I’ve been so busy doing so many things at the same time, that I completely forgot I never sat down to write The Sims 2 a proper review.
It’s one hell of a transition after playing The Sims for four years. All of a sudden, everything was fully rendered in 3D, and the Sims were now aging, having kids, growing old and dying. And that’s where my disappointment started.
I played with one of the families that came with the game, the Broke family. Single mom with two kids and a baby on the way. Let me tell you, managing the three kids at the same time wasn’t really fun. The mother had to cook, clean and take care of the baby, while the other two refused to do their homework all the time. No one had time to work on skills, and they were about to grow up with very low aspirations because time just goes by too quickly for them to work on the skills they want. Playing the game without cheating is just not fun at all.
So first, I got the money cheat. That solved some of the aspiration problems because I could buy what they dreamed of. It solved my problems with the baby and cleaning because I hired a nanny and a maid. And then I decided to work on skills, but between homework, fun, sleeping, eating and personal hygiene, the only one gaining skill points was the mother. But time was still going by too quickly, and one of the boys grew up with the worst aspiration meter possible.
So I went looking for the no growing cheat. Now we’re talking, lets stop time and learn every skill we can. But even that didn’t work the way I thought it would. The Sims stopped growing, but the days kept on going by, so it was back to the same routine.
Eventually, I got bored of taking care of the baby (even in TS1 I didn’t like having them), so I call the adoption center thinking I could put my baby up for adoption… and there’s no such thing. Instead, I got another baby delivered to my door.
I confess, I went looking for a game guide. The whole thing with potty training, diaper changing, helping with homework routine was driving me nuts. And I eventually found the solution for my problems, which was actually sitting quietly on my hard drive already: Sim PE. That’s right! Sim PE conveniently let me modify everyone’s relationships, aspirations, skills, personality and interests to my liking. It was kind of like using those amazing hacked objects for TS1 that let you green up everything in seconds or buy your skills and personality points, but with an exterior program.
That made my game enjoyable. Finally, no more worrying about grades, skills or relationships. Yeah, they still had to do their homework, but I can go back and change the grade level again if I want to. But I could focus on the family’s enjoyment now and sit back to watch how they interacted with each other.
It’s funny to see all the different animations and how Sims act in certain situations. I nearly died laughing with the yoga exercising; it’s like watching a sim turn into a pretzel! But the coolest thing is watching how the free will works. A baby will find more fun reaching in the toilet and splashing around in water puddles (this makes a single puddle nearly look like a flood after a while) than playing with his own toys. Eating spoiled food will cause your Sims to be sick and vomit all over or clog the toilet and make a mess out of the bathroom, so clean up dirty dishes as soon as the flies start showing, or someone might actually pick up a plate and eat it. Kids and teens occasionally will bring a friend home from school or work. Sims will get random phone calls from friends and neighbors, asking to talk to this or that member of the family or saying how they’ve been neglecting their friendship.
I did have problems with Sims getting stuck while playing a video game (the little console that you play SSX on the TV with). My solution to that was to move the family into the family bin and then move them back into the house.
Most of my fun with TS2 right now comes from using tools that allow me to make my own things. I expected the game to have more furniture options reminiscent of the original The Sims, more building items and a lot more plants and flowers for our landscaping needs.
I spend a good number of hours a week creating my own custom content to use in my game or to share it with others. Although I’m not an expert, I can easily run Body Shop 2 and make a new dress for a Sim, since the ones that came with the game aren’t really that appealing to me. In some cases, I’ll launch Sim PE to recolor a bed spread or some shower curtains to match my decorating tastes, or even go on an interior d??cor spree and create sets of wallpapers or floor coverings with Home Crafter 2.
I still launch the original The Sims now and again because there is just so much more to do in it, and the community lots are a lot more interesting to visit. TS2 again lacks in content here, there’s just not much to do and not many objects to interact with. You just can’t compare going on a little trip Downtown in TS1 (where there are restaurants, bars, boutiques and more) to going shopping in a TS2 community lot.
The Sims 2 looks really great, but to me it’s basically the ultimate 3D building and decorating challenge, with the occasional fashion show.