Customer Reviews

The Sims 2

5 star:		(593)
4 star:		(139)
3 star:		(75)
2 star:		(39)
1 star:		(73)

 

 

I believe this game will be the best Pc selling game ever!
Why?

This is all the options that we will enjoy and have for thesims 2.
****************************************************************
Building Options - Create mountains, build multiple story homes, with basements, put doors and windows on diagonal walls.

Calendar - The new sim calendar will work by the week instead of month. (ie your kids birthday is next Monday).

Cameras - Now you can place cameras all around the room to capture a party from all angles.

Careers - For adult sims, there wi.ll be 18 careers, with 10 levels each. For teen and old sims there will be 7 careers, with 3 levels each. Also elderly sims will receive a pension upon retiring.

Diaries - Now you will be able to create video as well as snap shot diaries of your sims life.

Family - The family limit will still be set at 8. But new to TS2 is the ability to create all ages, except infant, in the create-a-sim area. So you could start out with a Mom, teen, and toddler if you wanted.

Leaving the house - The only option to leave the home right now, is to send your sims to their second home, which you can also create. However a communal area is being considered.

Life Moments and Big Decisions - These will effect your life score, and also have an effect on your sim as they get older. Some of these included: Toilet training, first step, first kiss, first crush, getting a job, getting married.

Will Sims actually get pregnant? Will they still have to kiss to have a baby? - Yes! Sims will get pregnant but instead of kissing, a 'play' feature can be used in a bed or hot tub.

What is the Create-a-Sim tool? Is there going to be a demo of it? -The Create-a-Sim tool is a program that will allow you to completely customize every aspect of your Sims facial featurues. This will allow you to make any Sim you want! Even yourself! And yes, there is to be a demo release of it between August & September.

What about clothing customization? - Clothing articles will now be seperate from each other! Meaning that a pair of pants will be seperate from a shirt, creating alot more ways to mix & match!

Can you customize hair/make-up, too? - Yes! In the Create-a-Sim program you will be able to change hair color & style, & apply make-up to your sims. You are also able to do this during game play using special objects such as mirrors.

Will there be more than 2 floors? - Yes! I've seen as many as 3 floors, plus a basement, for a total of 4!

And More...

WOW am I impressed with this new version of "The Sims". My gut feeling tells me that you're not going to be able to sell your old versions because everyone is going to want this one instead. I knew it too because when I saw the previews, I stopped buying the expansion packs, immediately, just to wait this one out.

How is it? Fantastic. The graphics are fluid and smooth, the characters have fingers, wedding rings, facial expressions, man, you name it they've worked on it and it's obvious. The clothing has fluidity (the hair too) and zooming in close up to a character's face really shows some detail. Nice, nice job. Playing the game *is* pretty similar to the first but you can tell Maxis did their homework and I can just see Will saying: "Okay, THIS is what the fans want" cause it sure looks like they worked on it.

For instance, its the little things that make a difference. When a sim walks in the room, the other sims react, say hello... I had a dad come home from work and the child he was close to dropped her toy and ran out to greet him by jumping in his arms. They are no longer stiff like the first Sims, they have reactions which are pretty cool. Also, there's an amazing amount of detail. The fridge has a variety of food (and can be emptied now, unfortunately, but you call the grocer) and the more a Sim knows how to cook, the different varieties of food they can make. A Sim can cook either Salmon or Mac and Cheese and they look exactly like they seem. That was pretty wild to pause and inspect.

What else? They age. Yup, they sure do. It's better than the first and more difficult as well. My Sims tried for a baby -- and first of all ended up with twins! Holy cow, that was work. Now, the infants cry for different things and just feeding and holding them doesn't work anymore. They're specific. Changing the diaper... bathing them... all the little things you'd expect with a baby, except they're babies for only a few days, then toddlers for a few days, then they turn into kids and teens and so on.

Think its easy? Nope. You gotta nurture the kid through your Sim. Early nurturing calls for good development. Teaching them to walk, talk and communicating makes a better child who is better in school eventually. Unfortunately, I've got some lazy sims who don't want to help their kids with homework and the social worker keeps coming to take them away. It goes pretty quick, too. This isn't your old Sims games, either... they don't just sob a bit when this happens -- the parents endup traumatized.

Neglect the Sims and there's consequences. Let's say... the sim's social meter is really, really low. They can actually snap and start babbling. Next thing I know, a therapist drops in and starts helping the sim out. Funny part of that -- the therapist is only visible when you click on the sim that is nuts. How funny is that?

Oh... remember the ghosts? They're actually pretty creepy in this one. They move things and will animate other things as well. Apparently, they have a certain colored glow for how they died. Haven't figured that one out yet.

Building the homes is pretty cool, too. Yup, you can actually put in a basement, but you have to dig a hole first and that kind of thing. Windows can be put in for multiple floors and staircases are customized. I miss the circular staircase, though. What else is new? Lots of furniture, customizing the roofs yourself, which is definitely a bit tricky if you're not creatively adept and spraying the grass different shades... i.e., brown, green, light green... like that. Learning how to build the houses takes as much time as learning the new Sims habits.

Good stuff? You want the "fun" stuff? Oh, the Sims are a LOT more flirty, little more R-rated but never oversteps the line. "Playing in bed" is no longer -- it's called Woo Hoo! You can "goose" a sim and flirt different ways.. you can have Woo Hoo in the hot tub and apparently in public as well (by the way, you can travel to little park areas like in the expansion packs of the first Sims.) I may point out that there is a difference between Woo Hoo and Try for a Baby. Woo Hoo I believe is w/contraceptives (LOL) otherwise, try for a baby seems to be no problem as my Sims get knocked up pretty quick.

Oh! The neighborhoods... you have three different neighborhoods (and you can customize how they look... there are quite a few similarities between these neighborhoods and SimCity... hmmm.... I wonder why?):) Well, you can add all kinds of things... rocks, wildflowers, ocean surf, rainbows, clouds...etc. The only thing I wish is that you can see this stuff when in the homes. Example? You place 20 giant rocks in the lot next to a Sim home -- inside the sim home you see nothing but a plain. Maybe they'll fix it later, who knows?

But each neighborhood has a "story." I got the guidebook and apparently, you should visit certain houses first before others. They have a chain reaction. But that's if you want to actually work on the storyline. You dont' have to. The funny one would be the Strangeville neighborhood which Bella Goth has been sighted in (LOL) and there's a crashed space ship nearby. People do get abducted by aliens, yup, but it's the MEN that get impregnanted. That's pretty hysterical.

Anything bad? Just a few. It does play like the first, but technologically-wise, we're not up to artificial intelligence, yet, so I'm pretty happy with what they've got. There are a few glitches in the game I've come across already (i.e., a fire starts, fireman comes... but the fire just keep burning for eternity.) As for loading it, I had some pretty big problems and couldn't do it for four hours -- massively ticked me off. Ended up returning the discs to get new ones and they worked fine. Got problems running it? I'd recommend checking their site for tech issues. It helped me. but I have no doubt a patch will be coming out soon.

Oh, and there's no rain. I checked and waited. Apparently, they've had problems getting the rain to work so they took it out.

Great game. Lots of fun -- can't wait what to find out next.

This game (The Sims 2) exceeded my expectations alot. I have had this game for about 2 weeks, and I am really happy with what Maxis gave us. I only had 1 crash, and that is when I was playing it alot!

*Good things about game*

1. You can detail your Sim SO MUCH that you know what Sim it is when they pass by on the sidewalk etc.

2. The realism in this game is so incredible, that I could relate to some of the things my Sim were doing!

3. Aging. I thought that I might not like this feature, but I LOVE it! Sims now have generations and genes!

4. You can turn aging off. There are some people that don't like change, so there is a cheat to turn off the aging. The best part about it is, that you can turn it back on!

5. Neighborhoods. The game ships with 3 neighborhoods, but you can make your own neighborhoods.

6. Wants and Fears. Your Sims now have wants and fears. There wants and fears change every day, but you can lock a want or fear in place.

7. Building Options. Houses now have 5 storys, and you can build basements and attics! Foundations are given for un-even land.

8. Genes. You will be able to look at a Sim and tell who their Father and mother were.

9. Families. You can make HUNDREDS of Families, and put them in a neighborhood. Families from other houses in the neighborhood can visit you, and children bring home freinds from school.

*Bad Things*

1. If you want to turn off aging, you need to do it every time you enter the house.

2. The neighborhood does not age evenly. So you need to toggle families for the 'hood to age evenly. It is able to be done, but it takes some time.

*Overall Review*

This is a great game, and It will keep you entertained for a long time!

I only gave it 4 overall stars because every game can be improved.

I have been looking forward to this game for many months and it finally came!! I wanted to give it a good week or so before I reviewed it, so I can find out more about it. This game is rated very highly because they really put in a lot of thought when it came to the upgrade!

The good:
* The most impressive part of the game is the fact that you can fix a camera at all angles and the 3D is just amazing!! You can view a house from every aspect!! You can also zoom a foot in front of two sims interacting!

* The sims movements are fluid and realistic. If a parent comes home, a child may run outside into the parent's arms. If someone comes into the room, a sim won't ignore them until you tell them to do something---they will automatically start talking to them, just like in real life.

* You can download items right into the game as you are playing if you are connected to the internet. There are not too many choices, not sure how to get more, but I have downloaded 2 houses, an entertainment area/shopping center, and a new computer into my game, and it was very quick!

* A previous reviewer complained about this part of the game, but I thought it was great! You can create a sim right down to the details of how big their forehead is. You can put makeup on them and "custom" style their hair in shades of pink, blue, etc. Men can have different styles of facial hair, or 5 o clock shadow. You can alter the size of their lips, nose, eyes, body type, etc. Then, when you have a mirror in the house, you can do it again and again (only the makeup, facial hair, haircut---not the eyes, nose, etc.)

* You can buy many outfits at a time, even for other members of the house! You can mix and match (tops and bottoms) or whole outfits. You can also buy formal, pjs, underwear, swimwear, and exercise clothing.

* Sims age, but you can stop it if it's moving too fast (it does) When the sim is pregant, her tummy will show and the father can rub it or talk to the baby. When the baby is born, you can change their diaper, change clothing, feed, play, etc. When the baby becomes a toddler, you can teach them to talk, walk, and potty train them.

* The sims now have aspirations, wants, and fears. You pick their aspirations when you create them. (Family, knowledge, popularity, etc.) Then, based on their aspirations, you are given choices as to fill the wants and you are given points if they do so. You can buy "rewards" with the points such as simoleon money trees, a "love" tub, mood lifter, etc. As with the genie in the bottle in the first sims, these can also go horribly wrong. Ex: the mood lifter can also ruin your mood and when you have money trees around, visitors that come over will "pick" from your money tree as well, even if you don't want them to.

* You can now chat online, email, order groceries, play video games, and receive emails over the computer.

* Phones can call other sims, order pizza or groceries, call housekeeping, exterminators, repairmen, nannies! You can call for emergency, call a taxi, and call work if you want time off or want to retire.

* Sims have days of the week that they work, days off, and vacation days where they still get paid. You are also given little choices while they are at work. Ex: A sim worked as a police officer, the others wanted doughnuts, she wanted to make nice with the other officers, but didn't want to get into trouble. What do you do? Based on your answer, you could be demoted, or given a raise, etc.

I can go on and on.

The bad:

* There are not as many choices for furniture. There are some, but I have a feeling you are going to need expansion packs (once again) which I'm not happy about, since I spent so much money and have bought every sims game ever made. I will say this though: there are a lot of choices for floors (carpet, stone, linoleum, tile, etc) There are choices for walls (paint, wallpaper, brick, etc) There are new furniture items, not just the ones we saw in the original sims. I will still buy the expansion packs (and there are no animals in this one either) but, like I said, I'm not happy about it.

* Though there is a aging off choice, I cannot find out how to get a money cheat. (if someone knows one, please email :) ) But, at the same time, maybe it will make me appreciate the game more, because I keep moving houses once they make a little more money.

The very ugly:

* Though I have only had one problem with a "glitch" it was still annoying. I will say that my computer has not crashed or frozen during the time I have played the game, but at one point they were playing with a dartboard, but became frozen in front of it. I couldn't delete it because it constantly said it was "in use" when it wasn't. So, family members would stand in front of it, and their needs would go down. Quite annoying. You have to move houses if you want to get rid of it.

* I know a lot of people have complained about the game, how it has not worked on their computer, and I feel bad for those people. I think it may be because I have a DVD rom, and maybe that will make a difference? My computer is not even that fast---it's a Dell, and it's over a year old. I didn't even think the game would work on my computer because sometimes the security gets in the way and games won't even install, but I had *no* problems whatsoever. (Knock on wood)

I hope this helps, I am going to waste more time and play this addictive game!

Other miscellaneous new features for Sims 2:

1. Sims now have five fingers.
2. Pregnant Sims have morning sickness, show a bulging belly, leave for the hospital when it's time to give birth, and come back a few days later with a baby. Additonally, there's a possibility (though rare) for female sims to give birth to twins and triplets.
3. Alien abductions in certain neighborhoods are common.
4. Ghost sighting tend to be more perilous (another perk of a more advanced artificial intelligence). If a ghost sim died in a fire, he might come back with a red glow and tendency to start fires himself.
5. As the sims cooking skills increase they can different types of foods, as opposed to the generic meals that could only be cooked in Sims 1 no matter how high your sims cooking score was.
6. Sims can decide which schools to sent their sims children to in order to give them a better start in life.
7. The game will have neighborhoods that have fifty lots on them.
8. Sims can divorce, have affairs, move out and keep the items that they purchased. Additonally, sims can marry NPC's, such as the maid, the butler, the mailman.
9. Sims can own two homes. Births, deaths, and marriages are much more important in Sims 2.
10. Sims can now die in several different ways.

It's hard to to improve on greatness, and sequels usually don't come close to the quality of the original, but the The SIms 2 is an exception to this rule. The Sims 2 has the same general structure and gameplay of the The Sims in that you can create Sims, control their interactions and work toward short and long term goals. What the new game offers that no expansion of the first game can is incredible depth. From the get go, this game is infinitely more personalizable. The "Create a Sim" engine gives you near total control of what your Sims look like, so you can make identifiable Sims of yourself, your friends, your enemies, or movie stars. In addition to appearance and personality traits, you also get to choose what your Sim's aspiration will be. You can choose from Family, Popularity, Fortune, Knowledge and Romance. This will determine what your sim's long and short term goals will be. Far more complicated than making sure your Sims get to the toilet on time and don't burn the house down, you must now help your Romance Sim, for example achieve his goal of having 5 Loves, or making "Woo Hoo!" in public, or help you Knowledge Sim max out her mechanical skill. These and other goals require more thought and planning and make the game much richer.

One of my favorite things about the new game is the introduction of genetics. Now you can have a baby and his or her characteristics will match those of the parents. One of the best things about the new game: CHILDREN GROW UP! They don't stay children forever. You can nurse an infant, teach your toddler to walk, talk and use the potty, help your child with her homework, hope the teenager doens't sneak out with her boyfriend, and then watch her get married on the front lawn. Likewise, adult sims age and become elders and can now die of old age. There are ways around this, through items you can get form "aspiration points", rewards you get for fulfilling your Sims' aspirations. I love the game. It's very engaging to see generations of a family continue to grow and interact, and even the pre-made characters have much more complex stories and problems to solve. What happenned to Bella Goth? Will the Pleasant Twins ever stop fighting? Will Daniel Pleasant pursue an affair with the maid, or remain true to his wife, Mary Sue? it's all up to you to decide in this addictive, engaging game.

This game also has many of the features of the expansions ot the orignal game. you cn now have house parties, birthday parties and wedding parties, take a stroll in the park, but clothes at the strip mall or go swimming in the public pool. it's a great game and very addictive.

One Caveat: Read the system requirements and check them with your computer before purchasing the game. giving the game a poor review because it does not work with one's computer is not fair. It does have pretty high system requirements. I added some more RAM before purchasing this game, because I needed it anyway and the game is fine. It takes awhile to load, but other than that I have had no problems with slow gameplay or freezing or anything else. The new 3D engine is fantastic and the gameplay is smoother than ever. One gripe? The camera panning is still slow, and speaking of cameras you can now take photos and movies of anything in the game to be edited and shared later.

Other cool features:

You can choose what the Sims paint on the easel- even a picture you have on your computer!

Careers now involve choices that can result in promotions, demotions or being fired. For example, will your scientist's assistant report the findings as her own, or pass them on to the head scientist? Will the chef create a book of boring low carb food certain to sell books, or creative asian cuisine? The choice is up to you!

You now ahve added challenges, like impressing the headmaster so your child will be accepted to private school.

The aspiration rewards items are really fun, including a "love tub" which fulfills many needs, "smart milk" for babies and a money tree.

Overall I think this is a fun, immersive and engaging game for all ages. It is certain to surpass the original!

I picked up the book and the game yesterday at Best Buy. I'll list some of the pro's and con's I have found so far.

Cons: The game takes an ubelieveably long time to install and then load. I have a fairly new computer with more than the mininum specs and I found myself sitting and watching the screen a lot. Also, the scrolling and zooming on the screen is not as easy as in the first Sims. I guess it's the 3d component I have to get used to. I also found the aspiration part hard to keep up, but I guess I'll get better with time. (Not sure I like this aspiration thing so far.) The last thing is I found it difficult to find things in Buy Mode. It's not as intuitive as it was in the previous Sims. Again, something to get used to I guess.

Pros: The neighborhoods are huge and there are lots of people and lots in them. Should eliminate (or at least reduce) having to create families just to have friends. There are three neighborhoods to choose from. The pregnancy feature is cool (although my sim wife died while pregnant and I couldn't stop it.) There are lots of options for building and buying although the design feature is much more complicated than in the past. (Probably due to the basement.)There are a million new little things too, but if you played the first Sims consistently, you should be able to pick this one up pretty quickly. Overall, I like it so far. I guess I was a little let down, but with all the hype that was bound to happen. Regardless, I am looking forward to getting home from work so I can play again.

I just got The Sims 2 game guide yesterday at my local game store after finding out that they had it in early. I was so excited because I know all of the main secrets now! Here is a list of new features.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
-Five story houses plus an attic and a basement if you have a foundation to build on
-You can have an attic depending on the type of roof you choose
-Door and windows can be placed on diagonal walls
-There are about 400 objects
-There are 4 channels on tv- SBN, SimStation Dance, KidzTube, and the Yummy Channel
-Cleaning is now a skill
-Three secret skills are dancing, yoga, and meditation
-There are counters specifically for kitchen islands
-There are nine ways to die
-There are nine aspiration rewards
-You can e-mail sims you know
-You can chat on the computer with sims that you don't know
-Teens can ask permission to go out at night with their friends
-Teens can sneek out at night to go out with friends
-You can have birthday parties, weddings, house parties, and anniversary parties when you are an elder
-An expansion pack is coming out at the beginning of 2005
-Bella Goth has run away to the community lot in Strangetown
There is so much more that is not listed in the book and a lot that I haven't read, so buy the game this Tuesday to find out more.

If the new Sims 2 is even half of what the game designers are promising that it'll be, there is no doubt that Sims 2 will definitely be an awesome game.

And the game designers are promising a lot.

Some of the main changes are listed below:

-Gamers now have more control over how their sims looks, by being able to sculpt their sims to the finest details i.e. eye color, skin color, glasses, make-up, hair color, other facial and body features. Gamers will be able to mix and match tops and bottoms and outfits for their sims.

-Sims 2 has what the designers are calling a life cycle feature, which enables you to create sims in several stages of life. Baby, toddler, child, teenager, adult, and senior. Additionally, your sims will age from whichever stage of life you "birth" them at, and eventually you sims can die of old age. However, I've heard that there is a way to turn off the aging process to stop your sims from aging, if you choose.

-There's a new "DNA" component in Sims 2, whereby if two sims get together and have a child, that child will end up looking like the parents. I also suspect that certain personality traits will be passed on this way as well.

-The sims have a greater artificial intelligence feature, which enables them to be more aware of their surroundings and "remember" their interactions with other people. This, I believe, will make for particularly interesting gameplay because sims will be aware of which sims are family members, enemies, or potential love interests and respond accordingly when they meet each sim. Sim children will remember the neglect of bad parents and become sim teenagers who skip school, runaway, or get sent to jail. A sim girl who has her first kiss can be seen chatting about it with her family and thinking about it days later. Babies who've been played with a little too much will throw up on their parents.

-Instead of making just a photo album of your sim's life you can actually make mini-movies of their lives with the new camera feature.

-The build mode is much more advanced as well. Gamers can now build houses up to four stories high. Gamers will also be able to build basement and place pictures and such on diagnol walls. Additonally, furniture color can be changed now.

Other miscellaneous new features for Sims 2:

1. Sims now have five fingers.
2. Pregnant Sims have morning sickness, show a bulging belly, leave for the hospital when it's time to give birth, and come back a few days later with a baby. Additonally, there's a possibility (though rare) for female sims to give birth to twins and triplets.
3. Alien abductions in certain neighborhoods are common.
4. Ghost sighting tend to be more perilous (another perk of a more advanced artificial intelligence). If a ghost sim died in a fire, he might come back with a red glow and tendency to start fires himself.
5. As the sims cooking skills increase they can different types of foods, as opposed to the generic meals that could only be cooked in Sims 1 no matter how high your sims cooking score was.
6. Sims can decide which schools to sent their sims children to in order to give them a better start in life.
7. The game will have neighborhoods that have fifty lots on them.
8. Sims can divorce, have affairs, move out and keep the items that they purchased. Additonally, sims can marry NPC's, such as the maid, the butler, the mailman.
9. Sims can own two homes. Births, deaths, and marriages are much more important in Sims 2.
10. Sims can now die in several different ways.

It's seems as though the game designers have taken a lot of effort to make this game as realistic and detailed as possible. Pretty much everything that I wanted to be improved from Sims 1 has been implemented in Sims 2. However, I've heard that there might not be a weather feature in Sims 2, as far as rain/snow is concerned, and there won't be any pets. But, I'm sure they'll take care of that in the expansion packs that I'm positive will follow the release of the game.

I'm eagerly looking forward to playing this game. Just designing my first sims family will probably keep me occupied for hours.

Now a word of caution to the gamers. Before buying this game, I recommend that gamers make sure that their computers meet the spec requirments for the game. It would be a shame to spend all that money on Sims 2, take it home to install it, and then realize that you don't have enough memory on your computer or a good enough graphics accelerator to play it.

I really thought I'd play this game a week and go back to my old Sims. I loved making houses and neighborhoods so much, and I had so much stuff from Sims Resource and Well Dressed Sims. I just knew there was no way this game could satisfy my building urge. I was very wrong. I have been sucked into a world of stories and intrigue. My best friend and I discuss daily the differences our stories and Sims lives are taking. Who they are marrying, who they are sleeping with, who was born, and who died. When my first Sim died of old age, I actually felt a sense of loss. It's a lot of fun, but be prepared for addiction. Don't get this game unless you have a lot of free time. I'm pretty busy right now and it's driving me nuts. I highly highly recommend this game.