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SecuRom issue is a big deal/ Sims is over for me

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 31 / 66
Date: August 28, 2008
Author: Amazon User

I am so sorry to find out about this and the other sims expantion packs including the secuRom. Here is what i found out...
The Sims 2 and some of its add-ons have previously been using SafeDisc for copy protection until April 2007. Electronic Arts replaced SafeDisc with SecuROM v 7.x software protection ever since. Starting with The Sims Pet Stories, all Sims-related products since employ SecuROM. This includes The Sims Castaway Stories, The Sims 2 Deluxe, The Sims 2: H&M Fashion Stuff, The Sims 2: Bon Voyage, The Sims 2: Teen Style Stuff, The Sims 2 Double Deluxe, The Sims 2: FreeTime, The Sims 2: Kitchen & Bath Interior Design Stuff, The Sims 2: IKEA Home Stuff, and The Sims 2: Apartment Life. Claimed problems relating to SecuROM include prevention of proper launching of games, disabling of CD/DVD/Blu-ray disc burners, and disruption of antivirus programs. Some users have reported severe damage caused by SecuROM, resulting in system failures that required complete system reformats to fix. EA attempted to address some of these concerns on the official website. Despite user complaints, EA plans to continue employing SecuROM and its future versions in their future releases.
Since EA has decided that they don't care about corupting thier customers computer I will never buy another EA game.

Warning: This software will install SecuROM on your pc.

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 25 / 84
Date: August 26, 2008
Author: Amazon User

It is important to know that this software will put SecuROM on your computer so that you can make an informed decision whether or not to use it. SecuROM may possibly disable some functionality of your pc and peripheral devices. Use at your own risk.

wouldnt know how fun this game was

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 10 / 35
Date: August 29, 2008
Author: Amazon User

I have had nothing but continuous crashes since I got this game... getting very frustrating and so far have spent 4 hours trying to get to play

It's okay, I guess

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: September 01, 2008
Author: Amazon User

Whatever you do, don't buy this expansion pack for new hairstyles. There's only a few, and they trick you into thinking there's more with silly recolors. The new pony tail hairstyle takes up four slots. The only difference between them is the color of the rubber band! I am not kidding. I for one, do not really care what color scrunchie my female sim wears. It amazes me that the company who created this game still can't make hairstyles half as well as the community.

That being said, Apartment Life is great for new families. It only takes about 2,000 simoleans to rent a roomy semi-furnished apartment, leaving you with 18,000 simoleans left over to decorate! Finally, our new families can start out with some decent furnishings.

I have a fairly high end computer, and I've noticed that loading screens seem to lag with this expansion pack. Now I have to wait several seconds before the loading screen even pops up. Then it's a another several seconds before the bar starts to progress. I shudder to think what this means for people with lower end systems.

I don't like neighbors and friends calling my place and harassing me all the time, so moving in next to them had me worried at first. However, they pretty much stick to themselves. They spend a lot of time milling around aimlessly outside, so they're very easy to ignore, and they are easy friends for your career.

The roommate option is pretty cool. It's like having a neighbor in your house 24/7, and they pay half the rent. But you can't control them, so be prepared for your refrigerator to be raided half a dozens times in a day. Thankfully, they're much better at showering than college dorm buddies!

The phone now has a silent mode! I can't believe it took this long for EA/Maxis to figure this out, but I'm just happy that it's finally here. No more telephones ringing for hours on end!

After you play with your new clothing and furniture options, this expansion pack gets boring fast. Let's face it, Apartments are fantastic, but playing them is just like playing an ordinary lot. After decorating my sim's new apartment, I quickly grew bored because there wasn't anything else new to do. True, there are a few new interactions, but not enough to keep me exploring for long.

If you're a hardcore sims fan, you've probably already bought this. But if you're a casual player, I recommend waiting for the price to drop.

PROS:

- more money to spend
- unobtrusive neighbors
- silent phone option
- several new outfits
- roommates

CONS:

- even longer loading times
- not much more to do, gets old quickly
- uncreative hairstyles
- lengthy interaction menu (be prepared to click "more" about two or three times!)
- have to cheat to make your own apartment complex

Decent for the last expansion pack

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: September 02, 2008
Author: Amazon User

This game is good but surely not the best expansion that Maxis has given us for the Sims 2. I'd recommend this for any true fan of the series. It plays extremely well om my computer and is fun. B+

Gret Expansion for The Sims 2

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 33 / 34
Date: August 28, 2008
Author: Amazon User

Apartment Life in my opinion is better then FreeTime. It has added new hairstyles, clothes, items, and the fact that your sims don't have to spend a ton money on a house is great! Your sims can move into an apartment, and still have most of their allotted $20,000 to use on furniture or whatever you like.There is definitely a more urban vibe in this game that was definitely needed in the Sims!

The only things I'm not too fond of is the lack of being able to simply build apartments. You can do this! BUT you must use a cheat code to turn your apartment building into an ACTUAL apartment. Otherwise it will simply be a big house for purchase. Another thing is the driveway. I'm not sure if you can have cars with apartment buildings int his game. Which is too bad since I have a nice collection of custom cars :D

Overall its a great addition to the game!

On the whole, very good

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 26 / 27
Date: August 28, 2008
Author: Amazon User

I have had this game for several hours now and am generally pleased with it. I had no problems with the installation with SecuRom, but I may have already had it as I own all the other expansion packs for Sims 2. Some aspects (such as the magic) may prove a little complicated, and there aren't any cheat or hint pages up for this game yet, so I've had to buy the guidebook, which I don't normally do. As for the apartment living aspect, it is very similar to dorm living in Sims 2: University, so experienced game users shouldn't have any trouble.
On another note, I gave this game four stars total because I feel a little misled by the creators. In chats and promo videos they stated that there were tons of new outfits and thirty-something new hairstyles, which I was excited about, as making people is my favorite part of the game. What the game actually includes is three or four new hairstyles with, say, eight different colors of barrettes or ponytail holders. There are several new kinds of furniture, activities, floor tiles and wallpapers, though, just like the creators promised.

Apartment Life in DVD format only

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 21 / 26
Date: August 28, 2008
Author: Amazon User

I have only played this game for a little while and it's fun! so much to do! This is a DVD so please make sure you have a DVD drive. (your computer able to play movies). This EP comes only in DVD format.

A bit disappointing-some spoiler info. if you don't have the game

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: September 02, 2008
Author: Amazon User

Let me first say that I have every single expansion pack for The Sims 2 and have not had any issues with SecuRom. I do have a brand new computer so am not sure if that makes a difference. I was really looking forward to this expansion pack because it is rumored to be the last since the team needs to work on The Sims 3. I thought it would be much more fun but it is not really that interesting to me. The best part is the magic where a witch or warlock can obtain powers. It was very easy to get my witch up to complete powers, unlike in The Sims where it took a very long time for my people to be fully magic. I have actually found myself missing The Sims lately and it is mainly because Studio Town was so cool and having your sims be superstars, etc. was fun and the magic was much more detailed than it is in The Sims 2. If The Sims could age, I'd go back to it in a heartbeat. It almost seems like the creation team was in a hurry to release this so they could focus on The Sims 3. I'm not really excited about The Sims 3 because they play in the background when you aren't playing and that doesn't always go with the story line you had in mind.

BEWARE!!

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: September 02, 2008
Author: Amazon User

This game is wonderful it adds awesome hair styles (for girls) and it gives you the choice of the color of the hair tie. There are also alot of different clothes added with this expansion. The apartments are fun to play, and makes the game more realistic. It gets sort of annoying though because the neighbors are loud alot of the time and I always feel bad telling them to stop but it really influences my sims.
Anyway you are probably wondering why my review is titled BEWARE!! well its because the disc only works on DVD-ROM drives, not like the rest of the expansions which are CD-ROM. So we had to return ours and we had to buy the direct download from EAstore.com.
Hope this helps :-)

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