The Sims 2

[Severen Morkonis]

Well from my day or do of playing it, its not bad. I find it strange how many of us gamers like playing a game conciously about a person doing the exsact same stuff as what we do subconciously in real life and enjoy it. And i do enjoy this game.

Firstly the interface, HUD and graphics are vastly improved in the sence that the figures look exceptionally realistic and the household looks quite real indeed, perhaps not photo realistic yet like many of the new ElderScrolls caps look like but the game producers are finaly making an effort.

This time the customization of your own person is incredible, delving into everything and every feature upon your body, the size of your chin, eyes, nose, mouth to name but a few in every detail and proportion. Cloths is another thing you can change into about 30 different types of cloths and even change your appearence again if by looking in a mirror.

The items you can buy within the game to outfit your house is, in my opinion, cut down a great deal however, for intance there were several ways last time to upgrade your skill points but this time there are but 3 or 4, however to componsate for this there are a helluva lot more ways to keep your basic needs at bay, by using a phone to communicate with friends other than having to invite them around everytime you want to socialize or you can go to shops and malls without having to have a add on pack.

There are a few other things that annoy me greatly, having to grown up over a period of time and having to die wheathrer you want your character to or not. Your character goes thorugh 5 stades of growth and then he/she dies, now i know this is real life but it happends all to quickly in my book and you hard earned characters passing just happends to quickly.

These are just a few things i liked and didnt like about the game, Sims 2 is obviously better than sims 1 but not a apsaloutly brillient sequel, i was expected more groundbraking stuff rather than just a few upgrades...

7/10

[Drake Shadowstalker]

I hate simulation games. This one gets a 1/10 just like the rest.

[Lilaena De'Ville]

Yeah I have to agree - The Sims was a supreme waste of an afternoon for me, and I can't imagine Sims2 would be any different. :p But if anyone else enjoys it, good for you. :)

[Shawn]

It was fun for a couple of days and I quickly lost interest after that, just like the original game. It's a significant improvement over its predecessor, but the lack of item variety and things to do seriously hampers its longevity. I get the impression that they left out many features deliberately, so they could include them in later expansion packs.

It's a good, solid game, though, and is the definitive virtual dollhouse.

[Charley]

I will probably buy this, because I'm a big sucker and I loved the first one. Being able to create my super hacienda was incredibly fun in a very gay way.

[Atreyu]

My sister got it the day it came out. I heard her shouting at it one afternoon and when I came in and asked what was wrong she was muttering something about how the mother is having a nervous breakdown because she wants 10 kids but has only had 2 so far. And how the husband wants 5 women to fall in love with him but not marry him.

I suggested she restart again.

Looks interesting (I bought the original in 2000) but I reckon I'd be bored with it within a couple of days like the original. My sister also complained about the lack of content compared to the original - as mentioned above it looks as though EA is going to flog this thing for all the expansion packs it can get out of it.

[Master Yoghurt]

Good to see you again Champion of the Force, not seen you for a while :)

[Karthon Vanar]

It's a fairly big improvement on the last ones features. Character death has some good points in interaction but bad a side in that it causes you to start over, which is one of the main features that turns me off any game. You can turn it off with an easy interface cheat (mentioned in the manual) but that causes problems achieving future goals with some personality types.

If your approaching sims 2 not having played the first game, the game does what it intends well and is quite appealing for a time but it is ultimately repetitive in its features, no matter how many variants there are.

In the end with both games I'm left feeling a little under-whelmed with the overall point. I guess that's always a problem with games that have no clear ending though, however with this one it happens sooner rather than later.

4/10 (Average)

[Atreyu]

Originally posted by Master Yoghurt
Good to see you again Champion of the Force, not seen you for a while :)
Likewise Yog - good to see you too. :)