"The Sims 2 Seasons" Review (PC)

Publisher: Electronic Arts
Developer: Maxis
Genre: Life Simulation
ESRB Rating: T for Teen
Release Date: February 27, 2007
Platform: PC, Mac
What's Required: "The Sims 2," "The Sims 2" DVD Edition, or "The Sims 2 Holiday Edition"

Pros:

• Customize order of seasons
• Gardening & fishing
• Save leftovers in fridge
• Handful of new careers & reward objects
• Something for all Sims
• New neighborhood & families

Cons:

• Greenhouse walls are always up
• Where's the mud?

Besides pets, weather is probably the second most demanded feature in "The Sims" series. After years of waiting for weather, gamers are finally seeing their wishes come true. "The Sims 2 Seasons" does not just add random weather events. The pack comes with a full weather/season system and new activities specific to seasons.

The weather system wasn't just thrown together, with rain or snow falling randomly from the sky. Each season is clearly labeled and customizable for each neighborhood. Neighborhoods start off with just a day left in summer. If you want a desert, set all seasons to summer. What about an arctic climate? Setting all four seasons to winter is just as easy as making it summer all year long. Seasons can be changed whenever you like (seasons can be in any order) through the neighborhood screen or by using the weather machine, a new aspiration reward object.

Seasons gradually transition from season to season. Fall starts out warm and ends cooler when transitioning into winter for example. The seasons of "The Sims 2 Seasons" are not predictable (other than the generalities about each season). It doesn't snow every third day in the winter. Some winters there may be heavy snow, other winters are light. Weather in all seasons is random.

Not everything about the seasons is random. Spring will bring love and new plants. Summer is a time for hanging out by the pool - be careful not to get sunburned! Fall is back to school time; also a time to focus on skills and work. Winter it's back outside to enjoy the snow by having snowball fights and making snowmen and snow angels. The activities that come with each season typically bring families together. The weather brings something for every family member, even if it is just leaves to rake.

Yup - there's a new chore to deal with. Raking and playing in the pile of leaves are just a couple of the new interactions. Also on the list of new things to do include: snowball fights, ice skating, sliding into a pool, gardening, building snowmen, and playing in puddles.

The new stuff to do is great and all, but how does the weather look? Falling snow and rain puddles may not seem like they would change the game all that much. The weather adds a new dimension that will stop you from fast forwarding through the "boring" stuff. Snow accumulates depending on how heavy and how long it has been snowing. Sims will leave tracks in the snow when there's enough of it. My favorite type of weather is the thunder and lightning. The first time I heard the crack of lightning, I almost fall out of my chair. The howling wind of storms sounds are equally as good.

My favorite new feature of "The Sims 2 Seasons" is found in all the seasons - gardening. Through gardens and fruit trees, Sims can harvest a whole slew of types of fruits and vegetables. The process starts out with fertilizing land, planting a seed, watering and tending the plant, and eventually harvesting the land. Sims will earn badges, which opens up new seeds and ability to talk to plants. The best part of gardening is the end result - the produce.

Fruits and vegetables (and boots!) from gardens can be used to create healthy foods from the fridge or in the juicer. Each type of juice made has a special effect. Things like curing colds, being cold down or warmed up, platinum mood, getting a random skill point, or build skills faster. Simulated life got a little bit easier with the addition of juice.

In each expansion, Maxis has added a new type of creature (vampires, zombies, etc). The new Sim in "The Sims 2 Seasons" are the Plant Sims. These Sims can be made by spraying trees many times. The green Sims need only water, love, and sunlight to live. They are easy to care for and can spawn plant babies. I haven't enjoyed the other new types of Sims in the previous packs, but the Plant Sims are easy to love and keep their motives up.

"The Sims 2 Seasons" is loaded with things to discover and explore. Not everything can be seen or experienced in a few hours of fast forwarding through the days. This coupled with the fact that weather is something all types of families can enjoy, makes it one of the more fulfilling expansion packs.