The Bottom Line
Pros
- 3D graphical environment
- aspiration system with wants and fears
- awarness of who their relatives are and share DNA
- aging cycle: babies, toddler, child, teen, adult, elder
Cons
- requires a powerful computer to play with all the extras
Description
- Release Date: September 17, Publisher: Electronic Arts/Maxis
- Aspirations dictates wants and fears, as they relate to their aspiration (family, etc.).
- Create a family by using the make a child feature to pass genes on to the children.
- Awareness of family tree, like who their children, spouse, and parents are.
- Pregnancy lasts for 3 days before having babies. Men can get pregnant by being abducted by aliens.
- Higher awareness of their environment, for example they acknowledge Sims when they enter the room.
- Five aspirations: popularity, fortune, family, knowledge or romance.
- The aging cycle includes: baby, toddler, child, teen, adult, and elder.
- Create skins with the Body Shop. Customize hair, shirts, pjs, underwear, bathing suits, and make-up.
- Build roofs, decks, basements, and multiple levels for your homes.
Guide Review - "The Sims 2" Review
The first obvious change, is the graphics are now 3D. The camera allows gamers to get up and personal. If you aren't use to 3D games, then you will feel clumsy moving around the game for a couple of hours. The change in graphics is eye-candy, but not the best part.
A major change is the newly added aging process. Now babies will no longer just become children and never age or die, instead babies will become toddlers, to a children, to teens, to adults, and lastly to elders. The generational aspect is intriguing and kept me from creating a lot of families within the Create-a-Family tool. Instead, I wanted to populate the neighborhood with Sims I raised from infants.
Needs are not your only concern now, wants and fears are too. If they get their wants, they will die happy. Having their fears realized, will often send into depression, which requires a shrink. Their wants will depend on their aspiration (family, romance, fortune, knowledge, or popularity). The family aspiration wants to have lots of kids.
"The Sims 2" cannot be summed up easily in a review. There are simply to many improvements. The one thing "The Sims 2" does is take the fun gameplay elements of the original, and makes them even more addictive.
