"Throw a party, get wasted"

The Sims: House Party is the second expansion pack to the said series. Simply put, you're putting down $20-$30 on this thing and you want to know if it's worth it. Basically, as the title suggests, you're throwing house parties. One of the Sims' flaws has been its haggling methods of interaction, and despite this, throwing parties gives you a little bit of newfound pleasure, but sooner of later, it gets old.

How parties work is that with any family, you can pick up a phone and choose to start a party. What this does is picks five random Sims in your neighborhood to come over and hang out. You can call multiple times to bring over more Sims if you like. Once you have twenty-plus Sims over, then it gets exciting, but first you'll need to accommodate to their needs. Typically, designing houses with plenty of bathrooms, as well as placing some big dining rooms (now made easier thanks to the more convenient one-tile tables) is the way to go. You can place a buffet bar and punch bowl and even hire a caterer to keep it full at all times.

There's new toys as well. These include a mechanical bull, a bubble blower (slight drug reference), a DJ booth, and a couple of dance cages and strobe lights. Yes, these new toys are actually fun to watch, especially as Sims go flying on the bull and others laugh. Also new are a couple of Simlish dance and rock songs should that tickle your fancy. Other stuff includes a large party cake (with male or female dancer inside), balloons, tiki torches, and a campfire for roasting marshmallows. There's also a new wardrobe option in which you can have everyone dress in specific costumes, such as disco, cowboy, luau, togas, etc. Throw a good/bad party and you'll receive a visit from the cops (for being too noisy), a lonely mime, or even a certain celebrity. Combine that with a few new themed western, rave, and Hawaiian floors, wallpapers, and furniture and you have some good content on your hands.

But in reality, like partying, you'll do it over and over again until you absolutely become famished with it. Really, the original Sims gameplay of doing daily tasks over and over again gets old, so the mindset upon getting this game will be “Build a party house, throw a party, throw a party, throw a party, etc…” Yes it does get boring eventually, and no thanks in part that it doesn't help the basic gameplay one bit either.

This game, besides partying, does have one good feature thrown in. Now when you call a certain Sim, you can now search for him in a more organized "phone book" of people you know. You can also chat over the phone and gain a few relationship points without the hassle of inviting the Sim over and accommodating to his every whim. I'm fairly certain these features were implemented in this expansion, although I may be wrong.

This expansion pack is decent and if you really like the Sims, it's worth it. However, I wasn't too keen on it as it didn't do much to help the series' aching problems.

Presentation: 7.5/10 – Now you can throw a party!! But it's still the same old Sims.
Gameplay: 6.5/10 – Parties are fairly interesting but just add another element of gameplay to be milked again and again.
Graphics: 6.5/10 – Besides a few new wallpapers and floors, it's still the same old Sims, and it's starting to look old.
Sound: 7/10 – Besides some new songs and a few new voice clips, there's nothing new about it.
Replay Value: 5/10 – Like an early morning hangover, the fun is limited for a period of time.

Reviewer's Score: 6/10, Originally Posted: 01/08/08, Updated 03/03/08

Game Release: The Sims: House Party (US, 03/26/01)