GamesDomain Reviews The Sims 2

"If you were a fan of the original, you're going to love this."

Read The Rest!

The Sims 2 Review

By Andrew S. Bub

The Sims is easily the most interesting, most ambitious, and most successful PC game series of all time. It delivers the complexity of human interrelationships, the power of imagination, and the thrill of voyeurism. For the sequel, Maxis has remade the game from the ground up, listened to its fans, and enhanced every single thing that worked in the original.

Sims 2, quite simply, blows The Sims away. If you were a fan of the original, you're going to love this. If you were lukewarm to the original game, maybe you should take another look. This is one serious piece of software.

For those who missed the original, The Sims 2 is a virtual doll house. It simulates human interaction and lets players live virtual lives, create alter-egos, tell stories, or play the benefactor or cruel controller to their Sims. After creating a Sim-character, you place them in a house and neighborhood. Money is called "simoleons" and is used to buy furniture and decorations.

Each Sim has certain goals and stats (which you influence), as well as certain needs. Keeping an eye on their energy level, hunger, bladder, cleanliness, etc., is key as you manage time during the day and teach them to interact with their world. For example: if you tell them to flirt a lot, they'll start doing it on their own. If you tell them to clean up after themselves, or shower every morning, they'll do that on their own too.

With the first game, people complained that The Sims was more like a toy than a game. That hasn't changed. Fans will find all the custom creation tools they've come to expect. They've included the tools to build and design new homes, furniture, outfits, and more. This is still the best landscape and interior design tool available, only now it's wrapped in a gorgeous graphics engine. The Sims are customizable, and you can tweak almost every part of their bodies (OK, the "fat" size is still absurdly thin).

Best of all is how the Sims interact with each other. Every gesture is exaggerated and adorable. From the innocent flirtation, to ravenous make-out sessions, to baby's first steps... all are captivating to watch. Roommates, spouses, co-workers, and parents will stop and watch what you're doing. It's just that interesting. The new graphics engine also solves some problems with the original game. Now Sims push chairs in, climb stairs easier, move around furniture, and take less time doing it.

Time-management is still the overriding factor here. Like real life, you can't always do what you want when you want. Sims must attend to bodily functions, have fun, maintain relationships, cook and clean, go to work, and if they have kids, all heck can break loose.

This leads to some interesting gameplay enhancements; Sims now have aspirations. These include overriding goals like success, romance, family, etc. Not meeting these goals, or failing at them, can send your Sim into a pity-party spiral that hard to recover from. Also there's a "slot machine"-like feature that presents three random desires and fears. These directly affect your Sims' happiness. Say SimAndrew's goals today are to learn a new skill and kiss SimLinda, while he fears being rejected by SimLinda. I can lock one of those goals and pursue the others, while avoiding the fears completely. Or, if cruelty is your goal (a valid way to play), you can maximize the fears and cause a breakdown.

It was a mistake last time to freeze the ages of the Sims at adulthood. Now there are several stages and you can choose when your Sim advances. This means you can begin with a single Sim, have him date, marry, have kids, raise them, grow old with his spouse, and eventually die. Then you can play the progeny and continue the line and family name in perpetuity. This is a brilliant allowance for the more gameplay and story oriented players, making The Sims 2 the ultimate real-world role-playing game.

Despite the "Teen" rating, the Sims do have sex, making this more of an adult dollhouse. All nudity is covered by pixilation and all "woohoo" (as it's called in the game) is done beneath the sheets. Once again, Maxis has smartly tackled complex social issues by simply not addressing them. Homosexuality and gay marriage/adoption are possible in the game, but are voluntary. Your Sims won't flirt with the same sex without you first ordering that behavior.

The Sims 2 ships with three neighborhoods. Familiar Pleasantview (the neighborhood from the first game), conflict fueled Veronaville (everyone is just star-crossed), and bizarre Strangetown (a desert berg with an X-Files bent). There's a camera, a video recorder, and a diary in place for players to make their own storylines, movies, and slideshows, and then export them to the Internet.

There's plenty more to praise, but the best way to sum it up: The Sims 2 includes everything from the first game and its expansion packs, and it does it all exponentially better than ever before. It's no longer about potential and a great concept; it's now about the stellar execution. The Sims have truly arrived -- make room for them on your hard drive.