The Sims 2 Special DVD Edition

by Electronic Arts

Product Features

• Sequel to the hit lifestyle simulation
• Manage your Sim's dreams and fears over a lifetime
• Mix Sim genes and see physical and personality traits inherited down through Sim generations
• Movie-making feature lets you control the camera and capture the action into mini movies
• Also available in CD-ROM Edition

Product Details

• Shipping: This item is also available for shipping to select countries outside the U.S.
• ASIN: B0002HTAYS
• Product Dimensions: 7.8 x 5.5 x 1.8 inches
• Media: DVD-ROM
• Release Date: September 14, 2004
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (173 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #12,638 in Video Games (See Top 100 in Video Games)
• Discontinued by manufacturer: Yes

Product Description

Amazon.com

The Sims was one of the most popular games ever made. In it, players micromanage the lives of a family of virtual people, or Sims, and influence their paths toward success or something akin to a nervous breakdown. Its open-ended blend of cartoonish behavior and everyday living is unique in an art form otherwise obsessed with carnage and sports. With The Sims 2, long-time fans now have a deeper game with lots of ways to customize and share their experiences. The game will also attract first-timers because the goal-oriented gameplay and the luridly fun starter families make it easier to get into the action right out of the box.

Now Sims are born with the traits of their parents, families grow, and Sims grow old.

The People in Your Neighborhood
The game starts at the neighborhood level. Here you can create a housing development from scratch or start with one of three premade neighborhoods, each with its own theme. From there, you'll settle on a house and a family of Sims to control.

Create your own Sim (above) or your own house (below) from scratch with advanced tools.

Aside from the basic needs carried over from the previous game, Sims now have aspirations, wants, and fears. The wants and fears are the day-to-day things that occupy their minds, like wanting to see friends or get married and fearing death or being rejected for a kiss. Satisfy their wants, and they become more efficient at completing tasks you assign them. Realize their fears, and Sims become lethargic, cranky, and unresponsive to your commands. Aspirations are the big-picture things, like raising a family, becoming wealthy, and gaining knowledge. Succeed here and you'll be able to buy odd gifts for your Sim to improve his or her life, like a money tree that pays dividends or a "fountain of youth" water cooler.

What Else Is New?

Of course, you wouldn't be able to juggle all that if it weren't for the improved "Free Will" option, which makes it easier for Sims to fulfill their basic needs. The artificial intelligence of the game is noticeably improved; they won't turn on radios just as a family member is going to bed but, strangely, they do occasionally put their dishes on the floor.

Another big change in the series is the concept of the lifespan. Now Sims are born with the traits of their parents, families grow, and Sims grow old. Not only does this go hand in hand with aspirations (growing up is the first aspiration that a baby Sim will have), it provides a limited time with which your Sims can achieve their goals.

The Universal Control Panel helps you manage your Sim family.

A Family Affair
The Sims 2 not only lets you create just about any type of Sim in any type of family, build elaborate houses, and even create a neighborhood from scratch, but it also allows you to start the game in medias res, with premade households. These families all have backstories that are smart spoofs of soap-opera plots--lots of scheming, romance, ghosts, and family fighting. Parents of teens shouldn't worry, though, because nudity is tastefully blurred out and "woo-hoo" between Sims takes place completely under the covers. The ESRB has given this a Teen rating. If The Sims 2 were a film, it would likely land between PG and PG-13.

The makers have included some nice tools to help share the universe you've created. For example, you can capture in-game stills and video to show friends the private moments, family interactions, and house parties of your Sims. You can even package a household to share as a blog or an album on a special Web site.

The Sims 2 is for patient gamers. Like life itself, the game is filled with mundane details, like getting ready for work and doing dishes. The game also demands a level of creativity from its players that the run-and-gun game genres wouldn't know what to do with. But those who stick with it will be rewarded with an absorbing, amusing diversion and a virtual family history that they've created themselves. --Porter B. Hall

Set Up a Sims 2 Machinima Studio
Amazon.com contributor Porter Hall reveals how you can make movies using the Sims as your actors. See his guide to setting up a Sims 2 Machinima Studio.

Product Description

The Sims 2 is an incredible sequel to the best-selling PC game of all-time! You'll get to direct an entire Sims' lifetime, and try to get them to reach their goals in life. Will they have a long, successful and happy life - or will they end up poor and heartbroken? Special DVD with bonus content - Interview with the game designers(where they offer game tips), tips on making your own films with Sims 2, screenshots, deleted scenes and more!

See all Product Description

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

756 of 779 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars No Disappointment Here!, September 17, 2004

By 

Jaydekitten (Detroit, Michigan United States) - See all my reviews

= Fun:5.0 out of 5 stars 

This review is from: The Sims 2 Special DVD Edition (DVD-ROM)

Well, after two days of owning Sims 2 I think that I have gotten enough play time in to write a comprehensive review. (...)

Alright, on to the review. I have both positive and negative things to say about Sims 2. Sorry, this is probably going to be a long review.

POSITIVE:

*Maxis has thrown a bit of Sim City into the mix. You can either play one of the pre-created neighborhoods or you can start from scratch. This option is fantastic! You can choose the layout, build houses or place houses already built onto the lots. No more wondering if you already have a house at lot #5 before downlaoding because you can place the house ANYWHERE you want!

*While playing the game you can connect to Maxis (if you have internet connection) and dowload new Maxis created items directly into the game.

*The Wants and Fears addition to Sims 2 is alot of fun. Even if they tend to get repetitive.

*It's alot easier for your Sims to Socialize in Sims 2. Now they will receive telephone calls from people who just want to talk, they can chat online and send and receive e-mails. Plus your Sims will sometimes bring people home with them from work or school. AND you can now socialize with (and even marry) what were previously non-interactive character like cashiers, the maid, and the paper deliverer.

*The Sims now have days off from work and vacation days. Needless to say, this creates alot more free time for your Sims to concentrate on other things.

*You can distinguish between family members and roommates. So no more awkward "Flowers in the Attic" moments.

*I haven't actually built a house but I love having the option of building more than 2 floors. Plus you can now shape the roof for more realistic and more luxurious houses.

*You can choose from a whole outfit or you can mix and match tops and bottoms. And with a mirror you can change the color and cut of your Sims hair and add and remove make-up and facial hair.

*Some reviewers were discussing the load time of Sims 2. I am running it on a Compaq Presario X1000 Notebook computer and so far the game has not crashed on me once. Furthermore, I haven't had any problems (crosses fingers) with the load times. I suppose the true test will be after I begin adding more objects, clothing, and genetics to the game.

*I was happy to see that you can still create community lots. Right now it's limited to basically parks, grocery stores, and clothing botiques but I'm sure restaurants and such will be coming with an expansion pack.

*Having your Sims age is a great addition to the game. Plus children now have alot more functions. They won't just stand around all day with their stupid "Ha-ha Who-who" and annoy the crap out of you (experienced Simmers know what I'm talking about). Ah yes, and teenagers can now get jobs! No free rides for for anyone anymore!

*The Sims act alot more natural in Sims 2. Like if one Sims is reading a book, they will look up if someone sits next to them, sometimes even talk to them. Their actions are much more fluid and natural and less robotic. In general, the Sims act alot more like real people than in the original Sims (it's especially noticable with the children).

*There are now little multiple choice scenarios that your Sims will experience. Your Sim will be given two or three choices and depending on which option you choose the outcome can be positive or negative. You could, for instance, be promoted for the choice you make or lose an entire day's worth of pay (These are just a couple I have personally experienced).

NEGATIVE:

*Creating family relationships isn't as liberal as I was expecting it to be. For instance, if you have an Adult Sim and a Teenage Sim living in a household, the Teenage Sim HAS to be the child of the Adult Sim. This was a problem for a family I was trying to create where a Teenage Sim lived with her Aunt. I haven't tested it yet, but it might be possible to do this the long way (create two sisters and a teenage child and whack the mother). I suppose it would just be easier if you could create them from the start. Same thing I noticed with an elderly couple whom I wanted to have an adult son and a teenage son. The only way to make the family possible was to make the teenager the son of the adult son :( But still, I'm thankful you can distinguish whether your Sims are roomies or siblings. It spares those awkward moments when your Sibling Sims start flirting with or making out with each other (Eww)

*The Sims age really fast! Luckily there's a cheat code you can use to turn off the aging process.

*Furnishings available in the game seem really limited and eventhough you can pick and choose from a variety of colors, nothing seems to match. Same thing with clothing. It seems like there's just like 10 outfits in 10 different colors. I'm sure Maxis is leaving this open for downloadables and expansion packs.

*Not all the modifying options available in Sims 2 Body Shop are actually available in the game when creating families. So I would suggest creating the faces for your families in Body Shop before playing the game and then they will be automatically added as a head choice in the game.

*For the most part, I am enjoying the 3D graphics. It took me awhile to get adjusted to the zoom, but now it's alot easier. The only problem I have is that some household items (like refridgerators and windows) don't go invisible while zooming past them and they can sometimes block your view. It's not really a big issue though.

So these are a few of my first impressions of The Sims 2. Perhaps I will write another review when I have gotten more play time in, but so far I am not disappointed one bit with my purchase. So, if you are a fan of the Sims or have just been wanting to check out what the buzz was all about, I would highly recommend adding Sims 2 to your collection.

51 of 52 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Amazing Game - Well Worth the Wait, September 23, 2004

By 

Lisa Shea "medieval swordfighting enthusiast" - See all my reviews
(HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)    (TOP 50 REVIEWER)   

= Fun:5.0 out of 5 stars 

This review is from: The Sims 2 Special DVD Edition (DVD-ROM)

The Sims dynasty continues with the release of Sims 2, the first real overhaul of the popular series in a long time. There are so many improvements, it's hard to know where to begin!

First, the graphics have been enhanced greatly. You begin by making your family, including all ages. You can tweak every aspect of your sim's appearance, from hairstyles to tattoos to a huge range of clothing. You can have your sims in love with each other, married, have kids and more.

The Sim world is no longer four-angled - you can do full rotation around in circles. The graphics are extremely impressive. The starting selection of items and decorations is extensive, but you know that in short order there will be millions of add-ons coming down the road :) So this is only the beginning.

I am THRILLED to find that they finally give you days off from work, and even let you earn vacation days, so that you can rest and relax in between your hard working day hours. The entire pace is much more balanced than the original game - you feel like you have plenty of time to enjoy your house and throw parties, as well as putting in the required hours at work.

Your computer in the game is far more useful now, letting you chat with friends, send email, order groceries, and even play SSX.

For hard core sims fans, the real glory comes in the fact that your characters actually go through a life cycle. They age (very slowly) and as they have kids, you watch the kids grow up and age, too. The kids even have the traits of the parents! So you can literally go through generations of sims, raising each one up.

In addition, each sim has one of five "lifestyle goals". Maybe your sim is after knowledge - or maybe they want the happy family life. Your sim could covet money or romantic encounters. Whatever it is that makes your sim happy, by hitting goals in that area the sim earns bonus points. So those sims who aren't happy with the 'career track' can still achieve kudos by working towards other aims.

Highly highly recommended for any Sims fan. It's just as good as the original Sims in playability - and far improved in many ways!

BTW: Check your PC against the game requirements before buying. Newer PCs should have no problem - in fact I'm playing it on my laptop - but ancient PCs might be unhappy.

54 of 57 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars DVD or CD, August 27, 2004

By 

Katie (Manhattan Beach, CA) - See all my reviews

= Fun:5.0 out of 5 stars 

This review is from: The Sims 2 Special DVD Edition (DVD-ROM)

This is in response to the person asking whether to buy the DVD or the CD version. First of all, make sure that you have a DVD ROM on your computer before you buy the DVD! I know that this seems obvious, but some people seem unsure. If you can watch DVDs on your computer, you can use this game.

There are two major differences between the DVD and CD version. The first one is that the DVD only needs one DVD to install, but if you buy the CD version, the game is spread over FOUR different disks. That's going to be a lot of changing disks when you install, but since they hold considerably less data than a DVD, that's how many are needed for the game. The second major difference is that there will be an extra CD included with the DVD that will have material not included with the CD version. There will be interviews from the creators and hints about building houses, creating sims, things like that. Nothing that you couldn't do without, but it would be nice to have.

Overall, I recommend getting the DVD version of The Sims 2, as long as your computer can read DVDs. They're the same price, and i imagine it will speed up loading the game (which judging by how long it takes to load the original and the expansions, could be awhile). Apparently they're only going to sell the DVD version as a limited edition available only as a preorder, so make sure that you order it before it's released!