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PC - Windows : Sims 2, The Reviews

Gas Gauge: 90
Gas Gauge 90
Below are user reviews of Sims 2, The and on the right are links to professionally written reviews. The summary of review scores shows the distribution of scores given by the professional reviewers for Sims 2, The. Column height indicates the number of reviews with a score within the range shown at the bottom of the column. Higher scores (columns further towards the right) are better.

Summary of Review Scores
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ReviewsScore
Game Spot 89
GamesRadar 90
CVG 82
IGN 94
GameSpy 100
GameZone 94
Game Revolution 80
1UP 95






User Reviews (21 - 31 of 601)

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Great gameplay - while it lasts

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 41 / 51
Date: October 29, 2004
Author: Amazon User

I'd like to begin by saying that this game is great to play. It's entertaining, addictive, and better than the original. I especially appreciate the quirky humor and minute details that were given so much thought by the designers. Just be aware that you need much more than the minimum requirements to have the game run smoothly.

However, it seems that the game was released without proper testing, and has a MAJOR bug problem. If you play for too long (in my case about 3 weeks), you will develop what is known as the "jump bug" where the characters in the game can no longer interact with each other. Anybody who has played the original Sims knows that this basically means game over. Before you buy this game I urge you to check the official Sims 2 page and make sure that a patch is available at http://thesims2.ea.com/. At the time of writing this review, EA and Maxis claim to have a patch in the works but it is not yet available.

Do a little research before you throw $50 down the drain.

Sims2 is everything I hoped...

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 28 / 31
Date: September 17, 2004
Author: Amazon User

I ended up sharing in everyone's frustration and I didn't receive my game on time. (I ordered from another website, and I bought it in the store when I called and found out that they had 18 copies of the DVD version waiting on people to buy). Fortunately, I paid more for the preorder than I did when I bought it at the store, and I can return the other copy when it's shipped to me.

I haven't had a problem with loading times at all. I have a 1.8 GHz processor, with an ATI Radion 9800, 512 Megs of RAM and Windows XP Home Edition. I upgraded to XP Service Pack 2 and updated my ATI drivers beforehand (there's a version of the ATI drivers that says that .NET Framework 1.1 needs to be installed, and that's what I did). The game loads up in about 30-45 seconds on my system, compared with 3-4 minutes, if not longer, for the Original Sims. The only thing I had a problem with is a choppy video sequence with the EA logo and the initial SIMS2 title, but have not experienced any choppy video with sims moving around and changing the camera angles at the same time.

The only thing I would advise is...make sure you have the minimum requirements (there ARE some video cards where the game states that you need a 1.6 GHz minimum processor). Being several months ago when I learned about this game and I was upgrading my video card for other reasons, I made sure my video card was the one recommended for Sims2.

Overall, I like the graphics and the playability of this game (much smoother than the original and much better looking). I can't wait for expansion packs to come out of this game as well and will buy every one of them.

Here's a tip for those who didn't know... after the "EA logo", press escape and then you'll skip past the opening title sequence. That's how I got the 30-second load time.

Kiss your life goodbye

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 26 / 28
Date: September 17, 2004
Author: Amazon User

Well, I have never played the first Sims game, but after reading 400 reviews based purely on anticipation, I got kind of swept away by the hype and decided to get meself a copy as well. ( By the way, I live in South Africa and I got the game in a local computer store onthe 16th, so go figure) All I can say is be prepared to have your real life being taken over by the digital lives of The Sims. My wife and I started playing yesterday afternoon,just to see what the fuss is about and the game kept us going till just after 1pm!! Were both addicted to everything from the amazing graphics, the innovative gameplay and just the whole concept of it. By the way, I had no problems with loading times(Pentium 4, 3.0 processor, ATI Radeon 9800XT, 512 RAM)
Sure, go out and buy this game. It will come at the expense of you having to abandon friens, family, food etc.
Vive le Sims2!!!!

The no. 1 selling game, deservedly so

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 23 / 24
Date: May 07, 2006
Author: Amazon User

Unless you've been living down a big, dark hole for the past 4 years, The Sims will need no introduction. Not only was this game the biggest selling PC game of all time but it also offered a completely new experience for all those wannabe Gods out there, there was nothing like it before and apart from the numerous expansion packs the only thing that came close afterwards was Singles: Flirt Up Your Life which was basically The Sims, with more emphasis on bedroom antics!

But now, after much anticipation, The Sims 2 has arrived! If there is anyone out there still asking "but what are The Sims?" then you really need to get out more, or maybe I need to get out more? Either way The Sims offers a simple concept, players get to create a little computer person (or a whole family), design them a house and then completely run (or ruin!) their lives from their career, relationships and even bathroom habits. So what is The Sims 2? Well take everything I've just said and make it 100 times better and you have The Sims 2!

As soon as you start the game up the first major change that hits you are the games graphics which take The Sims totally into 3D, the 3 pre-designed neighbourhoods that come with the game are huge filled with tree's, rivers, bridges, flying birds and of course an array of houses (some empty and some housing numerous new families) and what's more, each neighbourhood is totally different with their own stories and overall style, fans of the first game will recognise many of the families in "Pleasantville" such as the Goths who now consist of a greying Mortimer and an adult Cassandra, Bella has mysteriously vanished however.

The next change that hit us was the "Create a family" option which has also had a major overhaul allowing players to create totally custom Sims with a number of hairstyles, hair colours, pre-set faces, types of facial hair, eye colour and clothes and to make it even more editable, players can fiddle with numerous parts of their Sim to get him or her looking just right from the shape of their eyes, width of their chin and length of their nose; everything is customisable. In short, players can re-create anyone they want to from real life family members to celebrities to a spooky likeness providing they have the time and patience to mess around with the editor for long enough! As I'm sure you have guessed, this "create a Sim" editor is a massive improvement on the first games "create" mode but if we're going to be picky, one cant help wondering why Maxis left out other important feature changers in the editor such as height and a few more body shapes (at present we have thin and fat), I know there is always room for expansion packs (as we know from the original!) but with such an excellent "Create" mode, it's a shame they didn't go the whole way and add more body adjusters.

So, you've chosen a neighbourhood (or created your own), have created a family of Sims and are now ready to move them into a pre-made house or design them your own. Should you choose the latter you will notice the next obvious change to the franchise. The build tool has been considerably improved, houses can have a maximum of 3 floors as well as foundations and a roof top floor allowing players to build much bigger homes for their families than in the first game and as you would expect, the game offers a much wider variety of floors, doors, windows, wall coverings and fences allowing players to really design a custom home from scratch and thanks to the 3D graphics and variety of build tools homes in The Sims 2 look much more realistic than ever before.

Also to feature a lot more variety is the "buy" mode which gives a number of colour and style variations with almost everything that is available to buy, clicking on a bed for instance will bring up a number of options including the colour of the wood and bed covers allowing you to truly mix and match the objects in your house.

So onto the actual gameplay and again, despite the concept of the game being the same (keep your Sims happy) The Sims 2 feels different from the very moment you being to control your families, for a start the `characters' that you create have a much deeper feel to them, they seem to show expressions, develop their own feelings and come with a host of new animations that allow them to show off their new personalities. No longer do they carry the very basic needs such as "bladder" and "hunger" (although you still have to tend to these), your Sims now come with life aspirations meaning they aspire to a particular goal in life from fortune (their goal is to be rich), knowledge (these Sims have a passion for learning), Family (self explanatory, family orientated), Popularity (these Sims "need" to be popular) and Romance (again, self explanatory).

You simply cannot explain this without an example so take my family of Sims, "The Simtons" which consist of a mother (Sarah) and father (Dave) and a young son (Robert). Now, Sarah was blessed with the family aspiration and wanted nothing more than a big, happy family. Unfortunately for her she was partnered (by my good self!) to Dave who had the fortune aspiration meaning he was obsessed with earning money, getting the kid into private school and swatting for promotion. Down the road lived the young "Andrew" who carried with him the romance aspiration and whilst Dave was at work one day, Andrew and Sarah got to know each other pretty well, in fact, they ended up sleeping together, nothing too exciting so far right? Well unfortunately little Robert had seen the goings on and was stood outside waiting to greet his father from work in tears, Dave came home and Sarah came running downstairs all very innocent, she walked past Dave as if nothing had happened with a sheepish wipe of her mouth and a quick shake of the head Sarah thought she had gotten away with her quick rumble upstairs...Dave however had been told of what had happened and refused to speak to her for days, in fact it took quite a while for me to get their marriage back on track! At this point, you would've been forgiven for forgetting that these characters are not real people, despite the great job they do of convincing you otherwise!

Another way they try to convince you of their realism is through their animations, Sims will now lounge across the settee with their feet up and head resting in their hands, in bed adult Sims will cuddle up to each other and when watching TV, parents and children can snuggle up together while two adults can get "romantic" on the couch! I bought one of my Sims a double bed after it showed up as a "want" of hers (more on this later), she was so pleased with her new possession that she promptly began re-arranging the pillows and then laid down on it and began day dreaming, it looked so realistic. Toddlers can also be found crawling across the floor in search of an adult and young children play a number of games including the very violent "cops and robbers" which involves one of them falling to the ground after being "shot" by the other!

Ok, so The Sims 2 is more realistic, what else is new? Well as mentioned earlier, the Sims now develop "wants and fears" in addition to their "needs", wants usually accompany the Sims aspiration so a "fortune Sim" will constantly want expensive furniture, promotions and money whilst a "popularity Sim" will want to make new friends and host big parties. Fears can be based on a number of things such as the death of a loved one, a grade D report card or a rejection of a kiss, its your job to fulfil their wants and stay clear of their fears and watch the aspiration metre fill up, points are awarded for completed wants and a good aspiration meter puts your Sims in a `platinum' mood.

Finally, your Sims will now age, there are 6 stages to a Sims life ranging from baby, toddler, child, teenager, adult and finally, old age and unlike in the original game, Sims can now die of old age. Families are also backed by a family tree meaning that the game remembers who is related to who so in practice, you could raise a child to a teenager, through adulthood, witness them raise their own children and finally grandchildren before he or she dies leaving a long history behind him. This feature adds tons to the depth of the gameplay.

So that's the game, but the question is, was it worth the 4 year wait? In a word, yes. The Sims 2 is what everyone wanted The Sims to be, the graphics are great, Sims get a couple of days off work and school for socialising and brushing up on skills, everything is fully customisable from the houses to the Sims themselves and the aging system coupled with the aspiration system just makes The Sims 2 more addictive than ever and what's more, they no longer take 1 hour to use the toilet and no longer need to go to bed at 17:00 in order to get up for work in a morning! If you're a fan of the original, you will love this, if you hated The Sims first time around, chances are you will hate this one too but on the whole Maxis have done an excellent job of creating a successful sequel to the best selling PC game of all time.

Wow! Huge improvement over the Sims 1!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 20 / 20
Date: December 26, 2006
Author: Amazon User

The Sims 2 is an amazing game that is so much more complex then The Sims 1. I've had it for 1 or 2 months, so I've developed a final opinion. I will write my pros and cons on this game below:
PROS:
~Sims are so much more fluid-If a sim walks by they'll look at them and when a sim sits down next to them they look at them too.
~You can pick more then 1 outfit for your sim like you had to in the Sims 1. You pick everyday, formal, PJs, undies, swimwear, and athletic wear.
~Sims have more lifelike interactions
~When your sim has a baby, they're pregnant for 3 or so days and every day their baby bump gets a little bigger, rather than the baby just popping out of nowhere.
~Your sims age and there are 3 new age groups-toddler, teen, and elder.
~Your sims has an overall asparation like Family or knowledge and they have specific wants and fears that fill up the sims asperation meter to make them happy.
~More interactions with baby-you can acctually see it, not just this green blob, and you can move it around. The toddlers are adorable!
~You can build homes with basements and as many stories as you want, and the building options are way more complex.
~Your sims have a calender and they get days off work and school.
~The whole create a sim screen is an amazing process and I love it so much that half the time I'm playing, I'm creating sims. It's really detailed-you can design them down to the tilt of their nose!

CONS:
There aren't many cons in this game, but I'll think of a few.
~Sims get annoyed at not being able to get to objects when there is a very clear path! Once my teenage sim missed school because she said she couldn't get past a bush and there was 3 tiles around it that she could have walked on!
~I have some trouble installing custom content, but most of it gets installed.
~While the game is much faster to load in the beginning, it takes a while to get into neighborhoods and households. That's understandable though because it's such a complex game.

That's my review of The Sims 2. Overall I think it's a GREAT game!

The Sims 2- What can't you do!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 22 / 23
Date: January 07, 2004
Author: Amazon User

What can I say? Maxis have really hit it off this time with it's modernised version of The Sims. It seems that they have rid us of all the boundaries that the original put up. Here are just some of the new features:
Your Sims now age (instead of staying in some time warp) through different stages. Baby, Toddler, Child, Teen, Adult and finally geezer. If however you like the age that your sims are, you can toggle this option off.

Different ages have different wants from life. Toddlers, for instance, wish to learn to walk (and get help from parents) whilst teens want to invite a crush to a party and can end up being dragged home by the cops, lol!

A whole new 3D view to your sims lives is now here. You can get so close to your sims that you can see their realistic facial expressions! You can also change the camera angle so that you are seeing it from the eyes of a sim.

Houses have been modernised thank god. You can now have attics and decking and can also build your home on a hill. Loads of new wallpapers and floorings have been added and you can now place doors and windows on diagonal walls. As neighbours are more likely to visit each other than those at different ends of the SimCity4-style neighbourhood, you can move your sims house to any lot you want!

There are now real wedding ceremonies and not just for hetrosexual couples either. Family means a lot more now as the kids grow up and leave to live a life of there own and have their own kids, grandma and grandpa, aunt and uncle, will still stay involved and you can look at the map to see where they are.

Its not just houses you can build on lots. You can build shops and resturaunts so your sims can just pop across the road for some groceries, or a gourmet meal so it feels like a real neighbourhood.

There are new motive bars. (hunger ect)I know that the social bar is now divided into family and friends and that there is another, mind, which measures how stimulated your sim is though im not sure if there are more than this.

Sims also have a lifescore now, so that every time something significant happens to them, theyre score will go up.

DNA exists in this game, so kids will inherit their parents features and skills. Also, things which hapen to sims in their lifetime will affect their relationships in the future and their personality.

I can't wait for the new game to come out, only 2 months 8 days and 5 hours to go!

AS MUCH FUN AS IT'S GREAT LOOKING!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 22 / 23
Date: September 29, 2004
Author: Amazon User

Let's get over with the myth first: Sims2 is not an add-on for Sims freaks, it's an entirely new game with a new engine. Which is why the load time is a bit of a slug on a laptop (desktops may be better), but once it is on it's quite a breeze.

Needless to say the 3D graphics are superb. Creating new Sims is a ride with some fiendishly enjoyable custom controls, they let you set the exact look and personality you wish. Create a family and kids inherit genetic traits from parents, all of whom can now also grow old and die etc.

Cut a long story short, this is clearly the game that Sims1 was gunning to be. Quite different and a whole lot better.

All new all better

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 22 / 23
Date: September 30, 2004
Author: Amazon User

I really thought I'd play this game a week and go back to my old Sims. I loved making houses and neighborhoods so much, and I had so much stuff from Sims Resource and Well Dressed Sims. I just knew there was no way this game could satisfy my building urge. I was very wrong. I have been sucked into a world of stories and intrigue. My best friend and I discuss daily the differences our stories and Sims lives are taking. Who they are marrying, who they are sleeping with, who was born, and who died. When my first Sim died of old age, I actually felt a sense of loss. It's a lot of fun, but be prepared for addiction. Don't get this game unless you have a lot of free time. I'm pretty busy right now and it's driving me nuts. I highly highly recommend this game.

Cutting edge, award-deserving game - way over the top!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 21 / 22
Date: September 21, 2004
Author: Amazon User

What an experience!!! After spending years playing the original Sims and all of the expansion packs, I really wondered what could be such the big deal. This game is simply amazing.

I really worried reading some of the other reviews from those who couldn't get the game to run right because my computer is almost two years old. But I checked the specs and I was okay. The game runs seamless, completely perfect.

To those of you whose games do not work properly because your PCs aren't quite up to it, I just want to say that I don't blame you for being totally bummed. I'm really sorry you aren't able to enjoy the game. But the game itself doesn't deserve terrible reviews. The game is just cutting edge, as it needs to be. The game is a technological upgrade and, therefore, has to be run on an equally cutting edge machine. I thought, perhaps, the game wouldn't run on my machine, but it did. However, I was preparing myself for the worst. I did, however, check out the specs before I bought the game and knew what the requirements were.

The graphics are fabulous and I was delighted by the intricate detail of everything from objects to facial expressions.

You can really get up close and personal with your people and this makes it a lot of fun. The aspiration goals are fun and its cool that they are constantly changing. I like how, after you fulfill a goal, the aspiration goal bar turns into a slot machine and spins out new goals. Very cool.

I didn't mind so much that there weren't a vast and endless array of stuff to buy. There is more than enough for now and downloads are available every day. I was checking out some really cool clothing on a download site today. Wallpapers, floors and objects will start surfacing and expansion packs will come out. There is more than plenty available in this game for endless creativity.

I am just beginning. I spent several hours on character creation and house furnishings, getting the house just right. After about two hours of actual gameplay, I'm totally hooked. There is endless stuff to do. I'm already up too late. . .



Best Game of the Year

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 18 / 18
Date: July 07, 2004
Author: Amazon User

I found this on a website and tells everything about it! I can't wait for this game to come out!!!

FACTS ON THE SIMS 2:
-Sims can get married and the whole family is invited
-The household limit will be eight
-Adult Sims are not required to get married in order to move in
-Sims can marry first cousins
-There will be 6 life stages - Infants, toddlers, children, teenagers, adults, and old age.
-The weather can change
-You can own two homes
-You can turn the ageing process off.

-When a woman is pregnant it will show
-You will go to the hospital when its time to give birth
-Sims will know which bedrooms is theirs
-You can marry people like the burglar, maid etc
-Elderly people can have sex
-There is a special type of kiss called the family kiss that parents can give their children
-Sim parents can choose which school their kids go to the better the school the better their education level
-There will be cheats
-Their will be weekends
-Short missions - like invite boss over if goes well promotion may come quicker.
-Partners will be choose on interests, social experiences, and looks.
-You will have to potty train children.
-You can kick the children out of the house when they are older
-There will be a community area
-Clothing will be separate like pants will be chosen and then top and shoes etc.
-Sims of the same gender will be able to marry
-The Sims 2 is 3D
-There will be over 500 objects and furniture will age in time
-A wedding, funeral or birth will be a much bigger event in the Sims 2
-Sims will show if they are fat, thin, or muscular
-Sims will be aware of what's going on around them
-Sims can be killed through lots of different ways
-Female Sims can have twins and triplets
-There will be 18 career paths for adult Sims, 7 careers paths for the elderly and 7 careers paths for teenagers
-Elderly Sims will receive a pension
-Pregnant woman will get morning sickness


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