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A Sims Fan's Must Have

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 169 / 173
Date: March 14, 2007
Author: Amazon User

Amazon priced this item just shy of the $25 mark to entice us cheapos to add another item and get free shipping. That is a good marketing strategy since this Seasons expansion is such a worthwhile title.

That said, The Sims 2: Seasons is what I would call a legitimate expansion pack for The Sims series. Unlike the Stuff Packs or some other expansion packs, Seasons really rounds out the series in my opinion.

Being a cheapo, I like spending $15 on a DVD that is 123 minutes as opposed to 93 - I feel I am getting my money's worth. Also, I like spending $25 for a Sims expansion pack where new career paths (and rewards) are added, lots of new items are included, and game concepts are added or upgraded.

The Sims 2 Seasons is legitimate in my opinion because it does just that: gives 6 more career paths (Adventure, Games, Law, Education, Music, and Journalism); new clothes (for each season, all ages) and items (like the Country decor theme); and new interactions, aspirations, and rewards.

Besides all the busy micromanagement that so many of us Simmers love, I mentioned that Seasons rounded out the series. What I meant was that now you don't have to focus so much on the careers just to make money. Nightlife and Open for Business are much like Seasons in that regard - you can make money by being a DJ, bartender, lemonade salesman, or garage saler.

In Seasons, it really expands what you can do outside of the normal "grind for your boss" routine. And if you remember the first The Sims where you make magical potions and cast spells (Makin' Magic expansion pack), that also kind of ties in with Seasons.

Basically, you can now grow fruits and vegetables, catch fish, and other hobbies, then use them to make cash, health drinks, special potions, etc. Also, gifting is introduced (when you don't want stuff but think your neighbor might).

This slows down the game quite a bit because (A) now you're interacting within the frame of each season and (B) you can still be productive and working towards certain goals without the typical bustle of The Sims 2 that we know and love. Now you can just be a farmer and tell the rest to go to hell. I appreciate that.

The other thing I'd like to point out is the basis of the game: the four seasons. Living in San Diego, CA, we only have two seasons: Paradise and The Next City's Best. In The Sims 2 Seasons, you have more control over the weather than you might think.

First of all, you can determine which neighborhood(s) have seasons and which seasons you'd like to have occur (and when) - for example, one neighborhood can only have spring and winter, if you want. Next, with the new neighborhood Maxis provided ("Riverblossom Hills"), they added some of their own content, but since the seasons can be applied to any neighborhood, I just ripped off what I liked and rarely played the new neighborhood.

Another thing I love in particular about Seasons is the expansion of Wants and Aspirations. I also love how this expansion pack ties into the other expansion packs (Maxis tries to keep them all interwoven to maximize their value - so we all buy every expansion!). You can get a fishing badge (like the sales badge from Open for Business) or find new Wants for each Aspiration (like Romance where the wants change during Springtime).

A lot to build on if you love the series. Of course, as I always like to mention, if you wait another 5-10 years, all of these will be included on The Sims 2: Complete Edition for about 1/3 the total cost. :)

Adds Atmosphere

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 54 / 54
Date: March 11, 2007
Author: Amazon User

One of the nagging problems of the Sims 2 series has been the lack of a strong feeling of time passing. While you could watch your sims age, the only real impression of time going by that I've ever gotten is my own frequent glances toward the age bars to see how much time each sim would have left in their current life phase.

Separate from the many wonderful features that have been added to the game, the real golden improvement is the immense amount of atmosphere that the weather provides. It hadn't occurred to me before I started playing that something as simple as snow on the ground would change the feeling of the game so much. There's a distinct coziness in having your sims sit inside in front of the fire on a snowy winter day that was never present in the previous eternal summer. It also creates a feeling of time moving on for the entire lot as a whole, without depending on any kind of nagging need to check whether the teen is going to have to leave for college soon, or similar things.

There are also a lot of functional additions. The sims have new ways to die (heat stroke, struck by lightning, etc), their progress in different areas of their life varies by season (for example, it's easier to build family relationships during the winter), and the sims can garden and make juices that boost their abilities or moods.

One thing that you should certainly note is that it's an especially good idea to backup your existing houses with this pack. With an expansion like Nightlife, if you decided you didn't like the general feel of the new content (largely a matter of going downtown and going on dates) you could just not use those and your gameplay would be impacted very little. With seasons, however, the closest you can get to turning the features off would be to set up a neighborhood to be in summer permanently. In most ways this would be a very close match for the game prior to seasons, but you might find it aggravating to have to keep an eye out for your sims getting heat stroke if they spend too much time working outdoors, or get into an outdoor hottub on a warm day.

There's a new "country" decorating collection that can be a bit annoying in some ways (the roosters on the floor tiles I don't like a bit), but they also have some very charming pieces as well. Additionally, a few of the homes and families don't appear to have been QC'd very well. There's one included family in which the mother Sim is already pregnant, and once the babies aged enough that I looked at their family tree I found that another woman was listed as the second parent rather than the family's father. Sure, they do strange things with the family backstories sometimes, but I couldn't find any mention of something to explain this in any of the character descriptions. There are also homes where they simply left small gaps in the (indoor) walls rather than installing arches or doors as one would expect.

I'm extremely pleased with the changes that Maxis has made. While there are some remaining gameplay issues that could be addressed, overall I think that this expansion has more positive impact on the game than any of the ones that have come out previously.

The Sims 2 Seasons

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 29 / 29
Date: June 03, 2007
Author: Amazon User

The Sims 2 Seasons is probably the best expansion pack so far. In this expansion pack, there are many new features and activities such as gardening, fishing, ice skating, roller skating, and of course; your sims now get to experience all four seasons (winter, autumn, spring, summer). Each season lasts for five sim days, and eventually progresses into the next season. The expansion even allows you to design your own climate scheme. Basically, if you want, you can have Spring all year long! (well, all twenty days long). Or you can have spring for two seasons and winter for the other two seasons. There is even a whole new country-themed furniture and kitchen set which blends well with the feel that Seasons gives. I personally don't like the rooster-country wallpaper the expansion offers, but the kitchen sets are very nice.

-Gardening

One of the great things that Seasons offers are the various activities. Gardening is fun, but it's important to keep constant check on them or they can die pretty quickly. The best thing about gardening is the rewards. You can purchase orchard trees (orange, lemon, and apple) and get fruit, or you can create plots and plant vegetables and fruits such as cucumbers, tomatoes (fruit OR vegetable?), pole beans, strawberries, etc. From growing these, you can harvest them and stock them into the Main Squeezer 235X juicer from the catalog. Once you have enough stocked, select the juicer you should be able to mix and match the different produce to make tasty juices. If the produce is "mouthwatering" then the juice will have special effects. To get your produce to be mouthwatering, you have to make sure your plants are thriving. You can improve your garden by adding lawn decorations and even invite the Garden Club over and allow them to judge your garden. And with enough gardening experience you can earn a gold gardening badge.

Magical Juices consist of:

Apple Juice, Beauty Cocktail, Eggplant Juice, Lemonade, Orangeade, Orange Juice, Pureed Boot (yum!), Pepper Punch (no comment), Tomato Juice, Strawberry Lemonade, Strawberry Juice, and Vegetable Cocktail.

It's up to you to figure out what the effects are. As for what the ingredients are, the titles of the juices are pretty self-explanatory for what the juice will consist of.

-Fishing

Wahoo, fishing! Even fishing has it's own good effects. Sims can create ponds in front of their house and fish. Depending on how much experience they have and the badge (bronze, silver, or gold) sims can catch more or less fish. I have to say there isn't a very large variety of fish, but there's just enough. Sims can grill fish for a much more satisfying meal.

-Riverblossom Hills

What could be better than all the features that Seasons offers? A whole new neighborhood!

Riverblossom Hills a new neighborhood that actually kind of focuses on the activities that seasons offers. There are premade families in the neighborhood of course, each with their own story. The first house I entered in Riverblossom Hills was the McGreggor Household. I recommend going into the McGreggor Household first because there is a barn and an orchard, plus there's only one person living in the house, so it'd be easy to familiarize with everything in seasons with overwhelming yourself, although it doesn't really matter.

-PlantSim

In seasons, sims can now become PlantSims. Your sim becomes a plantsim by excessively using pesticides on plants. There is a premade family in Riverblossom Hills with a plantsim (The Greenman Family) if you can't be bothered to create your own PlantSim. To cure a PlantSim, invite one of the members from the Garden Club over and buy a potion. Sims have new aspirations; "Become PlantSim +2,000", "Be Cured of PlantSim +5,000" (examples, I don't know if those are the exact aspiration points)

-Community Lots

In Riverblossom Hills there are new community lots with different activities. Sims can go iceskating during winter and rollerskating during the summer. These also have new aspirations; "Go Ice Skating +500". And I have to say, watching sims fall-- I mean, ice skate is pretty entertaining.

-Outerwear

Of course sims need the appropriate clothes if they want to last through those harsh winters and brutally hot summers! Seasons offers a wide variety of different summer and winter clothes, (coats, snowsuits) even for toddlers! (Toddlers can eat snow, by the way. It actually increases their hunger motive)

-Season Effects

Seasons effect your sims (depending on the season). They may want to see snow or rain or hail (aspiration: See Rain +500). Seasons also have effects on things that your sims do everyday:

Winter is a time to stay at home, drink hot chocolate, and bond with relatives.

Autumn is a time to fast-track a sim's career and skills. Even rake autumn leaves and mess them up all over again!

Summer is a time to relax and increase relationships with friends.

Spring is a time to create a wonderful romance.

So, seasons aren't just pretty, but they have effects on your sims as well!

-Penguin

This is a mild factor of seasons, but during the winter season a penguin actually will visit your sim's home. I was disappointed to know that you couldn't tame the penguin. :P

-Sim Actions

Sims have new actions. During winter you can have snowball fights and during summer you can have water balloon fights. Also during winter you can create devilish snowmen and snowangels.

-Pool

Sim swimming pools used to be pretty limited. But now you can add curved walls to your swimming pools and different wallpapers. Spruce it up a bit and add in a fun swimming slide. Add another sim and have a fun time playing marco polo.

-Leftovers

This has to be one of my favorite things that Seasons offers: LEFTOVERS! I'm sure most of you are tired from making lunches and dinners for seven when you've only got a family of two. But now, leftovers! After your small sim family is done eating, just click on the plate and it will say "Put away Leftovers." and voila! Once leftovers are in the fridge they will not spoil.(Thank goodness!)

Overall, The Sims 2 Seasons is excellent. The graphics and gameplay are wonderful, althought they can be glitchy at some points. The most dramatic and best season of the four is probably Winter, and the I suppose the 'boring' one is probably Summer. So yes, Seasons is well worth your time and money... And your Summer!

SIMply Awesome!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 25 / 25
Date: March 04, 2007
Author: Amazon User

Got mine the day before yesterday and have played it at least 20 hours out of the past 48 and am going to play it again as soon as I'm done with this review. There's so much to do in it and so many new objects and stuff it gives the feeling of almost a whole new Sims 2 experience. This will keep me very busy until the next add-on, 'Celebration! Stuff', comes out and beyond.

This expansion provides a brand new added neighborhood called "Riverblossom.." that is already pre-set with seasons, although any neighborhood can be custom set for whichever seasons you'd like for your Sims to have.

In addition to snow, rain, sun, etc, you get:

new pre-fabbed houses, lots of new build mode stuff (gardening, pool, etc), tons of 'country-style' decor (very feminine..the new kitchen and bathroom stuff is to die for..love it all), racing decor for the kids bedrooms, new 'outdoor' outfits (love 'em!), 3 new hairstyles (one of which is totally cute), so much that these alone will keep you busy for weeks.

And if that isn't enough, you also get ice-skating rinks, roller-skating rinks, and can even go fishing in your Sims' backyard pond, not to mention building snowmen, having snowball fights, making snow angels in the winter, and gardening in the spring. LOTS of new activities..too many to list. Gardening alone can keep your Sim busy for their entire life..apple, lemon, and orange trees...tomato, cucumber, eggplant, peppers, polebeans, and strawberry plants...earn a gardening talent badge, build your own greenhouse, join a Gardening Club (with prizes for best garden or yard), turn your homegrown fruits into power-packed juice or food..the list goes on. Fishing entails catching different species of fish using different baits as your Sim gains a fishing talent badge. The fish can be mounted or cooked up for dinner.

And if you accumulate too many fruits and veggies or fish, you can give them, or just about anything, as gifts to your Sims' friends or neighbors.

There are also some new job opportunities with some pretty cool new career rewards. Adventurer, Journalism, Law, and Education, to name a few.

This expansion is the perfect compliment to Pets and any or all of the other expansions. It's a must have! Heads up though guys, the decor in this one is mostly for the gals...lots of femininity going on in it...although the activities in it are geared for both genders.

When I first got this I thought for sure it would slow down my laptop, since I have all of the previous expansions and add-ons installed as well, but I was pleasantly surprised that it didn't at all. In fact, loading time was actually less than before as well as a speedier exit of the game. I think Maxis made some improvements in the software performance for this to be. Haven't experienced any bugs or glitches as of yet either, literally none at all.

Overall, I love this expansion..it's now my favorite out of all of them, with Pets second. Wouldn't trade this one for the world, it's that good! :)

Video Card Requirements Are Too High, But a Fun Game Nonetheless

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 20 / 22
Date: March 20, 2007
Author: Amazon User

I waited for this expansion for months, so it's no surprise that I went out and bought it the same day it hit stores. It was really fun - there is a whole new neighborhood and characters to play with. Your characters can now fish, garden, have snowball fights, etc. I managed to turn one of my characters into a Plant Sim (he got carried away with the gardening spray).

The weather effects are pretty cool, except for the lightening, which usually manages to set something on fire. My favorite season was winter, though, when after a snowstorm, you could build a snowman, have snowball fights, make snow angels, etc.

When the sims catch fish and harvest their fruits and vegetables from their gardens, they can prepare really filling meals (which is great when you have a pregnant sim who is always hungry!) However, you have to watch out that they don't get fat. There are also some great new items, like a waterslide, and the ability to make your backyard pools with round corners.

Now for the downfall of the game... I have two computers - one that is about a year old, and one that is brand new (purchased 2 weeks ago) with 1GB of memory and Core 2 Duo processors, which is a very powerful machine. Imagine my dismay when I discover the the Sims 2 Seasons expansion won't run correctly (for long) on either computer because of the video card requirements. I never bothered to check the requirements and installed the game on both computers. But the game would start crashing and freezing my computers after I saved a few games. I highly recommend checking if your video card is up to par before installing.

Overall this is a fun game, and I look forward to reinstalling it once they either get a patch out, or I upgrade my video cards.

Seasonal fun for the Sims2

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 27 / 37
Date: March 05, 2007
Author: Amazon User

I'm a big sims 2 fan. I have all the expansion packs, and Sims 2 season ads some much needed content! Now your sims can grow their own crops, have snowball fights, build snowmen and yes get struck by lightning! The animation is cute, and there are some new outfits for cold/wet weather. I picked up my copy at Target. It came with a free code for a free item (a trellis).

It was easy to install, 2 pc CD's and install was a snap. Like most Sims 2 games you need to keep the expansion pack CD in the drive to run the game, which is kind of annoying but ohwell!

Fun for everyone. 5 stars.

The Best Expansion Pack for the Sims 2 Franchise

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 11 / 11
Date: March 10, 2007
Author: Amazon User

I have been waiting for this expansion pack to be out for ages. Being slightly disappointed with Pets, I was a little wary about it, but it turns out it is just awesome. The graphics are great and bring a whole new aspect to the Sims2. Each season has its own special twist, for example, you learn faster in the fall; and there are wonderful interactions associated with each season. I also enjoyed the option of being able to grow and harvest veggies. All around, this is the best that has come out of the Sims 2.

The Sims 2 Seasons!

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 17 / 22
Date: March 02, 2007
Author: Amazon User

I have waited and waited for the Sims 2 Seasons to come out. I read tons of reviews on the internet about how the lighting and thunder was really scary, especially when using headphones. One of the reasons why the Sims 2 Seasons came out so late is because it had so many bugs. There are still a few on the game, but not that many. If your computer is not a gaming computer, I highly advise buying a gaming card. The graphis are much better on a gaming computer. The game is a whole lot of fun, bringing to us Sim players gardening, seasons(including weather), new items, curves pool lines, and much much more! If you are nervous about buying this expanision pack because of its cost, just wait a month, the price will surely go down to $20.00 Thank you so much for reading my review! =)

Seasons Is Sweet

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 8 / 8
Date: July 14, 2007
Author: Amazon User

Although Seasons has been out for awhile, I've been lazy and neglected to update about it...well no more! Overall I think Seasons is one of the best two expansion packs to date with TS2 - my personal fave being Open For Business (and hence my favourite part of each expansion is to open a business based on what that expansion brings). Here is a quick overview of the main types of features and what to expect...

Seasons - in terms of the graphics and feel of the seasons, they are half-decent. It's impressive how much your landscape and lighting actually changes from season to season, and honestly as a player it makes you feel a bit different by relating to your sims a bit more based on the season...the Maxis team does a great job of making you feel like - "wow it looks hot outside" or "brr I think I want to stay inside". This is something the Sims community has been asking for and I think Maxis does a good job at delivering a good variety of seasons and subsequent activities. It's nice that you can control the seasons both through your neighbourhood (make it winter year-round if you want!) as well as in each individual house.

Careers - there are, I believe, 6 new career tracks with this game. They are teaching, gaming, journalism, music, adventurer, and law...the only questionable one is gaming I think, it didn't really make sense. Music is odd as well as it doesn't really follow a typical musician's path. The career reward items that go with these careers are kind of remeshed items that already exist so don't expect too much there - although I enjoy the teaching library and the law podium.

Furniture/Decor - it seems like a big focus of this pack is giving you activities that your seniors can engage with, and as such the decor matches that theme. Everything is very country, but quite nicely done with a wide variety of pastel colours. The main focuses would be a new bedroom suite, a new bathroom set, and a bunch of kitchen things, plus some nice new decor items. The wallpaper and flooring left something to be desire with this particular pack, but overall I was satisfied with the decor.

Gardening - The main big activity with this pack is being able to garden - you can use your produce to make money (either sell it off the vine or in a store if you have OFB), to stock your fridge, or to make juice using the new handy juicer - different juices have different rewards of course. You can garden trees, or have a vegetable/fruit garden either indoors (greenhouse) or outdoors. Overall gardening is relatively low-maintenence, and much better developed than it was in Unleashed from TS1. Your Sims actually have fun gardening, although it is tiring.

Fishing - Another fun activity is fishing. Again, you can cook the fish, use it as stock for your fridge, sell the fish as produce, mount the fish on your walls as plaques, or sell plaqued fish. Basically your sims can fish from any pond from late spring to early fall and you can sell them for a decent profit, as well as feed them to pets.

Clothing/Hair - There really isn't a lot of new clothing or hair, one or two outfits and that's about it. The focus of the 'looks' department would be the addition of outerwear, which your sims automatically put on during the chilly days in fall/winter/spring. As well you can now pick individual hairstyles for each outfit your sim wears - so you aren't wearing earmuffs all the time, you can pair them with your outwear only if you want.

New Neighbourhood - This game includes a new neighbourhood entitled Riverblossom Hills or something along those lines. It's a rural themed neighbourhood with tons of starter homes and a few nice country mansions. A welcome addition to the game!

Overall I'd say Seasons is probably the best balanced pack. It adds a lot to the game in various aspects instead of just one specific item - which for some people is problematic because they want to see one giant addition, but really Seasons just fills in a lot of the blanks. Of course there are problems...a lot of the fun of the game has been lost for me because these expansions (and the game itself) are so massive my game runs quite slowly. Also, aside from the visual elements and some cute new activities (making snowmen, catching fireflies) there isn't much 'point' to the seasons. Certainly some more outdoor objects would have been welcome. But overall this is one of the stronger Maxis expansions and a welcome addition to my game.

How did they ever do without it?

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 8 / 8
Date: August 31, 2007
Author: Amazon User

What a pleasure watching my simlets jump into rain puddles, watching them throw on some windbreakers and..was that a bead of sweat running down Grandma's cheek after toiling over the tomato plants?
Just like in my bigger world, the joy of having leftovers to reheat without the occasional hassle of creating a new meal is p-r-i-c-e-l-e-s-s.It gives me a little elbow room in the having to call the grocers area..when I've depleted the bank account buying yet another big patch for the pool.
The flavor of realism is appreciated since SOME folks spend hours upon hours in Simville.
Simply put, I LOVE this expansion. If I'm not mistaken, when I look adoringly over my little simlets, I could almost swear I see the most expressive looks of gratitude..for the purchase that their big mama made.

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