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Real-Life Simulation at its Best

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 148 / 158
Date: January 04, 2003
Author: Amazon User

I put the Sims Deluxe Edition on my Christmas wish list because I wanted to see, once and for all, what was so great about what I guess is the best-selling computer game of all time. Well, I got it for Christmas and have played it a lot since, and I now understand the appeal of it. It is a very open-ended game where you choose the sex of your sim (or sims), what they wear, what sign they are, you choose their name, you choose their job, you choose their house - you give your sim the life you would like to have, pretty much. Once you've made enough money from your job, you can buy cooler and better stuff that will make your sim happier. You can choose the wallpaper, the carpet, the paintings you hang on your walls, and you can even build an expansion on to your existing house, or just build a new one altogether. This part of the game is so entertaining for me, that it has almost inspired me to become an interior decorator.

My one complaint about the Sims is this: I decided to create two characters based on me and my boyfriend, and had them living in the same house together. Things were fine at first, but then after they both got jobs, they never saw each other any more, and neither one had time to do anything other than work - socializing became a chore I had to squeeze in after their long day at work, and just having fun (like playing on the computer, or watching TV) was hard to do. Since the game's clock runs so that every one second equals one minute in the Sim world, it takes 15 seconds for me to watch the character to walk out to get the mail, but it takes the sim 15 MINUTES to get the mail, which is a bit unrealistic - and it makes the game annoying because it takes so long to do little chores, all you have time for is sleep and work. (Actually, maybe it IS realistic.) Once my two sims were really in love and kissed many times, a little bubble popped up and asked if we should have a baby. I said yes, and boy was that a mistake! It is virtually impossible for sims to have babies. The baby has to be constantly taken care of for a total of three days before it becomes a child. If you so much as take a break to get something to eat, the social worker comes and takes the baby away. This is, of course, after one of your sims already lost their job to take care of the thing. So, while it may be cool for your sims to have a kid, I recommend waiting until you are filthy rich, so that one sim can stay home and care for it around the clock. (You can hire a maid, you can hire a gardener, but you can't get a babysitter?!)

However, even with the tiny little annoyances this game may have, it's still a great game. Who knew that watching a computer character read a book could be so entertaining? I would recommend the Deluxe Edition to first-time sim-ers (like me) because it also contains the expansion pack Livin' Large, which provides more houses, more items, more enjoyment. Enjoy!

Grand Idea

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 47 / 49
Date: September 22, 2002
Author: Amazon User

A lot of the reviewers are wrong and so lets clear a few things up. Number 1 is that you do not have to uninstall your original Sims game to install the Sims Deluxe Edition. You can add it right to what you already have, even if you own every expansion pack there is you just add it on, so it's easy. Second of all, someone said you had to lose your families and data. Not true at all. There are no downfalls that I can see to adding on this edition. Even if you already have Livin Large, adding this on will not harm your game. And for those people who have never had the Sims, it is a perfect time to get started as they get two for the price of one. I have already bought mine and added it to my game which included all the expansions and it is great, so I know what I am talking about. To me it is well worth the money as the Sims Creator is such a fun add on. Enjoy!!

Caution.... this game is addictive

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 46 / 52
Date: February 10, 2003
Author: Amazon User

I first purchased this game about a month ago, and have been addicted to it ever since. When I first heard about The Sims, I thought "how can this game be interesting?" I would be in the middle of chatting with a friend over the internet and they would end the conversation with "it's getting late and I want to play some Sims before going to bed." Now, you might think this is normal behavior for a teenager, right? Well what if I told you these people are in there mid-20s? A bit odd right? Well not if you are one of the many addicted to The Sims. So I had to go out and buy the game to see why everybody likes playing this game so much.

If you haven't purchasede this game yet, I recommend that you buy the Deluxe Edition instead of the Original Sims. Reason being Maxis has included the Livin' Large Expansion pack. You will have more choices in furnishings and building options.

In truth my rating for this game is 4 1/2 stars. Even though this is a good game, I have experienced some problems with it.
The first thing that I don't care for about the game is that it takes a long time(Sim) to do things. For instance, a Sim can take up to 45 minutes(Sim) to get out of bed. Now this is a problem if your Sim gets picked up for work in the morning, because they have two hours(Sim) to get in a good mood before work.

Another problem I have is that once your Sim gets a job, socializing becomes a hassle on many levels. (1) If you choose a Sim that is very outgoing, they need to talk to other Sims more often or they will be sad. One soltuion is to have two Sims live together, but if they have two different jobs with different schedules...their relationship slips because they have no time to spend with each other. (2) In order to climb the corporate ladder, you need friends to make the bucks. (3) Once you have the friends you have to maintain that friendship or your Sim will not have a friend for very long. Each day that your Sim does not at least call and talk to another Sim, their relationship falls by 3 points. (4)When you first move in a couple(that you had intended to be husband and wife) does not mean they will sleep in the same bed...so forget about saving money and buying a double, you will have to buy two beds until they love each other.

The final problem that I experienced with this game is that I have lost track of time. I have been late to work a few times because of this game. I also had problems with the game freezing up my computer when I played this gamed for extended periods of time. One time I could not restart my computer by normal means, so I had to unplug it. I have a new computer, less then 6 months old, with 80% of my hard drive free and over 200MB of RAM. So this is not because of the equipment I am playing it on.

No matter what the problems I had with this game, I still think this is a great game. It is fun to see how that Sims interact with one another and how they act when they are in a bad mood. You can have as much control over your Sim as you want, because your Sims(if you so choose) do have free will. Having this feature activated in the play options is a plus especially if your Sim household has multiple Sims.

This is a must if you enjoy simulation games, or even if you might be a control freak. Who knew that be controlling was a plus:) All kidding aside, one can have a lot of fun with this game, it is up to the imagination of the player. If you are not into playing simulation games, this may not be the game for you. There is no win or lose, or even quick stragey to The Sims. It takes a long time(reality) to play this game, of course there are plenty of fan websites that offer cheat codes, but it is more fun without them. This is a definite recommedation to those who are all ready interested in the simulation genre or enjoy other games put out by Maxis.

Great for All Ages!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 34 / 39
Date: September 26, 2002
Author: Amazon User

Are you completely addicted to the Sims? No? Give this new version a try, and I bet you will be soon! The Sims Deluxe Edition combines the original Sims with Living Large, plus Sims Creator for designing your own custom sims!

I admit it. I was a Sim-head. Back on my old computer, I built up a family with my copies of The Sims and Living Large, enjoying hours and hours of fun family play. But then when I upgraded to Windows XP, it didn't work quite right, I managed to lose my Living Large CD and gave up on it for a while.

Then I saw this new release become available. It contains both the original Sims PLUS Living Large's neat jobs and home accessories. Plus it has Sims Creator in it, so you can custom design your very own sims!! Add to that a whole plethora of new items, clothing, and it works PERFECTLY on XP.

I loaded it up right when I got home. My old Sim family worked like a charm, no problems at all! In no time at all I was busy customizing their home, buying them new furniture, running very smoothly. It hasn't crashed at all since this new install, and I've been playing it quite a bit!

This is great gameplay for all ages. It's very constructive - it makes you really think about your real life world. You look at the mess in your room and realize it affects your happiness, even if in some slight way that you might not normally notice. You start to get hungry and realize your energy is fading and that you're getting a bit more grumpy, something you might not have noticed otherwise! I know many Sim-fans that find their real life world improves as they become more aware of these sorts of things.

Give it a try, and see how much you enjoy being able to help your Sim families along to happiness and success!

This combo pack is an Excellent buy!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 33 / 38
Date: September 21, 2002
Author: Amazon User

This is the awesome combination of "The Sims" (The top pc game of all time)and it's very first (and best) expansion pack, "Living Large"!! A MUST HAVE. If you are thinking of buying The Sims alone, forget it and get this one!!! You would end up buying the "Living Large" anyway,(trust me, you would HAVE to have more!!) so save your money and buy this combo. You will be soooo glad you did.
But that's not all...Maxis has included a terrific program for very easily creating your own sim faces and clothes(skins). This program is SO EASY to use, and when you are finished, the new creation is instantly loaded into your game!
I think that the best 'fringe' benefit of all is that no matter which expansion packs you have (except for the newest, 'Unleashed'), you continue using the Sim Deluxe CD to play, which is helpful in my house because The Sims is used on more than one computer, so the other computer can play with the expansion CD.
It runs so much better with my Windows XP than did the original versions; and is running just fine with Windows NT also. Happy Simming!!

Great for those of us with Win XP

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 40 / 50
Date: September 15, 2002
Author: Amazon User

I used to own the Sims and 3 expansion packs. When I upgraded to Windows XP, The Sims would not work right. I ended up selling all of them. I am happy that they have come out with a version that is compatible with XP and will be going out to buy it on the 17th.

I can understand the frustration of those that are upset that this is a better version. But, it is not fair to give the game low reviews, because of this.

Excellent Gaming!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 28 / 33
Date: February 01, 2003
Author: Amazon User

I am so glad I decided to see what the fuss was all about. I went out and bought The Sims Deluxe Edition, and then House Party, Hot Date, Vacation, and Unleashed Expansion Packs. They were all definately worth the money. Some advice though: INSTALL THE GAMES IN THE ORDER THAT IT TELLS YOU TO IN THE MANUALS! Otherwise you will have problems. I have a 1.5 gig, 256 Ram, Pentium 4 and this game runs smoothly for me. Not to mention how much fun it is to go online to the Sims website and download families, houses, and other things that other players have created (registered Sims users get their own Sim web page to post the families they have created, and malls and hotels, vacation spots, etc.). I'm really enjoying myself with the Sims. Trust me, you will too. I never played any games on the computer before I started playing the Sims. But now all I find myself doing is playing late into the night, and I love it. Give it a try!! I can't wait until the next Expansion Pack comes out, I wonder what they will think of next for our Sims?

The Best Game Franchise Created

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 28 / 33
Date: February 15, 2003
Author: Amazon User

For many months, I passed The Sims by in stores, dismissing it as an architectural game with tons of designing, such as SimCity. I was wrong! This is the most open-ended game ever created, and lots of fun to play! Simply, this game is god of the PC. This pack is great, especially if you don't already have the original. Even if you do, like I did, this game comes with both packs put together, new objects, and a slew of new skins, walls, and floors. It also features new architectural designs as well. The program that allows you to import faces and such, in my opinion, is hard to adapt to and is a waste of time. Still, that doesn't really matter. In the sims, the objects and other items are really too real. They are normal lamps, and chairs, and walls, and just about everything else is too normal and everyday. Although Livin' large is my least favorite expansion, and that's not saying much, it adds new designs such as the abilities to create a castle, love shack, my favorite, a groovy bachelor pad, a futuristic, robot-run home, and about anything else you can think of! The new skins and objects exclusive to Deluxe Edition are Roman styles and very futuristic styles, with stuff from like, the year 3000. That also includes build mode as well as objects and skins. this really adds color and variety to the original, as well as making it much more fun to play! Altogether, the Sims Deluxe is worth your money if you love The Sims!

A few comments in regard to the other reviews here...

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 25 / 29
Date: September 16, 2002
Author: Amazon User

Yes, this is an excellent game that is still going strong, and yes it kinda stinks that there are one or two new features that loyal followers won't have unless they essentially re-buy the game. But to be fair, a deluxe edition designed as such is the next logical step. To put it in perspective, there are already 4 expansions, with a fifth one about to be released. That means that a fresh new player who wants the entire game has to shell out about [$$$] for a [$$$] game and [$$$] each for the expansions (assuming they're completists, like me). To help new players get up to speed, the deluxe edition includes the first expansion. One or two minor exclusive features have also been added to this edition to add some incentive for people to buy it if they already own the game, particularly those who never actually bought the first expansion. Personally I think they should have bundled the first two expansions instead of just one, but that's just my opinion. Will I buy it? No, because I already have the game and all of the expansions available, and those one or two small new exclusive features aren't worth [$$$] to me. However, to people who haven't yet bought the game or the first expansion disc, this package will be worth your while.

Everyone is right- this game is GREAT!...

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 18 / 19
Date: December 01, 2002
Author: Amazon User

I have to say, I bought this game with the Unleashed expansion pack on a whim, thinking I would see what all the hype was about. I found out everyone was right, this is a great game. I love to buy empty lots and build my own houses on them, really starting from scratch. I have seen a few reviews on the Unleashed expansion pack, and I have to say the animals are OK, but they take up more time and energy than a child does. This can be a problem when you are first starting a family and trying to build up a relationship. I also have some advice for the first timers out there, when you first begin, keep one person at home to do all the chores that add up, if you send everyone to work, nothing gets done until way up into the night. I have also found that it is best to take the first day off when you create a new family, while they are still in a good mood, let them socialize and set them down to study cooking or something similar. I had more than a few people burn to death because they didn't know how to cook. After learning the ropes on this game, you will have loads of fun, and you will be addicted just like everyone else.

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