The Sims: House Party

"Not as good as the other expansions"

I own The Sims and all 6 expansion packs. Now, I think The Sims is a great simulation game, but I think this expansion pack (House Party) is not as good as some of the other ones.

STORY: X out of 10

The reason why I gave the story X out of 10 is that you choose the story. You could have a normal family of 2 adults and 2 children, or just a one person family living by him or herself. You choose how you want your Sim to live each day.

GRAPHICS: 7 out of 10

Graphics haven't really changed since The Sims came out in 2000. You could call the new skins, objects, and build mode things new graphics, because they were not in the other expansions. The animation of the graphics are smooth and usually responsive. But, if there's a lot of people at a party, the game might slow down on some older PCs.

MUSIC: 9 out of 10

Music is basically the same as The Sims. There's some new music that can be played on the DJ booth, however. Background music is the same as The Sims. It isn't annoying music, but it isn't the best ever for a simulation game.

SOUND: 5 out of 10

Repetitive. First of all, the Sims speak a language called ''simlish'', which is just some gibberish. I don't think it's annoying, but it's repetitive. However, some of the repetitive sounds include: the buzzing of flies over a plate, and the burglar alarm. The ''plate flies'' as I like to call them, fly over dirty plates and make a consistent buzzing sound. The burglar alarm also makes an annoying buzz sound, but it only makes the sound when there's a burglar coming to your house. There are also many more annoying sounds. The annoying sounds is why I gave the sound category a 5.

CONTROLS: 10 out of 10

Controls are simple. You just really need the computer mouse to place and rotate build mode/buy mode objects, make your sims do a certain action, etc. You also need the keyboard, too.

GAMEPLAY: 8 out of 10

The Sims: House Party adds 3 things: more neighborhoods, parties, and new items.

There's 3 more neighborhoods added, which brings the total # of neighborhoods (if you have Livin' Large) up to 8.

Parties are the biggest feature of this expansion pack (hence the name House Party). Before you start, you have to prepare for the party by buying a buffet table for food and you also have to buy things that would help out the party a lot, such as things that raise the fun, bladder, and normal things you would find at a party. Next, you have to use the phone to call a Sim under the ''Host Party'' option. Your Sim will call another Sim, and they will call more Sims to come visit for the party. Once you get the party started, your sims will find things to do, and depending on how well you prepared the party and if the guests are doing fine, somebody will come, such as the mime. After the party, things might be a mess, so you should hire a maid. The parties are pretty fun, but I don't usually host them much.

And, like all expansion packs, there's new objects, such as chairs, a new rocking bull, and a DJ booth.

REPLAY VALUE: 10 out of 10

The game never ends. You could be playing in the year 2020 if you wanted to, and it would never end. It's fun, and that is a great thing to have in a video or computer game.

THE BIG QUESTION: Buy or rent?

Well, if you're interested in parties for your sims, then you should buy. If not, and you just want to buy it for the items, then buy. I didn't like this expansion as well as the other ones, because it really didn't add much in my opinion. If you don't have the money, then you should ask your friend if they can lend it to you (if you want it).

OVERALL SCORE: 7 out of 10

THE GOOD PARTS: Parties (if you like them), new items

THE BAD PARTS: Annoying sounds, and this expansion pack didn't impress me, as it had only 1 small feature that I don't use much (parties).

In my opinion, this is the worst expansion pack. It didn't have things that I use much, but I like some of the new items.

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 07/06/03, Updated 07/06/03