Ever since that fateful day in January of 2000 when Maxis unleashed The Sims on an unsuspecting videogame industry, gamers have been living out the lives of computer-generated characters in a miniaturized world full of life’s little nuances and annoyances.  Flocks of Will Wright fans and curious gamers alike amassed to their respective retail outlets and purchased more copies of the title than the publisher could produce, earning The Sims the title of ‘most popular PC game ever.’  And then the expansion packs started rolling out, one after another, each adding an entirely unique facet to the already-addictive foundation.  Suffice to say I attribute my complete lack of a life to The Sims in all its various iterations and this sixth expansion pack sub-entitled Superstar may very well push me over the edge. 

The Sims: Superstar allows you to mold your sim into a famous personality by visiting the aptly named Studio Town and building a reputation by hobnobbing with celebrities, posing for photo shoots, musically performing for the crowd, and dazzling directors.  For the first time you’ll finally be able to follow your sims to work and have a very direct impact over how quickly they succeed.  The three fame-related occupations included in Superstar are fashion model, actor, or musician.  Though you’ll quickly find that none of these professions are mutually exclusive and that in order to propel your career to the status of anything higher than a studio fly you’ll need to become acclimated with all three professions.  Unlike most of the previous expansion packs that simply ramped up the number of interactive items available to you, Superstar is far more deep and actually pretty challenging.

The long and winding road to fame is filled with all sorts of obstacles.  The first thing you’ll need to focus on is improving your sims personal skills such as creativity, charisma, and body.  Once you’ve refined your sims in the comfort of its home your next task will be to visit Studio Town.  Studio Town is a completely original locale and is composed of multiple areas such as karaoke bars, spas, recording studios, film sets, fashion runways, and other highlife-inspired distractions.  This is where you’ll have a chance to increase your fame skill.  Starting small you’ll impress on-lookers at the karaoke bar, and as you gain more notoriety you’ll move on to better things such as photo shoots and small radio and TV spots at the recording studio, from there you’ll move on to runway modeling, acting in movies, and making music videos.  Making friends with stars is a great way to enhance your star power; the more famous people you know the better the chance you’ll have of landing the truly lucrative gigs. 

But life as a celebrity isn’t all glitz and glamour and you’ll soon figure that out for yourself when you are forced to deal with things like compulsive fans/stalkers, scandalous tabloid stories, and the constant work entailed with preventing your name from fading into obscurity.  Becoming truly successful in Studio Town is hard work.  Pleasing your employers is not an easy task, requiring that you literally guess their thought patterns by selecting three unique posing or acting styles and hoping that the combination you selected is what the photographer or director expects from you.  Of course, you’ll still need to deal with your sims basic needs while you climb the ladder, making sure they don’t become too tired, hungry, uncomfortable, or socially starved.

Aside from the main addition of Studio Town and all it entails, you’ll also be able to get a taste of the better things in life from the comfort of your own home.  More specifically, you are now able to hire a butler at a relatively reasonable rate of 500 simoleons per day.  Your butler is invaluable in terms of maintaining a consistently progressive career as he takes care of the little things while you are free to focus on more pressing matters.  This multifaceted butler can do things such as preventing unwanted visitors, cook and serve meals, clean, garden, and even independently hire maids and repairmen should their assistance be required.  Also, Superstar throws in 150+ new items to buy, including immensely indulgent recreational contraptions such as a personal scuba tank and free-fall chamber, both of which are extremely pricey, yet entirely affordable once you start raking in the green stuff. 

Other fun additions include new character animations to accompany new pop-up actions such as posing for the paparazzo, staging publicity stunts, ask for and handing out autographs, and performing for the crowd or camera by choosing from an assortment of musical and acting genres.  A handy editor gives you free reign over the way Studio Town is laid out, allowing you to manually place shops, items, and facilities as you see fit.  The inclusion of all this stuff doesn’t drastically affect the overall way you’ll play the game, but there is enough content to make the experience feel adequately fresh for a surprisingly long time. 

Not much has changed in the past three years in terms of The Sims graphics, though the host of new animations do make quite an impression.  For example, when you are performing at the karaoke bar you’ll be able to choose between a half-dozen or so musical styles, at which point your sim will appropriately animate and sing.  There are tons of new “simlish” instances and original voice recording to represent your sims new fame-related vernacular, all of which are immensely entertaining to listen to.  The Sims: Superstar is probably the best expansion pack yet in regards to sound, offering up plenty of new music and simlish.  As you progress through the game you’ll be introduced to plenty of over-the-top instances of superstardom sequences involving fashion shows, music videos and film productions. 

Overall, The Sims: Superstar is well worth the monetary investment involved even if you’ve already purchased the five other expansion packs released in the last three years.  The huge amount of new objects, interactions, and locations ensure that you’ll get your money’s worth out of the deal. 

Gameplay: 8.7
The same gameplay present in The Sims since 2000 is also the foundation for Superstar, though the new work-related minigame that involves correctly choosing from a list of styles, and the new interaction options, do help to keep the game feeling fresh.

Graphics: 7.9
The Sims is long-overdue for a 3D makeover akin to its console counterparts, but the 2D environments and objects look aesthetically appealing as ever.

Sound: 8.6
The new musical and simlish additions make Superstar the best-sounding expansion pack yet.

Difficulty: Medium
Excelling at Superstar during the latter parts of your career is, to a certain degree, a crapshoot since you’ll only have two chances to appease your employer yet are given three options, but it’s still possible to become a superstar if you keep trying.

Concept: 7.8
After the mega-hit American Idol took the country by storm this expansion pack was a no-brainer, but that’s not to say it wasn’t a good idea.

Overall: 8.4

If you’ve always wanted to know what is entailed with becoming a celebrity, Superstar is the expansion pack for you, just don’t forget the little people.