The Sims 2

"A tentative purchase at best."

Screams to Be Ignored

The Sims rocked the world when it released back in 2000. Its quirky and unique gameplay appealed to millions, eventually shattering records by becoming the number one selling game in history. After years of spawning extensions onto the original Sims engine (some of which were horrible), it became clear that the aging system would need a makelift soon. With the release of The Sims 2 on the PC, Maxis made good on its promise of improving the graphical as well as emotional experience, combining sugary-sweet visuals with a far more in-depth look at the life of the Sims. An example of this is the new generation system, allowing the player to raise generations of Sims each with their own unique look and personality, as well as a computer coded genetics system that determined a Sim's "DNA" according to their parents physical and emotional traits. The result was a very polished and engrossing experience. Unfortunately, the system requirements for The Sims 2 forced a gamer to sell his mother's dog and wedding ring to buy the memory and processor necessary to run it. What do such high requirements mean for this Playstation 2 translation? Nothing good.

I am naturally tentative when buying PC-to-console ports as they usual end up being a stellar disappointment when compared to their desktop counterparts. It was no different with The Sims 2. In fact, if anything, I was more doubtful with this title since I was going into this with the knowledge of how different the two platforms are. We all know full well that the PS2's aging processor and GPU are left in the dust when compared to the powerhouses that Intel and AMD have been churning out since the PS2's launch way back in '99. The odds of even a decent port of The Sims 2, essentially a memory-eating monster, were somewhere in the range of slim to none. So, theoretically, this game can only do wrong.

I hate it when I'm right.

When Tiny Flaws Snowball

The Sims 2 does still offer the character customization that we all know and love, allowing you to decide each Sims' physical features as well as their emotional and sanitary tendencies. As expected, the options you are given are greatly reduced from the PC version, but that's a small gripe considering the good level of customization available. The biggest problem with the Sim creator is that you can't modify their faces nor their weight. You can, to some degree, change how their weight is distributed throughout their body (i.e. bigger shoulders, thicker calves), but you can't have Santa Claus fat. Small complaints aside, the Sim creator does its job well. Another little treat is the character randomizer for those that just want to get in the game and start playing. The randomizer basically determines your Sim's parents and combines them to make a Sim which comprises of a mix of the cosmetic and mental traits carried by both parents (except gender, you can't be half-guy-half-chick). Sadly, the concept of carrying on traits to children, and the entire generation idea, stops there. In-game you can't have children, thereby eliminating one of the greatest draws in the original Sims title and the most essential element of its sequel. Naturally (or unnaturally), with the removal of "generation" Maxis also removed aging. Death has been greatly downplayed as well, your neighbor may die in your home of food poisoning then mysteriously be ringing at your doorbell with flowers the next day. Since there are no children, The Sims 2 is less about creating a virtual family than it is about having virtual frat parties all the time. The outcome of the removal of these rather crucial gameplay components is something that more closely resembles a graphically enhanced rehash of the original PC game than a program that deserves to be called "sequel". The line that separates the first game from this pathetic port is blurred indeed.

That's not to say that there is nothing to differentiate the two. On the side of things that were included, there are several worth mentioning. In The Sims 2, when your Sim is preparing a meal they decide which ingredients go into the cooking pot. Depending on which ingredients you choose, the nutritional value and the meal's effect on your Hunger Bar will change. That doesn't mean that you can throw in just any nutritional food item and hope for a meal fit for a king. Some ingredients don't go well together and what comes out of the oven may smell bad, taste bad, or even be poisonous. On the other hand, if you can find the right recipes, the meal may raise your Sim's traits or his capabilities in love, art, and so on. This kind of variation is definitely a breath of fresh air, expanding the importance of one of the most overlooked tasks in the original title. For those that don't want to go through the chore of choosing ingredients every meal time, there's an option to cook a generic meal similar to that found in the first Sims title. My only gripe with this new system is that during split-screen multiplayer games it becomes a nuisance. Since the ingredients menu comes up every time a Sim wants to eat, and said menu fills the entire screen, when one player wants to eat the other player has to wait until his friend is finished selecting ingredients before he can move on with his game. This ruins the feeling of independence from one another, a more streamlined menu should have been used to maintain the feeling of a virtual world existing in real-time.

Visually the game is still a delight. Maxis managed to squeeze in several of the most hilarious animations I have ever seen in a video game. You'll see what I mean when your Sim suddenly pulls out a sock puppet mid-conversation. The Sims can be incredibly mean and rude, sometimes unbelievably so, but it all adds to the humorous atmosphere that the game's bright colors and wacky facial expressions create. The Sims still speak their ridiculously funny language. The radio commercials and television programs are so over-the-top that you can't help but laugh, and the radio stations' songs are such prime generic examples of their genres that you'll swear you've heard the song somewhere else before. I was surprised to discover they weren't speaking English at all after I listened closely. Seducing Sims is just as sinfully pleasing as in the first game. If you don't know what I mean, get two of your Sims in the sack and try not to hoot. The framerate seems to run at a smooth 30 FPS for most of the game, though the system chugs when you draw the camera back.

The shopping and building menus make comebacks in The Sims 2, and they work almost entirely like their counterparts in the original game. Unfortunately, they suffer the same structural flaw during multiplayer as the food menu. Having to wait just because your friend can't decide on which chair they want to buy isn't any fun and can be a drain on your patience.

There are two kinds of gameplay modes in The Sims 2: career mode and a free play mode. Free play is exactly what the first Sims game is, you create a family and care for their needs, meet new friends, etc. Career mode is almost exactly the same, the primary difference being that you can switch your homes and the amount of Sims you are in charge of increases as you advance. In Career Mode, you must fulfill the goals of each Sim that you are in control of. Their goals depend on their predetermined aspirations. This kind of gaming mechanic where you are told what to do doesn't really lend well to the open-ended gaming that made the original such a smash hit. Since you're basically just fulfilling goals to advance to the next home, every time you advance you'll just end up doing more of the same. This can get boring, doing hours of work with only a new house or piece of clothing as a reward isn't very balanced.

Conclusion

Despite some radical developments in the graphics and audio departments, the lack of anything actually new is largely responsible for the game's failure to live up to its predecessor's name. Since Sims don't age and Maxis failed in incorporating some sort of generation system, the impression that this is a luckluster attempt at milking this rather stale series is further strengthened. Even if you liked the original Sims, enjoy its rather simplistic gameplay, and are looking for a party game, this should be a cautious purchase at best. However, if you're in the market for something beyond what the original title and its multiple spawn have to offer, you're out of luck.

Reviewer's Score: 6/10, Originally Posted: 05/26/06