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90%
PROS
Awesome graphics, aspiration meter cool, more random events, new twist for the Sims.
LOWS
A lot of things missing that were added in original Sims expansions, loading times can be annoying.
OVERALL
Any Sims fan will fall in love with the way this game looks, and it will be hard for any other gamer to resist its charm.
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Now Becky here represents a new generation of Sims, the “teenager.” Right after child, instead of becoming an adult, your Sims can now enter puberty and all of the wonderful things that come with that treasured stage of our lives. Sims mature from infant to child to teenager to adult to elder. Each Sim reaches their next stage of life in a certain number of days, which is measured on your interface. Some may like aging, some may not. You can’t be a kid forever anymore. Of course, there are cheats to turn aging off, but that’s not being realistic now is it? Becky goes to school from 9am to 1pm, gets home, and then an hour later goes to work till 6pm to earn $65. Pretty good for a kid! The teenager stage is a definite plus, but the homework is a little much. Becky and her brother Konrad got loads of it every night, and even when they were in good moods, it was hard for me to get them to complete all of it. In the end, Konrad was the “family flunk out” and Becky got an A average. Such is life.
There are some new features in this version of The Sims that everyone is sure to love! There is a surprising abundance of random events, all of which help to remove that familiar sense of monotony from the game. When your Sims are at work, you may randomly get a scenario box asking you what to do, and depending on what you chose, your Sim may get a bonus or even fired! When your aspiration meter gets dreadfully low, you might get a surprise visit from the “social bunny” or a zany psychiatrist, who only your deprived Sim will see. Don’t forget fires and burglaries!
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Our friend the Grim Reaper made an appearance twice at my house, first when Klaus died of starvation and then when Becky died of energy deprivation. On both occasions, family members were able to plead with the Reaper and eventually picked the correct hand to gain back their loved one’s soul. Together, these unexpected mini events make the game relatively exciting and easy to keep playing.
Sims can still go to community lots, but nothing like we’ve seen in original Sims expansion packs. My family had a fun day swimming and socializing, but it’s not like they were able to go to the mall for a shopping extravaganza. And here is where the Sims 2 falls short. The original Sims was not much, but the countless expansion packs brought it so much new flavor that over time, it basically became a new game. The Sims 2 starts you out with a lot, but you also lose a lot. I want my dog and I want a city and I want to buy new clothing. It’s like we got an awesome new car but they just closed the highway system. Then again, of course there will be (god knows how many) expansion packs for The Sims 2, but we’ll have to PAY more money for them… I think it’s a little ridiculous at this point. We should’ve at least started where we left off- now I’ll have to pay another $30 to get my Golden.
If you’re a Sims freak, I know you’ve already bought this game so there’s not much to tell you. The Sims 2 has a killer new graphics engine, so yes, it really does look incredible. If you have any attachment to the Sims, it’s a game worth getting just to see the visual splendor. You’ll definitely have fun with it, but if you’ve bought all the other expansion packs, be prepared to feel really empty. I think that EA really cheated us with this shortage of expansion pack features, but hey, who’s not out to make money?
