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Buggy & a little pricey for an expansion pack but still good

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 15 / 16
Date: May 22, 2001
Author: Amazon User

First off - let me say that many of the features in this expansion pack are available for free and can be downloaded from thesims.com website. That said, the *best* features are only available on this CD.

Why only 4 stars? Primarily because it's rather expensive for only a few themes - country western, hawaiian luau, and underground rave. I've also run into my share of bugs like many of the other reviewers, including a rather annoying bug where flies circle the bathroom incessantly no matter how many times I clean everything.

On the plus side, the music is incredibly well done. In this expansion pack, the choices have been expanded (once you get the right equipment) to include many other genres such as country-dance, beach, rap, techno, and disco. The music gets stuck in your head - it's that good. I think I like the country music on here better than anything I've heard on country stations and I find myself singing the soon-to-be-famous disco tune "Dee Dee Dee Bo Bee - Bee Bo Bee Bo Pee Po" as I'm scrubbing my own (real-life) toilets.

With all this cool music there's got to be some dancing right? Another nice feature is the "Bounce-My-Booty Dance Floor" which has patterns that change as additional floors are added and daisy-chained together. I also hear celebrities show up if your party is cool enough. Hasn't happened to me yet but I'm working on it... maybe once I get that swimming pool to encircle the dance floor...

Anyways, if you're interested in any of these themes you'll have a lot of fun with the expansion pack as there are a lot of new theme-related props and decorations, from DJ systems and go-go cages to mechanical bulls to communal bongs cleverly disguised as bubble blowers. If these themes don't appeal to you, or entertaining the entire neighborhood seems like it would be a chore, then you may be better served by the additional customization available on the Living Large expansion pack or the downloads available on the many sims-related websites.

A wonderful way to continue with The Sims

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 14 / 15
Date: June 06, 2001
Author: Amazon User

This expansion pack, while not providing the major changes which appeared in 'Livin Large, still was worth the money. It includes: New windows (3 squares wide!), new doors, new objects, new wallpapers, and even new stairs and 'teleporter'.

I love the now huge variety of new designs, plus the ability to make 'parties' much more fun and entertaining. The remotely activated surround sound speakers are wonderful, as are the cake dancers ;). I also like the ability to cater events.

On the downside: my computer has problems with loading music. When it switches songs, and sometimes for no reason at all, The Sims quits out and I have to reload it. Altough this was occuring before I loaded House Party, it has increaced substanitally in occurance. It is probably just a problem with my computer, however. :)

So, all in all: I loved this highly addictive game. The new decorations and items are wonderful, and throwing parties is a great way to make new friends.

Overall advice: Strong Buy.

House Party is a Blast!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 11 / 11
Date: March 24, 2001
Author: Amazon User

If you have the attention span of, say, a brain-hemorrhaging parrot, you may want to look elsewhere for fun and excitement. But if you're into the Sims as much as my family, friends and I are, House Party is worth every cent! Expanding remarkably on Livin' Large, House Party introduces three additional architecture styles, a load of extra objects, and many new decorating schematics and outfits. Among my favorites are the giant surprise cake, the mechanical bull and the DJ. As an add-on, House Party lives up to its title, with results that will amaze you and keep you busy for hours! Start thinking up excuses to give your boss, in other words! What House Party doesn't do is allow internet play online, which I think would make the Sims so much more enjoyable and engaging. Still, House Party--in and of itself--is as addicitive as its predecessors, making the Sims a more fully-developed creative tool that is as much fun for adults as it is for teens.

Short and to the point! (3.5 stars by the way)

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 11 / 11
Date: October 03, 2002
Author: Amazon User

Okay, I am going to TRY to keep this review "short and sweet"... first off, if you are thrown off by three stars,realize that I don't go handing out five-star reviews like some other reviewers. In case you didn't know, I gave The Sims 5 stars, Livin' it up 4.1(even tho it just says 4), Hot Date 4.4, and Vacation 4.5. But that's not what this review is about, so I will start reviewing...
At the core, the "Throw Party!" option on the new payphone is just "mass invite". It's basically the same thing as calling up each person one by one on the phone and selecting "invite", only it's a lot faster. However, this almost takes away from the realism and fun because you could, in theory, just spend 1-4 hours (depending on how many people inhabit your neighborhood) calling up your neighbors instead of dishing out 30$ for an expansion pack. This is where the items come in.
The main items that are revolutionary are the mechanical bull, camp fire, bubble machine, dance floor/cages, and DJ booth. If you first take a look at these items and aren't impressed, just try thinking of the different possibilities they create... otherwise, just drool.
I would NOT, repeat NOT reccommend using cheats to acquire all the items you could want and throw the ultimate party. It's VERY rewarding to piece together your party setup slowly, day by day, going from a mime party to a mediocre party to an okay party to a fun party to the ULTIMATE BASH!!! And folks, it only takes about 6 hours of gameplay to get a six person family as rich as you could want (just remember, you only get fired if you miss TWO days in a row, so if you go only every other day and build up your skills, a promotion could come quite easily).
Anyhow, here come the downsides: once you get tired of seeing a group of Sims ride mechanical bulls, blow bubbles, sing songs and tell campfire stories, and stay up all night partying, there's not much you can do to keep it from getting boring... however, I have made a list to keep your party fun goin'!!
1)Build five semi-houses in your lot: three for the new themes (country, Hawaiian, and Rave), one for the bathroom facilities, and one for your sims to sleep and eat and build up their skills in.
2)Go to work one day, party the next, etc. etc.
3)Download items off the internet(only a few at a time, however, so you can appreciate them and make sure they work).
4)Try going from family to family, each family having its own theme
5)And most importantly: DON'T CHEAT!!! EVER!! Cheating is for those six year-olds who can't raise a family properly.

You still may be wondering why this only got 3.5 stars.
-More of the same thing with only a minor element changed
-Gets depressing to stay at home. Going downtown or on vacation beats a party anyday.
-Other expansions offer more
-I'm not quick to give out good reviews!

Only would I reccommend this game if you have already purchased the other expansion packs. In conclusion, this game still has that "old feel".

Good expansion pack, but obvious it was rushed

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 12 / 13
Date: May 15, 2001
Author: Amazon User

I loved The Sims when it first came out -- it was bizarre and voyeristic, but fun to watch nevertheless. This expansion pack is good and fun, but not quite up-to-par as "Livin' Large" was. It almost seems as if the success of "Livin' Large" prompted the rush of the creation of "House Party" and the performance shows despite the great additions.

First the good: yes, there are a number of additions. Most of them have to do with having a party, hence the theme. There's a dance floor with a killer stereo (plus, dance cages,) buffet accessories with a caterer you can hire, a mechanical bull that helps a Sim's physical points, a birthday cake, costume party accessories, a mime that shows up when the party is dead and makes it worse, party crashers that show up, eat all your food and crash on your couch and Drew Carey shows up when you throw a big party and flirts with your guests (in fact, on his webpage it said that he was such a fan that he did the voice for the "Drew Sim" for the game.) Not to forget the "bubble machine" that mysteriously looks like a hooka -- your Sims tend to giggle while they blow on it and eat lots of food afterwards. :) And don't forget the chunk of new furniture, decorations and themes you can use.

Now the bad: unfortunately there seems to be glitches in the game that I've seen a lot of. The voices seem to go to the wrong Sims (i.e., my dad snores like a little kid,) they get stuck in areas (two Sims kept trying to walk down the street and kept getting stuck and dying in the street,) and sometimes the game just plain locks up, let alone plenty of other glitches. I have no doubt that Maxis will release a patch, and it could be worse, but they should have worked out all the bugs first before releasing the pack.

If you're new to Sims you have to get the first (I think both) games to play the latest, which can cost a little bundle. It's still worth it if you find yourself addicted to Sims from watching someone else or trying someone else's game. Think of it like playing dollhouse as a kid except all of the dolls interact.

If you're a player looking to buy the new pack, you'll enjoy the new pack especially if you like the game so much. Maxis doesn't tell you everything to look for on the game and it's fun trying out new things to find. The cops always come to my parties and break it up. :) Fun but slightly buggy game. They'll probably come out with another pack soon.

Have a Star drop by, or the Dreaded Mime

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 10 / 10
Date: March 30, 2002
Author: Amazon User

House Party is probably the second best of the Sims add-ons behind Livin' Large. The party idea is a good concept that provides a chance for your Sims to invite everyone in the neighborhood over for a toga or formal party, or even just a turkey dinner.

Some of the things in the add-on pack are weird, like the Mechanical Bull, the campfire, the costume trunk and the parlor game. They all seem to give your Sims great fun though, and the parlor game is good for speaking skills. The costume trunk can help liven up parties and prevent the dreaded Mime from showing up. There's even people to pop out of huge cakes, caterers, and food items that can be purchased with a party in mind.

The biggest drawback to this add-on is if you have the Livin' Large add-on the load time is increased. If you're running a fast system, 1.5GHz or higher you probably won't notice a big slow down, but it did slow down my 1GHz machine. If you have Hot Date as well the load time is really long.

The BEST expansion pack for The Sims!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 10 / 10
Date: July 10, 2002
Author: Amazon User

This has to be the best expansion pack that I ever had! It has everything from a costume trunk to a giant hookah
("bubble machine" as they so cleverly called it). There is caterer that you can call or just fill the buffet table yourself. You can hire cake dancers (not best for sim or human children to see). If you throw a bad party and everyone goes home a mime usually appears. But if you have a great party and everyone stays, maybe, just maybe a few celebrities will drop by. I myself have had Drew Carey who in fact flirted with my female sim. It was very funny. That was not even half the fun of the game so when you buy it you will get a few surprises and I don't want to spoil the game. I love Sims House Party! BUY IT!...

UNBELIEVABLE

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 28 / 45
Date: April 16, 2001
Author: Amazon User

I Just got this game the other day and wow! Its amazing! With the DJ's, camp fire ghost, exotic dancers, and check this out DREW CAREY! Also i've heard that if your party is horrible the Tragic Mime comes to try to get things going. Oh and also there's the party caterer. He's a funny guy. He tries on the costumes from the costume trunk. He cleans up, talk with the guests and even dances.

This game is a must have. If i knew this game was as good as it is i wouldv'e paid 40-50 dollars for it. Livin' Large was an absolutily great game. That added more skins and more neighborhoods which I thought was great. I always had trouble with a Sim living alone not having any social life. But with House Party he does whatever a Party Loving American would do. Take a day off from work have a party from 6:00 A.M until 3:00 A.M. Of course my Sim is a party machine. He's probably fallin' off the mechanical bull so many times i'm surprised he hasn't broken an arm. Except for one occasion my Sim hasn't been too bad. But one time he had a little too much to drink and passed out on the dance floor and forgot to wake up for work and got fired. But that was awile ago.

If you want to have a good enough party to make Drew Carey come I'd recommend knowing everyone in the neighborhood. Also have a Caterer, a DJ, a "surprise cake" with the exotic dancer. Also have a comstume trunk. The good thing about that is that only one person has to change into a costume and everyone changes.

Also its much easier to throw a party. Instead of calling each person you know (which is very boring) you can just hit the option "Throw a party"

Again this game is a must have. I don't think I waisted any money and if you like The Sims and Livin' Large you'll love this!

SLOW!!!!!!

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 12 / 14
Date: November 29, 2001
Author: Amazon User

Alright, here's the deal. House Party is itself a good game. It offers a lot of fun new objects such as the campfire and dance floor. However, I made the mistake of thinking I could have House Party and Livin' Large loaded at the same time. Man was I ever wrong. Trying to have both expansions loaded makes the entire game ULTRA slow. I've heard others say that it's only slow when they're throwing parties, well that's not true for me. Mine would freeze and grind for things it had never done with just Livin' Large (such as when the window pops up when they come and go from work). There are some adorable and hilarious things in House Party, but unfortunately all I saw of them was the equivalent of a snap shot. Things like the cake dancer would cause the game to grind and I would see the dancer freeze in a couple positions and then they'd be done. And I mean GRIND!!!! Where's the fun in that? Now I don't have the most up to date space aged machine in the world, but it is a reasonably normal machine and worked perfectly fine for Livin' Large.
So the moral of the story is I had to uninstall the entire game (causing me to lose all of my families) and reinstall it with Livin' Large. So if you want my opinion you can't have the best of both worlds, and when it came down to choosing which game I wanted installed I chose Livin' Large. And now that Hot Date has come out, I'm probably going to uninstall it again and go with just Hot Date.
The Sims is a fun game, but it loses it's luster when you sit for five minutes while it tries to work.

Brilliant!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 8 / 8
Date: November 10, 2001
Author: Amazon User

I own every single sim expansion-livin' large, house party & hot date. They are all brilliant, but I have to say, this was one of the best. You can PARTY I think is the main thing, with tons of new stuff! For instance, ever got fed up of the pathetic little music players? Get a DJ table, complete with tall blasting speakers and flashing dance floor in theme and time with the music, accompanied by the all-retro lit dance cages! Carry on your party with the catering table, hire the sweet little caterer to fill your white tablecloths with cake and fruit punch, and cut the roast turkey for all your guests to admire! Then, when you're all feeling a bit tipsy, gather round the dressing up box and all get into retro, evening, formal or hawaiian or many more different outfits for the evening....after you all pile into the hot tub in the sun and chat. Then, when the suds fade from the bath, gather round the bubble blowing machine for great socializing bubbles coming out of the top! If your guests get bored, bring on the seriously dodgy night-club guests, coming out of the large cake to flex their muscles or wave their rear end, or flirt with the DJ...And then, when it gets dark, gather round the campfire and sing songs, tell ghost stories, roast marshmallows or play the guitar to the setting sun. And, if your party has a good turnout, wait for the mystery guest from Simcity to come a-calling, whether it be famous rock star or blue haired grunge.
All in all, this was a brilliant package, and I particularly liked the new set of outfits, including 60s flower hippies and modern day grunges-for both sexes. I recommend you get this, and you will not be disappointed!

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