aspiration meter will be more successful than those that grow up with a less full aspiration meter. These aspirations will usually involve talking to somebody, making a friend, buying something, going to work, life achievements (first kiss, have a baby, get married), etc. It varies depending on the overall aspiration. There are also fears that will decrease your aspiration meter. These will usually involve robbers, fires, roaches, death, and the like. People with the Romance aspiration will want to get in as many people's pants as possible, so getting them engaged will often make them lose points. If they're about to grow up with their aspiration meter in the red, prepare to be feeding them someone else's Elixir of Life. This special elixir is a useful thing that you'll get out of these aspirations. You can use the points you gained to buy stuff on the menu for that specific sim, and the thing you get will be accessible to all. But if their aspiration meter is low, the item will often have negative effects.

That's not very easy to explain. I tried my best.

The AI has also been enhanced since the first game, too. Your sims can easily fend for themselves. If they're hungry, they'll go and cook something (there's a variety of foods to choose from this time). If they need a bath, they'll take one. If they need fun, they'll find some way to entertain themselves. They know what they're doing, and you no longer have to play God the whole time, making you have more time to manage the other sims in your house. But, of course, if you have six or more sims, life at the house can get chaotic.

Of course, the same style of music as the original Sims is present here, some the new tunes being variations of the old. These are still fun to hear and add the necessary feel to the game. The graphics got an upgrade to a 3-D engine and look very detailed. This makes it much easier to tell your sims apart.

On the downside, pathfinding can still cause problems at times. Since the game is in 3-D, sometimes you can't tell exactly where something is positioned and your sims can't get to it. The game does a good job in specifying which direction an item should be placed, but you can't place them diagonally (you can place doors and windows on diagonal walls). The selection of items is sufficient, but more is needed because the original Sims game had more after its first expansion pack, Livin' Large. You'll be using the exact same items and decor in every house you build, because some of the wall coverings and floors aren't very pretty.

But this game boasts all the features of the original and then some. There are neighborhood lots like in Unleashed, although no pets other than the fish tank, and parties like in House Party. In addition, the maid, the mailman, the pizza person, the paperboy/girl, and any other serviceperson (there are a few different of each) are now sims as well and you can interact with them. You can even make friends with them, but you'll have to call the repair hotline if you need your dishwasher to be repaired. Also, meals are free from the fridge but you'll have to restock by ordering online or by phone or taking a taxi to Marvin's Mediocre Market (I built that place). You can buy new duds for your sims (instead of them having everything in the dresser) at a specific community lot, and your sims (but not you) can play actual EA games on the computer and game console (SSX3, The Sims [appropriately] and Sim City: Rush Hour). Kids and teens have homework like in real life, although I don't want to go there.

The Sims was a remarkable achievement, and The Sims 2 is an even bigger one. It took the first game and transformed it into something that's more fun and different every time. It's a more accurate simulation of real life than the first- you can have toddlers and experience how wild life is having one. It's just that the item selection isn't what it could be, but so what. This game will keep you occupied for quite a while- it's quite addictive. Having your sims meet new people and the different personalities colliding is much more involving than the first game. Don't get me wrong- The Sims is a great game. But The Sims 2 is a better one. It's well worth the what you have to pay. This game will keep you entertained for months. Go out and get it if your computer can handle it. A 9 out of 10.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 07/20/06