With all the prepublicity around the launch of The Sims 2, I was concerned that the game was being overhyped. Addicted as I was to the first version of this popular life simulator, along with its seven expansions, I was looking forward to the sequel, although I did have some doubts about the claims being made.
A new 3D engine that allows you to go right into the middle of the action, almost infinitely variable characters, more realism, the addition of genetics - these were all being publicised before the launch. But how could you improve on an already brilliant game?
Living up to the hype
However, 10 minutes of playing convinced me that The Sims 2 is all it is made out to be, and more.
The improvements are evident right from the start. Character creation has become more advanced, allowing you full control of every detail of the Sim`s facial and bodily appearance, personality and ambitions. To begin with, I created digital versions of my wife and myself, and they looked uncannily like us too.
There are three different neighbourhoods to play in, each with their own background stories and quirks. Plus you can create your own custom neighbourhood. The Sim "Scotts" moved into Veronaville, with neighbours named after Shakespearean characters. After all, I didn`t want my digital family being contaminated with alien DNA, which would have happened had they moved into the Roswell-like Strangetown.
After buying a house and furnishing it with the bare essentials, the "Scotts" got right down to business and tried for a baby. Here is one of the ways the game has become much more realistic. The first edition of The Sims allowed a couple to adopt a baby who would annoyingly remain a baby, no matter how long you played. In The Sims 2, the characters have sex (under the bedcovers), get pregnant, have morning sickness (you even get to see your pregnant Sim hunched over the loo doing her thing), give birth and raise the baby through toddlerhood, childhood and the teenage years, until the offspring becomes an adult and chooses to move out or continue to leech off mom and dad.
Art imitating life
The 3D engine is impressive, allowing you to zoom in on any object or person, right down to the face. And speaking of the face, characters are much more realistic, even changing expressions to suit their moods.
By the time my digital counterpart retired from work (it was creepy to see myself as an old man), he had advanced to the level of city councillor, had built a beautiful three-storey home you would never have seen in the first edition, and had fathered two boys.
But you aren`t limited to the traditional family either. The Sims 2 is very much a modern game and allows for same-sex relationships and also lets a Sim have two or more love interests. Just don`t let one partner walk in when another is making out with a third. It usually leads to quite a bit of face-slapping and name-calling.
There are many more character interactions than in the game`s predecessor. Under the kiss category alone you can choose whether your Sims give each other a peck, a tender kiss, a romantic kiss, a family kiss, kisses up the arm or make out.
One thing that really annoyed me in the first version was the fact that you had to micromanage everything, from eating to going to the toilet. Thankfully, the artificial intelligence has been much improved. If a Sim is hungry, he`ll eat. And no more emptying bladders on the floor either.
The clock seems to have been slowed down a little too, which means a Sim actually has time to eat or shower before going to work or school, and this is a much-needed improvement.
Like the first version, you can take snapshots and create a family album, but an addition is the ability to create video clips so you can record anything you want to remember, like the birth of a new baby, a fight, or the first kiss.
Keep on playing
The Sims 2 has everything you could want in a life simulator - action, romance, drama, angst, comedy - everything that real life is made of. Did I say everything you could want? Well, that is, until the first expansion.
Just be warned. Once you start playing, it`s not easy to stop.
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