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Save Your Money...and Possibly Your Computer's Functionality

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 135 / 147
Date: October 30, 2007
Author: Amazon User

Two words: Bugs and SecuROM v7.

I'd have a lot more fun with this game if I was actually playing it. But as usual, this EP shipped with a bunch of gameplay bugs and also an ugly, potentially dangerous form of copy protection by Sony called SecuROM.

A Brief on Bugs:

- Game shipped w/a programming error that created Tour Guide after Tour Guide, unchecked. Too many character files in a sim 'hood means too many opportunities for them to corrupt and your 'hood to go boom. A third party fansite had a fix before EA did (like two WEEKS before EA did). The fansite fix didn't weigh in at a whopping 15 MB like the EA patch did either, considering the EA patch fixed very few things and another will be needed. Must be fun to download on dialup.
- One of the game's Twikii Island locations has an object issue that slows gameplay to an excruciating crawl. A prebuilt lodge in the woodsy vacation hood has no grill or phones, so sims can't cook or order room service and must leave to eat. A secret location in the Twikii hood is so poorly constructed it grinds the game to a halt. Stuff like this should've been caught in testing...BAHAHA! Like they test this game, ugh. Poor devs. I do believe they want to make a great game, but the time constraints put on them by EA management makes them churn out bugfest after bugfest.
- Funky installation errors told some people that they had to uninstall previous EPs to install BV, so they followed that advice and TADA! Doing so wiped out their entire saved games folder. Sure, you should always back up before installation, but that shouldn't happening in the first place.
- This EP has a new 'feature' called the Launcher, which will connect to the internet to inform you of patches or other EA spam before you get to play. Many people, myself included, found that 1) this game takes long enough to get running, extending the misery for spam isn't appreciated and 2) bypassing the Launcher via running directly from the SP6.exe made for much smoother gameplay, possibly because the game isn't still trying to connect to the web. *shrug* I don't know, but it did make a difference for me; the game was hitching and lagging the few times I used the Launcher, but was much smoother when I bypassed it and yanked my wireless router cord out of my computer when I played. EA denies the game 'phones home', but denial is their standard fallback position, and it might have more to do with the ugly new noose they've decided to put around our necks w/this EP...

Say 'No' to SecuROM:

SecuROM is Digital Rights Management (DRM) or copy protection software. EA doesn't want you copying the games you buy from them. 'Kay. *cough*violatesFairUseAct*cough* But SecuROM v7 is DESIGNED to disable software, like CD/DVD burner drivers or emulation software, that it thinks might be used for 'pirating'. DaemonTools, Alcohol 120, and the like.

Oh, and factory installed versions of Nero and Roxio too...?

Yes. Seems the version of Securom shipped w/BV wasn't updated enough; anything it doesn't recognize as kosher gets shut down, so if you've got a newer comp, it could very well affect you most of all. It doesn't happen to everyone, but that it's happening at all is unconscionable. Because of a game, some people are having drives REPLACED because they don't know about Securom's effects, reformatting their computers, finding their antivirus settings altered, and in the biggest of ironies, some are searching the web for ways to strip their comps of Securom and use a NoCD cracked .exe to run their purchased games, as they cannot otherwise.

Securom is PIMPING piracy! More simmers than ever are now aware of how to go about it, out of fear of what Securom might do or has done to their own or other people's comps.

In the US, none of the boxes came with any warning whatsoever that the DRM used might cause these kinds of issues. If you install BV, Securom installs with it, and the 'removal' tool from Sony EA was forced to post on the official site (after being harangued into investigating several weeks after BV's release) DOES NOT fully remove Securom from your comp. You're stuck with it, and due to it's very rootkit like behavior, it is a total bear to completely remove. Once you or a tech remove it, w/the Sony tool or otherwise, you cannot play the game you paid for. And problems Securom can create with driver software may or may NOT go away when you remove it, either.

BV has been out 3 months and EA has still not addressed this very serious issue in any satisfactory way. In fact, EA is blithely sticking with Securom for all its future games (it's in a lot of them already). People are contacting the FTC, states attorney generals, and the BBB about this issue.

Some who aren't suffering make light of it, blame people's comps, or call others hysterics, but when something that came unannounced with a game starts dictating what you can or cannot do with your comp outside of the game, it's not hysteria, it's major. It's affecting PAYING CUSTOMERS, people who gladly pay for every title they play and would never condone nor be involved with software piracy, and worst of all - Securom is a total failure as copy protection. NoCD cracks (ie. Securom-less game .exes) were available within 24 hrs of the game's release.

Anyone can understand a publisher's need to protect their product, but not at the expense of people's personal property, time, money, aggravation, livelihoods, etc. If this is the wave of the future, I want no part of it - we own our computers, not EA or Sony.

***If you are responsible for the welfare of your comp, you need to seriously evaluate the possible damaging consequences of installing this EP or any other game that uses such invasive and possibly debilitating copy protection software.***

EA has a Securom board on their official TS2 site, look it over, draw your own conclusions.

Check out the Bioshock, Neverwinter Nights 2, Command and Conquer, and Supreme Commander game boards too. It's not just BV that has these issues; those games all use Securom too and have similar problems.

Do I have anything nice to say about BV? The water's pretty, and walking to lots is cool. But my simming buzz is pretty dead right now from game bugs - and worrying about the future of my computer's functionality if I decide to upgrade a component or add a peripheral that Securom decides it doesn't like.

I wish I'd never installed it.

*Edited, as time marches on. Please see comments for updates.

Extremely slow and annoyingly glitchy

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 75 / 95
Date: September 11, 2007
Author: Amazon User

I was really excited to get my hands on this newest expansion pack in the Sims 2 franchise. Unfortunately, it didn't live up to my expectations.

I'm running Windows XP with more than one gigabyte of memory, which (according to the requirements on the box) should be more than enough. It isn't. I experienced the worst slow-down in loading times. Even "Pets" wasn't this bad! To load the game took nearly five minutes. To load the neighbourhood took another five. Then it was another couple of minutes to load a lot. I thought that my custom content was perhaps slowing things down. So I got rid of all of it. I didn't notice any difference. I can't imagine trying to run this expansion pack with the recommended minimum 512 megabytes of RAM. I'm not sure the game would ever even load.

I took my Sims on two vacations. For the first, I took a single woman to Twikkii Island. I noticed how slow it was right away. With all the other Sims wandering around these vacation lots, there's bound to be a bit of lag. I had her visit the beach. It rained and the gameplay grew even slower. I had her visit some ancient ruins. The game slowed almost to a stop when she encountered a hot springs (it must've been the steam animation). It was just too much for my computer. Plus, each time my Sim walked to another lot, there were more minutes of loading time.

For the second vacation, I took a couple and their child to the mountain vacation destination. By this time, the loading times were really starting to annoy me. I only had them visit one other lot, and I made the mistake of having the mother and daughter play on the log roll. The mother got completely stuck, and I had to look up how to free her using the debugging tool. A search of the BBS on the official site shows that I am not the only one to experience this problem.

I didn't bother having my Sims visit the Far East destination. By the time I got my poor glitched family back from their vacation, I'd had enough.

The developers seem to be using their customers as beta testers. That's fine if they tell you that. But when I buy an expansion pack for my favourite game, I don't want to have to avoid certain gameplay experiences until a patch is released. These issues - if they are as common as they appear to be - should have been addressed before the games were finalized and shipped.

I've uninstalled "Bon Voyage". I'll go back to playing with the setup I had before. And I'll seriously think twice before wasting my money on the next piece of memory-hogging garbage that's released under the Sims 2 brand.

SecuROM ALERT!!!

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 43 / 47
Date: October 10, 2007
Author: Amazon User

Unbeknownst to you, this particular Sims 2 expansion pack will install SecurROM (a rootkit style copy protection created by Sony) to your pc and you won't be able to get rid of it. It's been known to screw up hardware configurations left and right. Nasty!

Last Game I EVER Buy From Maxis/EA Games

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 39 / 42
Date: October 25, 2007
Author: Amazon User

As much as I enjoy The Sims 2, this particular package has ruined the experience for me. Don't get me wrong, the game is great, but it is NOT worth the headaches SecuRom has caused. SecuRom is an anti-piracy software that comes packaged with the game and is installed on your system WITHOUT your knowledge. If I had but known the problems it would cause, I would not have installed it. I cannot write to my CD drive now, and after having called Maxis, they make it sound as if I am the only person experiencing this. They try to overlook the real problem and try to target game play, but I don't have a problem with the game. I DO have a problem with what their insecurity has done to my system. They finally gave me instructions to uninstall SecuRom, but THEY DON'T WORK. WARNING TO ALL WHO HAVE NOT YET PURCHASED THIS GAME, BUT ARE THINKING ABOUT IT. DON'T

It was a'right

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 46 / 56
Date: October 13, 2007
Author: Amazon User

After the breakthrough of Sims 2 seasons, I found bon voyage a bit of a let down. In order to really get to the action you need to gather your sims family and take them to one of several vacation destinations. There, your sim checks into a hotel and has a 'vacation.' He/she has several new 'wants' and 'desires.' (Including the desire to pick up the local lingo, go on a tour, etc). While I had plenty of simolians to take my sims for a lengthy vacation, one of the things that irks me in retrospect, is that it requires a reasonable amount of dough for your sim to have a good time. (I don't cheat, so I have my characters work for their money). Second, it has a few bugs. For example, my sims starved in the local restaurant waiting for their dinners.

I do like the beachfront animation, the fact the sims can swim in the water, and the new properties where you can make your own store and other structures.

I found some of the tours to be silly... My sims were going on a tour, saw a giant camera, and when they dived down to touch it they got... Water lice? Ummm.... Okay. Who thought that up? Lame.

Overall, while I enjoy it, this expansion lacks the whollop of Seasons and/or pets and at times I found this to be a trifle silly. 3 stars.

Very dissapointed....

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 30 / 32
Date: October 17, 2007
Author: Amazon User

I'm pretty sure I might have had fun with this expansion pack if it hadn't shut off my CD drives (its not just that, my printer doesn't work either) and let me play my game. When I installed Bon Voyage I wasn't aware that a program called "SecuROM" was also installed along with it, and thanks to that, my CD/DVD burners are no longer functioning. Anytime I put the Bon Voyage disk I get an error message that tells me to put the actual game disk in the CD drive or something like that, when the original disk is actually in the drive already.

I can't burn or back up anything to disks, I can't play DVD's, it's just a disaster. Before I could figure what was causing all of these problems, I logged on to the official website to report my disk problem (asking for the original) which is when I also learned about SecuROM. It turns out that this software is causing all of these problems and there is no easy way to remove it. It installs itself with rootkit-like behavior, its very hard to find, and thus, very hard to remove as well.

As you can tell, I was extremely disappointed to read about this, and will be reformatting my whole computer to get rid of this nasty problem very soon. I just want my computer to function once again like it should, and I will NOT be reinstalling Bon Voyage or purchasing anymore products from the Sims 2 line until its guaranteed that the game won't cause any other annoying problems with my computer. Its such a shame that I didn't get to enjoy this game like I should have, and it's even worse that I can't play the game I payed $30 for, and that it just really messed with my computer.

And that's the only way I can sum up this game: very disappointing.

I liked it

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 27 / 29
Date: September 07, 2007
Author: Amazon User

Overall, an excellent expansion. However, I would say that this expansion only applies to "hard core" players who enjoy different aspects of the Sims rather than just "life". It gives exactly as it promises: vacations. So does this really add to how your sims live? Not really. Unlike, say, Seasons or University, the Bon Voyage is more of a nice little add on rather than a change in lifestyle. Everything about this pack looks great. I haven't really encountered any bugs thus far. The vacation "badge system" is nice beucase it can make your vactation as goal oriented as you want. I enjoyed how in order to earn some local customs, you just have to let your sim roam around on his/her own (it allows the NPCs to approach your sim). So it's almost a vaction for the player compared to the nitty gritty details of Open for Business. The three premade vacation spots are different enough in that it will make you want to visit all three. Tons of new objects allow you to create your own vacation spot or just spice up a home. Also included are a few new serious build tools for those who enjoy making custom houses. So, as I said before, a really nice and well put together add on. I would rate other packs over Bon Voyage based only on necessity. But if you just enjoy the Sims and like those little touches that make it that much more like real life, Bon Voyage is a worthy investment.

Not Happy about Bon Voyage and SecuROM!

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 26 / 28
Date: October 16, 2007
Author: Amazon User

I was looking forward to Bon Voyage, and HM Fashion Stuff. I have them sitting on my desk ready to install for the last 3 weeks! Thank my lucky stars I did not install either one. I was waiting for the patch. I was waiting to see what people thought of the patch. If I would of known that Maxis was putting SecuROM in the games, I would not of purchased either one of them. I will have no choice but to box both games up and send them back to Amazon for a full refund. As I can do that since they still have the seals on them. I will also cancel my pre-order (Teen Stuff pack) As I am aware that it will have SecuROM on it as well.

Installs unwanted program that can be harmful to computer

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 22 / 24
Date: September 06, 2007
Author: Amazon User

The expansion was really bad, but the worst part is some kind of program called "Securom" that installs itself on your computer.
The problem is that sometimes when I try to start the game, this unwanted program locks the whole computer and I can't do a single thing, I have to turn it off by the powerbutton which is NOT healthy for a computer.
This happens 8/10 times when I try to play the game and it's not worth risking destroying my computer, so I'm uninstalling this game and never buying a Sims game again.

Not that great

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 36 / 48
Date: September 12, 2007
Author: Amazon User

First of all I totally agree with La Coccinelle's review. I have plenty of memory, graphic cards and anything else that this game needs to run and it is terrible, the graphics in my opinion are cheesy, it took forever to load and as my person on Twiiki Island was actually having fun it all crashed on me. I have unloaded the game and now my computer is happily running how it always does, great...honesty I feel these expansion packs are being put together too fast and not tested really well. The more that come out the more I am getting annoyed, there aren't that much things that adds to decorations, as I said the graphics are cheesy and it is not worth the time it takes to load the game for it to just crash... I can't take it back so it will just sit on a shelf collecting dust waiting to see if they come out with a patch or SOMETHING that will get it to work...I would not buy this until it has been out long enough for the glitches to be worked out...

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