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Saturday, November 13, 2010

The Sims 2

Product Details
The Sims 2

The Sims 2
From Electronic Arts

Price: $53.98

Availability: Usually ships in 4-5 business days
Ships from and sold by Hitgaming Video Games
116 new or used available from $8.99
Average customer review:

Product Description

The Sims 2 is an incredible sequel to the best-selling PC game of all-time! You'll get to direct an entire Sims' lifetime, and try to get them to reach their goals in life. Will they have a long, successful and happy life - or will they end up poor and heartbroken?

Product Details

  • Amazon Sales Rank: #1480 in Video Games
  • Brand: Electronic Arts
  • Model: EA9965814
  • Released on: 2004-09-14
  • ESRB Rating: Teen
  • Platforms: Windows 98, Windows 2000, Windows Me, Windows XP
  • Number of items: 1
  • Dimensions: 2.00" h x 5.25" w x 7.75" l, .60 pounds

Features

  • Sequel to the hit lifestyle simulation
  • Manage your Sim's dreams and fears over a lifetime
  • Mix Sim genes and see physical and personality traits inherited down through Sim generations
  • Movie-making feature lets you control the camera and capture the action into mini movies
  • Also available in DVD Edition

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com The Sims was one of the most popular games ever made. In it, players micromanage the lives of a family of virtual people, or Sims, and influence their paths toward success or something akin to a nervous breakdown. Its open-ended blend of cartoonish behavior and everyday living is unique in an art form otherwise obsessed with carnage and sports. With The Sims 2, long-time fans now have a deeper game with lots of ways to customize and share their experiences. The game will also attract first-timers because the goal-oriented gameplay and the luridly fun starter families make it easier to get into the action right out of the box.
Now Sims are born with the traits of their parents, families grow, and Sims grow old.
The People in Your Neighborhood The game starts at the neighborhood level. Here you can create a housing development from scratch or start with one of three premade neighborhoods, each with its own theme. From there, you'll settle on a house and a family of Sims to control.
The Sims 2 body shop
Create your own Sim (above) or your own house (below) from scratch with advanced tools.
The Sims 2 house-building tools
Aside from the basic needs carried over from the previous game, Sims now have aspirations, wants, and fears. The wants and fears are the day-to-day things that occupy their minds, like wanting to see friends or get married and fearing death or being rejected for a kiss. Satisfy their wants, and they become more efficient at completing tasks you assign them. Realize their fears, and Sims become lethargic, cranky, and unresponsive to your commands. Aspirations are the big-picture things, like raising a family, becoming wealthy, and gaining knowledge. Succeed here and you'll be able to buy odd gifts for your Sim to improve his or her life, like a money tree that pays dividends or a "fountain of youth" water cooler.What Else Is New? Of course, you wouldn't be able to juggle all that if it weren't for the improved "Free Will" option, which makes it easier for Sims to fulfill their basic needs. The artificial intelligence of the game is noticeably improved; they won't turn on radios just as a family member is going to bed but, strangely, they do occasionally put their dishes on the floor. Another big change in the series is the concept of the lifespan. Now Sims are born with the traits of their parents, families grow, and Sims grow old. Not only does this go hand in hand with aspirations (growing up is the first aspiration that a baby Sim will have), it provides a limited time with which your Sims can achieve their goals.
Sims in live mode
The Universal Control Panel helps you manage your Sim family.
A Family Affair The Sims 2 not only lets you create just about any type of Sim in any type of family, build elaborate houses, and even create a neighborhood from scratch, but it also allows you to start the game in medias res, with premade households. These families all have backstories that are smart spoofs of soap-opera plots--lots of scheming, romance, ghosts, and family fighting. Parents of teens shouldn't worry, though, because nudity is tastefully blurred out and "woo-hoo" between Sims takes place completely under the covers. The ESRB has given this a Teen rating. If The Sims 2 were a film, it would likely land between PG and PG-13.The makers have included some nice tools to help share the universe you've created. For example, you can capture in-game stills and video to show friends the private moments, family interactions, and house parties of your Sims. You can even package a household to share as a blog or an album on a special Web site. The Sims 2 is for patient gamers. Like life itself, the game is filled with mundane details, like getting ready for work and doing dishes. The game also demands a level of creativity from its players that the run-and-gun game genres wouldn't know what to do with. But those who stick with it will be rewarded with an absorbing, amusing diversion and a virtual family history that they've created themselves. --Porter B. Hall Set Up a Sims 2 Machinima Studio Amazon.com contributor Porter Hall reveals how you can make movies using the Sims as your actors. See his guide to setting up a Sims 2 Machinima Studio. From the Manufacturer In the The Sims 2, you direct your Sims over a lifetime and mix their genes from one generation to the next. You set your Sims' goals in life; fame, fortune, family, romance or knowledge. Give them a long, successful existence or leave their lives in shambles. Take them to extremes, from getting busted to seeing a ghost, from marrying an alien to writing a great novel. Unleash your creativity with the all-new Create-A-Sim feature, new building options, and the new in-game movie camera. Get ready to mix their genes, fulfill their dreams, and push them to extremes. What do you want to do with your Sims' lives? Sims 2 DVD Edition Content:

Customer Reviews

Maxis #1 All Time Sims 3D-Game Ever!5 I believe this game will be the best Pc selling game ever! Why? This is all the options that we will enjoy and have for thesims 2. **************************************************************** Building Options - Create mountains, build multiple story homes, with basements, put doors and windows on diagonal walls. Calendar - The new sim calendar will work by the week instead of month. (ie your kids birthday is next Monday). Cameras - Now you can place cameras all around the room to capture a party from all angles. Careers - For adult sims, there wi.ll be 18 careers, with 10 levels each. For teen and old sims there will be 7 careers, with 3 levels each. Also elderly sims will receive a pension upon retiring. Diaries - Now you will be able to create video as well as snap shot diaries of your sims life. Family - The family limit will still be set at 8. But new to TS2 is the ability to create all ages, except infant, in the create-a-sim area. So you could start out with a Mom, teen, and toddler if you wanted. Leaving the house - The only option to leave the home right now, is to send your sims to their second home, which you can also create. However a communal area is being considered. Life Moments and Big Decisions - These will effect your life score, and also have an effect on your sim as they get older. Some of these included: Toilet training, first step, first kiss, first crush, getting a job, getting married. Will Sims actually get pregnant? Will they still have to kiss to have a baby? - Yes! Sims will get pregnant but instead of kissing, a 'play' feature can be used in a bed or hot tub. What is the Create-a-Sim tool? Is there going to be a demo of it? -The Create-a-Sim tool is a program that will allow you to completely customize every aspect of your Sims facial featurues. This will allow you to make any Sim you want! Even yourself! And yes, there is to be a demo release of it between August & September. What about clothing customization? - Clothing articles will now be seperate from each other! Meaning that a pair of pants will be seperate from a shirt, creating alot more ways to mix & match! Can you customize hair/make-up, too? - Yes! In the Create-a-Sim program you will be able to change hair color & style, & apply make-up to your sims. You are also able to do this during game play using special objects such as mirrors. Will there be more than 2 floors? - Yes! I've seen as many as 3 floors, plus a basement, for a total of 4! And More... Makes the original Sims Look like Pong4 WOW am I impressed with this new version of "The Sims". My gut feeling tells me that you're not going to be able to sell your old versions because everyone is going to want this one instead. I knew it too because when I saw the previews, I stopped buying the expansion packs, immediately, just to wait this one out. How is it? Fantastic. The graphics are fluid and smooth, the characters have fingers, wedding rings, facial expressions, man, you name it they've worked on it and it's obvious. The clothing has fluidity (the hair too) and zooming in close up to a character's face really shows some detail. Nice, nice job. Playing the game *is* pretty similar to the first but you can tell Maxis did their homework and I can just see Will saying: "Okay, THIS is what the fans want" cause it sure looks like they worked on it. For instance, its the little things that make a difference. When a sim walks in the room, the other sims react, say hello... I had a dad come home from work and the child he was close to dropped her toy and ran out to greet him by jumping in his arms. They are no longer stiff like the first Sims, they have reactions which are pretty cool. Also, there's an amazing amount of detail. The fridge has a variety of food (and can be emptied now, unfortunately, but you call the grocer) and the more a Sim knows how to cook, the different varieties of food they can make. A Sim can cook either Salmon or Mac and Cheese and they look exactly like they seem. That was pretty wild to pause and inspect. What else? They age. Yup, they sure do. It's better than the first and more difficult as well. My Sims tried for a baby -- and first of all ended up with twins! Holy cow, that was work. Now, the infants cry for different things and just feeding and holding them doesn't work anymore. They're specific. Changing the diaper... bathing them... all the little things you'd expect with a baby, except they're babies for only a few days, then toddlers for a few days, then they turn into kids and teens and so on. Think its easy? Nope. You gotta nurture the kid through your Sim. Early nurturing calls for good development. Teaching them to walk, talk and communicating makes a better child who is better in school eventually. Unfortunately, I've got some lazy sims who don't want to help their kids with homework and the social worker keeps coming to take them away. It goes pretty quick, too. This isn't your old Sims games, either... they don't just sob a bit when this happens -- the parents endup traumatized. Neglect the Sims and there's consequences. Let's say... the sim's social meter is really, really low. They can actually snap and start babbling. Next thing I know, a therapist drops in and starts helping the sim out. Funny part of that -- the therapist is only visible when you click on the sim that is nuts. How funny is that? Oh... remember the ghosts? They're actually pretty creepy in this one. They move things and will animate other things as well. Apparently, they have a certain colored glow for how they died. Haven't figured that one out yet. Building the homes is pretty cool, too. Yup, you can actually put in a basement, but you have to dig a hole first and that kind of thing. Windows can be put in for multiple floors and staircases are customized. I miss the circular staircase, though. What else is new? Lots of furniture, customizing the roofs yourself, which is definitely a bit tricky if you're not creatively adept and spraying the grass different shades... i.e., brown, green, light green... like that. Learning how to build the houses takes as much time as learning the new Sims habits. Good stuff? You want the "fun" stuff? Oh, the Sims are a LOT more flirty, little more R-rated but never oversteps the line. "Playing in bed" is no longer -- it's called Woo Hoo! You can "goose" a sim and flirt different ways.. you can have Woo Hoo in the hot tub and apparently in public as well (by the way, you can travel to little park areas like in the expansion packs of the first Sims.) I may point out that there is a difference between Woo Hoo and Try for a Baby. Woo Hoo I believe is w/contraceptives (LOL) otherwise, try for a baby seems to be no problem as my Sims get knocked up pretty quick. Oh! The neighborhoods... you have three different neighborhoods (and you can customize how they look... there are quite a few similarities between these neighborhoods and SimCity... hmmm.... I wonder why?):) Well, you can add all kinds of things... rocks, wildflowers, ocean surf, rainbows, clouds...etc. The only thing I wish is that you can see this stuff when in the homes. Example? You place 20 giant rocks in the lot next to a Sim home -- inside the sim home you see nothing but a plain. Maybe they'll fix it later, who knows? But each neighborhood has a "story." I got the guidebook and apparently, you should visit certain houses first before others. They have a chain reaction. But that's if you want to actually work on the storyline. You dont' have to. The funny one would be the Strangeville neighborhood which Bella Goth has been sighted in (LOL) and there's a crashed space ship nearby. People do get abducted by aliens, yup, but it's the MEN that get impregnanted. That's pretty hysterical. Anything bad? Just a few. It does play like the first, but technologically-wise, we're not up to artificial intelligence, yet, so I'm pretty happy with what they've got. There are a few glitches in the game I've come across already (i.e., a fire starts, fireman comes... but the fire just keep burning for eternity.) As for loading it, I had some pretty big problems and couldn't do it for four hours -- massively ticked me off. Ended up returning the discs to get new ones and they worked fine. Got problems running it? I'd recommend checking their site for tech issues. It helped me. but I have no doubt a patch will be coming out soon. Oh, and there's no rain. I checked and waited. Apparently, they've had problems getting the rain to work so they took it out. Great game. Lots of fun -- can't wait what to find out next. Be prepared to lose track of time...5 I have been looking forward to this game for many months and it finally came!! I wanted to give it a good week or so before I reviewed it, so I can find out more about it. This game is rated very highly because they really put in a lot of thought when it came to the upgrade! The good: * The most impressive part of the game is the fact that you can fix a camera at all angles and the 3D is just amazing!! You can view a house from every aspect!! You can also zoom a foot in front of two sims interacting! * The sims movements are fluid and realistic. If a parent comes home, a child may run outside into the parent's arms. If someone comes into the room, a sim won't ignore them until you tell them to do something---they will automatically start talking to them, just like in real life. * You can download items right into the game as you are playing if you are connected to the internet. There are not too many choices, not sure how to get more, but I have downloaded 2 houses, an entertainment area/shopping center, and a new computer into my game, and it was very quick! * A previous reviewer complained about this part of the game, but I thought it was great! You can create a sim right down to the details of how big their forehead is. You can put makeup on them and "custom" style their hair in shades of pink, blue, etc. Men can have different styles of facial hair, or 5 o clock shadow. You can alter the size of their lips, nose, eyes, body type, etc. Then, when you have a mirror in the house, you can do it again and again (only the makeup, facial hair, haircut---not the eyes, nose, etc.) * You can buy many outfits at a time, even for other members of the house! You can mix and match (tops and bottoms) or whole outfits. You can also buy formal, pjs, underwear, swimwear, and exercise clothing. * Sims age, but you can stop it if it's moving too fast (it does) When the sim is pregant, her tummy will show and the father can rub it or talk to the baby. When the baby is born, you can change their diaper, change clothing, feed, play, etc. When the baby becomes a toddler, you can teach them to talk, walk, and potty train them. * The sims now have aspirations, wants, and fears. You pick their aspirations when you create them. (Family, knowledge, popularity, etc.) Then, based on their aspirations, you are given choices as to fill the wants and you are given points if they do so. You can buy "rewards" with the points such as simoleon money trees, a "love" tub, mood lifter, etc. As with the genie in the bottle in the first sims, these can also go horribly wrong. Ex: the mood lifter can also ruin your mood and when you have money trees around, visitors that come over will "pick" from your money tree as well, even if you don't want them to. * You can now chat online, email, order groceries, play video games, and receive emails over the computer. * Phones can call other sims, order pizza or groceries, call housekeeping, exterminators, repairmen, nannies! You can call for emergency, call a taxi, and call work if you want time off or want to retire. * Sims have days of the week that they work, days off, and vacation days where they still get paid. You are also given little choices while they are at work. Ex: A sim worked as a police officer, the others wanted doughnuts, she wanted to make nice with the other officers, but didn't want to get into trouble. What do you do? Based on your answer, you could be demoted, or given a raise, etc. I can go on and on. The bad: * There are not as many choices for furniture. There are some, but I have a feeling you are going to need expansion packs (once again) which I'm not happy about, since I spent so much money and have bought every sims game ever made. I will say this though: there are a lot of choices for floors (carpet, stone, linoleum, tile, etc) There are choices for walls (paint, wallpaper, brick, etc) There are new furniture items, not just the ones we saw in the original sims. I will still buy the expansion packs (and there are no animals in this one either) but, like I said, I'm not happy about it. * Though there is a aging off choice, I cannot find out how to get a money cheat. (if someone knows one, please email :) ) But, at the same time, maybe it will make me appreciate the game more, because I keep moving houses once they make a little more money. The very ugly: * Though I have only had one problem with a "glitch" it was still annoying. I will say that my computer has not crashed or frozen during the time I have played the game, but at one point they were playing with a dartboard, but became frozen in front of it. I couldn't delete it because it constantly said it was "in use" when it wasn't. So, family members would stand in front of it, and their needs would go down. Quite annoying. You have to move houses if you want to get rid of it. * I know a lot of people have complained about the game, how it has not worked on their computer, and I feel bad for those people. I think it may be because I have a DVD rom, and maybe that will make a difference? My computer is not even that fast---it's a Dell, and it's over a year old. I didn't even think the game would work on my computer because sometimes the security gets in the way and games won't even install, but I had *no* problems whatsoever. (Knock on wood) I hope this helps, I am going to waste more time and play this addictive game!
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