Title: The Sims 2
System: PC
# of Players: 1
Rating: 7
Story:
Everyone should know what the Sims are, or have at least heard of the name. You create the characters, you create the houses, and you play God over them. Make them one of the highest paid people in the world, with lovers from all across the nation. Or they can spend their lives in psychotic rants living in the wilderness. It's all up to your own imagination.
Gameplay:
What makes the Sims 2 different than the original is one simple word: aging. Every character grows up on this game, and you can have mulitple generations living under one roof. Like grandma Betty living with her son John and his toddler daughter Ruth. You're always free to stop time, thanks to the code "aging off", but it's a lot more fun and adds a little difficulty when you try to make their dreams come true before they become an elder.
There's also some extra benefits: 1) the characters, furniture, everything is in 3D. 2) There are new camera and video options, allowing you to create your own stories and videos. 3) This game allows to create your town from the bottom up. You pick out what type of terrain it has, what it's name shall be, and then design it from the bottom up. Personally, I like being able to create your own town from scratch.
There's also 3 pre-made towns which introduce you to the game play, as well as a tutorial mode. Each one gives you a small storyline to get through before letting you run loose. In the end though, youcould completely ignore these stories and do what ever you want.
Extras:
Since there's so much to the Sims, I'll give out a brief explanation of what the game and its expansions give you. I merely do this because there's a reason I gave this great game a 7: memory space problems. Several of these game expansions take a large chunk of memory, and will ultimately cause you computer some issues. So it's better to just pick out the games you like the most, and just buy them.
There are two types of expansions for this game: Basic one give out new locations, houses, furniture, and just all sorts of goodness. Stuff expansions have the word stuff in them, and while they don't take up as much memory, they merely give out new furniture and clothing options.
The Sims 2: The original game. Has all the goodness, 10 different job options, and lets you create alien babies... but only if your a man. blaugh
The Sims 2 Holidays Stuff: Celebrate the holidays Sims style. Even let Santa Claus live in your town!!!
The Sims 2 University: Create a college and let your teen Sims live out dorm life. With 4 College Only jobs (Art, Show Biz, Paranormal, and Natural Science) Also bring characters back to life, but they may grow obsessed with brains. Yes, they're zombies. (sorry, I wrote aliens... it's still early.) PS. Out of all the games, this one takes the third largest amount of memory.
OK, I'm back heart heart heart
Lessee, what's next...
The Sims 2 Downtown: Let's you create a new special lot called Downtown, and allows you to date other sims. There's even a matchmaker you can pay to find your perfect match... for a hefty price...
Oh, and this is the one where you can become a Vampire...
The Sims 2 Back to Business: Create your own store and watch your Sim's business thrive. From bars to bakeries to clubs, your sims can become a business tycoon! Also allows you to create SimRobots to play and controll. Also creates a Shopping District complete with characters.
The Sims 2 Family Stuff: For the fairytale bedrooms or a seaside playhouse, this has enough stuff to please your little princesses, mermaids, and dragonkids! Note: You don't actually become part dragon or mermaid. Your child can just dress like one.
The Sims 2 Glamour Stuff: Show the world how fancy you are with this set of clothes and furniture. It's just, well... glamourous....
The Sims 2 Pets: Raise your own little kitty, puppy, bird, or even hamster! Cats and dogs can even have jobs! There's also a space and country themed furniture set... Oh, and you can become a werewolf, if your (un)lucky enough to meet a wolf.
The Sims 2 Celebration Stuff: Stuff that's perfect for a party, no matter the season. Incudes new furniture and more formal attire.
The Sims 2 Seasons: With four seasons (all of which you can select), the Sims gets a major weather update. Maybe sunny, maybe rain, maybe even snow. There's also tons of gardening to do, as well as fishing and even rollerblading. Creates an entirely new main town called Riverblossom Hills, and allows you to become a Plant Sim! Also, everso often a little penguin will come wobbling down the road... even in summer. It's adorable.
The Sims 2 H&M Stuff: Mainly fashion, but it's also got stuff to create your very own fashion salon. Not much else, though.
The Sims 2 Bon Voyage: My least favorite of the series, this enables you to go a new set of locations, called exotic destinations. There's three to choose from: beach resort Twikkii Island, asian inspired Takemizu Village, or mountainy town Three Lakes. (Or you could create you own, like everything else.) Enjoy a romantic honeymoon, or vacation with friends. You can even meet and befriend Bigfoot!!! Note: This takes second place when it comes to memory usage. Your better off not even putting down a vacation spot if your low on memory. Severely slow...
The Sims 2 Teen Style Stuff: The perfect stuff for Socialites, skaters, and Goths. Most of the clothes are for teens, though...
The Sims 2 Free Time: Your sims have Hobbies now! Make them a master at a specific hobby, or try for them all to get a special invite to secret locations. Creates a new town called Desiderata Valley.
The Sims 2 Kitchen and Bath Stuff: Well, it tells it. Mostly stuff for your kitchen and bathroom. There's some interesting new clothes, though...
The Sims 2 IKEA Stuff: A collection of IKEA inspired furniture. Nothing else.
The Sims 2 Apartment Life: This is the biggest of the expansions, and should only be bought if you have a ton of memory!!! It allows your sims to live together in an apartment complex. It also creates a new town called Belladonna Cove, and allows you to become a witch... if your lucky to meet one in town. (They're very hard to find! sweatdrop )
The Sims 2 Mansion and Garden Stuff: Create the perfect mansion and the perfect garden. This is the final expansions.
On a side note, if you still want to try putting all of these into a computer, just don't add the shopping district, a college, or an exotic destination to your town. They mainly take up space. A downtown area is okay, since that is the only way to meet a vampire.
