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Video game reviews: The Sims 2 (PC) – Part 1

Sunday, August 30th, 2009

The Sims 2 for PC is the first sequel to the immensely popular The Sims series. The game itself is a life simulation game developed by Maxis and published by Electronic Arts. Most of the concepts presented in The Sims 2 were present in the first game, so if you’ve played one you’ve played them all.

Rated Teen by the ESRB, The Sims 2 has many features that may seem entertaining to certain age groups but not to others. Life simulation isn’t something used just to get away from real life, so lets give this game a chance.

Game Play

Just like in the previous The Sims game, the objective is to keep your characters happy. Characters can go through six stages of life, including but not limited to Child, Teen, Adult, and Elder. Take note that if you purchase The Sims 2: University it adds another life stage.

In The Sims 2, your character can also have a career and even participate in relationships. Of course your characters aren’t limited to that, they can also get married and start a family. Just like in The Sims, you can visit neighborhoods and build onto your lot.

Sims has to be taken care of, with nice furniture and many other luxuries. The Sims 2 could basically be considered an open-ended game, seeing as there really is no end. Even if there’s no end, your Sims characters can die.

If all a players adult Sims dies, and there are children left, those children have to be taken by a social worker. Aside from that, there are also mini games and shops scattered around the neighborhoods. Take note that some pre-made neighborhoods do have storylines.

Graphics & Sound & Controls

The Sims 2 has graphics that are much more detailed then the previous Sims game. Players are able to customize many things about their Sims including changing their facial expressions and features. The games characters are fully 3D unlike SimCity games.

Sound effects are also fairly impressive, besides for the language that the Sims speaks, which is basically just gibberish. The controls are also very nice, and tweaked since the first game in the series.

Improvement

Is The Sims 2 worth purchasing? Yes, however it does have room for some improvement. The game could use some actual voices for characters, and more mini games and options. Interestingly enough, the expansions to this game add tons of game play features, and are worth trying out as well.

Looking to purchase The Sims 2? Try taking a look at Amazon.com.

Final Score

3 Out of 5 Decent (1 Being Horrible, 5 Being Perfect

Tags: Certain Age, First Game, Simcity Games
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Play The Sims Game

Friday, August 28th, 2009

This is the strategic life-simulation game that captures the imagination and allows you to build your virtual world with the “Sim”.

The Sims is an excellent game. Most games are about action where the competition is intense, there’s high adrenalin and involve death or destruction of the opponent. Here is a simulation game where you control the life and actions of a virtual person, the “Sim”. In a virtual world where there are daily activities just like the real world, for example eating, sleeping, meeting people and dating. You create your own character and live a virtual lifestyle similar to the normal lifestyle people live everyday. Note however that there are certain characters that come with the game like Newbie and Goth that you can also use. You are the creator or master of this virtual world where you portray a realistic lifestyle. Your thoughts are allowed to come to life.

Here is how you play the Sims Game. You first create your male and female characters and breathe some virtual life into them by giving them personality or style. This is where you develop the Sim behavioral pattern or mood. The astrological sign and hence the behavior is associated with each sim. If a sim is outgoing and vibrant then it’s more likely that living with another with similar traits would make life easier for both of them. The same goes for the opposite scenario. You therefore want to place those together as roommates who have similar personalities. You then have to determine the physical appearance of the sims. Are they tall sims, short sims, black sims, brown, white, blonde, fat, skinny etc. You determine the look that you want. Now you must take on the role as a fashion stylist and put some clothes on your sims to wear. Just like in the real world you can keep your sims clothing consistent with their personality. The whole logic behind the game is to create a family up to 8 members. Give them personality by creating a biography.

What is the sims life without virtual money and certain necessities or assets to survive. Your next step is to furnish the sim characters with money to start out with. Buy them the necessities of life for existence in the virtual world of the sims, like a home and furniture. Even in this fictitious world resources are limited and you will have to find a job for the sims day to day life. You do this by searching the news paper or via the internet. The player must use the scarcity of time in a manner that flows with an ordinary lifestyle. For instance a decision has to be made about the time spent on eating, reading, watching the television, exercise, recreation etc. Personal development is also important when you play the sims game, therefore time must be allotted for eating, bathing, brushing teeth, sleeping, unless you want to die from lack of maintenance. When you play the sims game the necessities of life enhances the desire to obtain an income so that a healthy lifestyle can be achieved. This includes financial health also. The Sims needs recreation also or else depression will set in and who want to be depressed. If the sims needs are not met, however artificial they may be, then they act out of character and confusion and a disorderly world would be the result. The end result is the death of your sims.

When playing the sims game, you would find a partner, build a relationship by dating, get married and build a family. Of course a sim will want to date another who they are compatible with. That would ensure a smooth relationship. Falling in love will require the acceptance of one sim personality to another, as personalities are all somewhat different. The sims can get married and move in a home together. The husband would take care of the male duties around the yard or home, while the wife does wife stuff. You play the sims game by building an environment for the family that encourages health living conditions. You have all the options within the game that gives you the information about your characters and you must utilize this information to fulfill the needs of the sims. Build a new home, build a new room, upgrade your furniture and make a better live for the sims. Play the sims game and you will look at games from a whole new perspective.

The reception and demand for the sims game is phenomenal. There is no end in sight for the growth potential of this game. The first relese was in 2000 and since then this game is now the most popular PC game ever. There are sequels like Sims Online, The Sims 2, MySims, the Sims Stories and the latest, Sims 3. Play the sims game and create your virtual world.

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The history of the Sims

Saturday, August 22nd, 2009

The Sims is a very popular simulation game created by Will Wright before being adopted by Maxis and Electronic Arts, finally published and put into the gaming world in February 2000. Over eight years later and it has had many children games, not just patches and expansion packs for the original game, but also been adapted for games consoles and leading on to The Sims 2 in September 2004 and The Sims 3 due for release in Autumn 2009 as well as many other spin-offs such as Sims Stories, MySims, and The Sims Online.

So high was the success rate of The Sims that not only has it led to the birth of spin-offs and sequels but a film is also in talks, due to be official announced in 2009.

It started off as a basic concept in 1991 when Will Wright first created SimCity. SimCity was a hit, but people wanted to be able to play the characters, not just rule a town. The idea of a God game quickly grew. With other games slowly making an appearence in the market such as Black and White, it seemed to be a sort after and much wanted game.

A dollhouse-style game was the original idea presented to Maxis in 1993, Electronic Arts bought the rights to publish then named ‘Project X’ in 1995. By 1997 ‘The Sims’ was given it’s official title and being produced.

In the original thoughts behind the game, characters were pre-designed with fixed faces and bodies. Each expansion pack brought with it new characters that could be added to the families. You could give your Sims a basic personality, choosing their star-sign and levels of hygiene, laziness, shyness etc. These traits would then go on to give the Sim a basic range of skills required. For instance a lazy Sim would be less inclined to work or exercise than an active Sim. A certain amount of free will was also allowed, meaning that the characters would be able to ‘make decisions’ when left alone.

A language was also created for The Sims. ‘Simlish’ is thought to be a version of Ukranian, re-designed to sound more like ‘Double Dutch’ giving it a fairly childish appearence. There is thought to be a basic English-Simlish dictionary, but it is mainly body language that allows to you to understand the needs of The Sim. Certain phrases may have several meanings, so it is best not to rely on these simple words.

There are seven expansion packs for the original Sims game:

*Livin’ Large – a very basic pack adding new characters, clothes and jobs to the original game.

*House Party – allowing The Sims to throw parties by adding new objects.

*Hot Date – The Sims can now leave the house and ‘go on dates’, meeting new Sims and creating all varieties of relationships.

*Vacation – Holidays are a basic requirement of all humans, so why not allow The Sims a break too?

*Unleashed – by giving The Sims pets, new jobs and needs were added.

*Superstar – some Sims were given a celebrity status, other simply became fans.

*Making Magic – witchcraft and wizadry allowed The Sims to travel to distant lands, buying strange potions and casting odd spells.

Several compilations were also created.

This is the history of The Sims, but as with history in real life, a dynasty of Sims awaits to be discovered and new history is made with every expansion pack, spin-off and sequel.