The Sims 2

The way I figure it, there are two types of people in this world.  Note that I said, “people”, not gamers, not computer nerds, not geeks, but people.  In the one group, which is obscenely large in comparison, you have the people who play The Sims.  In the other, you have the people who inevitably ask, “Why would I want to do in a game, what I struggle to do in real life?”  It should be noted, from my own experience, the people in the latter group spend an awful lot of time trying to sneak a peak at the computer screen of those in the former group.  (You thought I hadn’t noticed, didn’t you Mrs. Bearer?)  And the reason I made the distinction between “people” and the usual stereotypes attached to computer gamers, is because The Sims is one of those rare, once in a dozen generations, type of games that transcends the culture lines between the masses and the gamers.  The Sims, probably more so than any game since Pac-Man, has brought the non-gamer to the world gamers in massive, wonderful droves.  People just can’t seem to get enough of running and in some cases, ruining, the lives of these little doppelgangers, which has been multiplied ten-fold with The Sims 2.

For the uninitiated, all three of you, The Sims and The Sims 2, put you in complete control of the life or lives of little people who go about their lives on your monitor.  Anything and everything you can imagine, you have control over.  From the Sims home, to their furnishings, to their jobs, friends, and when and where they go to the bathroom is completely up to you.  As in the previous game you are presented with the same meters for your Sims various needs and how you deal with these needs remains the same.  You can physically act on their needs by directing them to the toilet when their bladder meter drains, or you buy that remote control car you’ve been eyeing when the fun meter bottoms out.  As before, you are presented with a near infinite amount of ways and methods in dealing with you Sims’ needs.  The basics of the game remain the same, but that’s where the SIMilarities end.

Probably the biggest addition to the game is the introduction of aspirations and fears to The Sims, or in other words, your Sim now has goals for his or her life.  Your Sim has aspirations for his career, his love life, and his popularity.  Being goal driven, your Sim is never satisfied.  Attain one aspiration and new, better, and in most cases more difficult aspirations appear.  Each aspiration is given a numeric value with which you are rewarded when your Sim attains its goal.  From there, you can spend your aspiration points on special rewards that cannot be purchased with your Sims’ hard earned Simoleans.  All of these rewards have valuable effects, like elevating your Sims’ moods, or accelerating the development of your Sim babies, or my personal favorite, the Simolean tree which periodically sprouts money.  However, these rewards can be alternately dangerous if used under the wrong circumstances, which comes into effect with the mood meter.  Your Sim now has a mood meter, which is directly affected by not only the state of your Sims’ needs, but also his aspirations, ranging from red (bad) to green (okay) to gold (great) to platinum (does life get any better than this?).  Using any of the rewards below a gold level can have disastrous effects on your Sims well being.  The opposite of aspiration of course is fear.  Fear of being rejected by a friend or significant other, fear of losing your job, and even fear of losing control of your bladder are the types of things that haunt your Sims dreams.  Fears that become reality cost not only aspiration points, but if enough fears come to fruition your Sim can become depressed, despondent, and more neurotic than they already are.  Aspirations and fears combine to form the basis of your Sims’ memories, which also has a direct affect on your Sims’ progression through life.

Now for you astute, Sim veterans, you probably noticed that I made mention of babies.  Also new to the Sims is the fruits of procreation.  That’s right, your Sims can reproduce, creating an offspring that is truly the result of its parents.  Like real, human babies, Sim babies are created from the mixing and melding of the parents’ DNA.  Absolutely brilliant!!!  Which brings me to the next new addition; your Sim will now age, and eventually face the same end we’ll hopefully all meet, death from old age.  (For those demented gamers that take pleasure from torturing and neglecting your Sim, they can still die well before their time.  Missing pool ladders anyone?  Mysteriously disappearing doors in the midst of infernos anyone else?)  But wait, there’s more.  How you raise your Sim babies has a very real effect on the type of Sim adult they will grow into.  Raise them with love and caring in a nurturing environment and you’ll have a well-adjusted adult Sim.  Neglect your Sim baby though, (I can already here the maniacal laughter of the demented Sim gamer group) and you’ll have an adult Sim with some serious issues.  It is also in the raising and aging of your Sim where the Sims’ aspirations come back into play.  By completing your Sims’ aspirations you can increase your Sims’ lives, holding the dreaded grim reaper at bay a little longer.

Some of the other new additions to the formula are that each neighborhood has its own soap opera like story that plays out in the lives of the Sims.  Most of them are pretty interesting all on their own, but you’ve also got the ability to change the story in any way that you like.  This is a pretty fun little diversion, creating and editing the story as you go along.  You’ve also got the ability to take snapshots and film short movies of your Sims going about their lives, which can be saved into their family album for posterity sake, or for uploading to the Internet to share with the world.  You are also periodically presented with a question you must answer concerning a decision your Sim must make, which also affects the gameplay.  For example, I had chosen the military as a career for my Sim since it was the highest paying job at the time.  After a few days I was presented with short little story about how a fellow soldier Sim had been caught sneaking a doughnut into his footlocker and my Sim’s drill instructor was asking me how he would punish the offending Sim.  From there I was given two options and I obviously picked the wrong one, because the next thing I knew my Sim had gone AWOL because the local professional sports team began rioting, necessitating the need for military intervention, and my Sim didn’t want to tell his grandkids how he had been a part of the great Hot Dog war. (I guess you kind of had to be there)  How my Sim went from punishing his fellow Sim with a ration of vitamins and water to going AWOL in order to escape a war of thrown hot dogs I’ll never know, but I must admit that it was strangely entertaining.

When talking about new additions and features, I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention the reworked build mode since building and adding on to your humble abode is so integral to the gameplay.  In the original Sims this feature was often frustrating and on the difficult side, usually resulting in spending more cash for the improvement than what you needed and still having not created exactly what you had intended.  These days are no more.  The build mode has been streamlined and simplified to the point that newbies will have absolutely no problem creating their dream home the first time around.  Speaking of dream homes, you can now build four story monstrosities that would have MTV’s Cribs salivating at the thought of doing a show from your home.  It’s amazing how something as seemingly insignificant as simplifying the build mode tools can add to the experience, but there is no denying it once you set out on adding that new addition.

Graphically, the game has also seen great improvements.  The game is now presented with a pretty impressive 3-D engine that really brings the world of The Sims to life.  The world looks better, the environments look better, and the Sims themselves certainly look much better.  They appear so much more lifelike, despite still maintaining that trademark “cartoon” look, that it amps up the immersion and your attachment to your creations to frightening levels.  The animation created in this game is also stellar.  The move to 3-D has allowed Maxis to include so much more expression and personality to this world, that it really blurs the line between the living and the polygonal.  Many of the animations and actions of your Sims will have you laughing out loud.  Along with the bump up in the graphics, comes one of the most in depth create a player features ever.  EA in recent years has really ramped up these features in their games and it shows here.  You are given so many options, with so many slider bars for every facet of personal appearance (except for height and weight) that if you cannot create a carbon copy of yourself or anyone you’ve ever seen, you’re just not trying.  It really is almost scary the accuracy you can attain with these tools.

The sound department is the lone area of the game that has not seen massive improvement over the last iteration, but that is not to say it hasn’t improved at all.  The gibberish with which the Sims converse has been noticeably expanded.  This may not seem to be that big of a deal considering none of us can understand a word they’re saying anyhow, but it is.  There is so much more inflection and emotion in their gibberish that it is much easier to have some sort of understanding as to what they’re babbling about beyond the sometimes vague thought bubbles that sprout above their heads.  It also adds to the humor and immersion of the game to hear your Sim heatedly arguing with another or doing his or her best to sweet talk the pants off their chosen target.  The classic Sims music also makes a return.

Overall, Maxis and EA have lovingly taken everything that people loved about the first game and made it better.  They’ve also taken great pains to fix the things some did not like and most importantly of all, they’ve added enough new wrinkles and content to make it not only its own game, but also a worthy successor to the best selling PC game of all time.  If you loved, or even just liked the first Sims, run, don’t walk, and get this game.  For the small minority that haven’t allowed themselves the pleasure of playing this game’s predecessor, I dare you to give this one a chance and you’ll no doubt see what the craze is all about.  Just be sure to temper any plans you might have had for that free time.  Don’t say I didn’t warn you. 

Gameplay: 9.5
Options, upon options.  Possibilities, upon possibilities, this game never seems to get old.  Easy to get into with a little time and effort, but nearly impossible to get out of.  Every time you sit down to play this game, it’s a brand new experience and never the same as the last.  The menus and myriad factors you must monitor or neglect are simple to negotiate, allowing you to concentrate on the enjoyment of actually experiencing the game.

Graphics: 9.3
The move to 3-D has been very, very good to The Sims.  A game ultimately about life becomes alive with the addition of the third plane.  The game is a pleasure to look at and to sit back and watch.  The graphics are clean and detailed; and the animations are superb.  The graphics may not necessarily look cutting edge, but when the screen is alive with action, you’ll definitely appreciate its technical merits.

Sound: 8.5
The one area of the game that didn’t see a massive overhaul is still pretty good.  There is an impressive amount of unintelligible speech, made more impressive by the inflections and emotion that make it seem almost understandable.

Difficulty: Medium
Just like real life, this game is only as hard or as easy as you choose to make it, with all points in between.  

Concept: 9.0
A life simulator, that unlike the views of the Sims minority, is both compelling and fun.  This is no small feat.  The inclusion of memories, aspirations, and fears only adds to the legend.  With this sequel, the developer has seemingly left no stone unturned.

Overall: 9.4
How do you follow up to arguably the most popular and most accessible game of all time?  You create the Sims 2.  The move to 3-D, with a few additions to the massive catalogue of items you can purchase in the game, would have probably been enough to satisfy fans of The Sims.  But Maxis and EA refused to rest on their laurels, refining and improving all that we loved, fixing what we didn’t, and adding enough new aspects to the game to make it feel new, while maintaining that Sim charm.  Take away all of the hype, hyperbole, and this game’s celebrated lineage, you are still left with what can only be considered a masterpiece of gaming.