Addictive but charming

At Last, in six hours on the computer, I can recreate myself in a better looking version, marry a sexy rich celebrity I've always dreamed of, get promoted to my dream job, have as many kids as I please, then die. Then, I can marry off my kids to even hotter, richer celebrities, generation to generation. Who wouldn't love this game?

Now, I myself have never played the origianal sims game, but after the sims2 I don't think I ever will, because this game is far too great. This game is like real life, but easier, and you controll everybody. To get better at something, cleaning, for example, you either read a book about cleaning, or actually mop or scrub until a small blue bar above your head fills up and you have earned what the sims2 calls a "skill point". Once you get a number of these, your promoted to a higher job. I always think to myself, "Why isn't LIFE this easy?".

The sims2 is a life simulating game, which means that over time, each sim will grow from a toddler to a child to a teenager to an adult to an elder. And unlike the sims, you die. Old age, Starvation, Electrocution, Drowning, Fright,Burning, Being randomly crushed by a satalite, you name it. I love this new addition, for more in tune to real life reasons, not to mention fun for voodoo (Now I can create a sim of my boss and kill him, painfully). Sims can have babies too. I love this, because its fun too see what the parents genes mixed together will look like on a kid. Plus, I can now have an imaginary child with Brad Pitt, which turned out, may I add, adorable.

Creating sims is without doubt maybe the funnest part of this game. Shape a sim's eyes, cheeck bones, jaw, lips, ears, whatever. Lots of fun clever clothing options, including sexy pirate suits and a number of costumes for different carreers. The hair options are O.K., but I do with there were more. Other changable things include skin and eye color (including black eyes and green skin for aliens), makeup, face paint, glasses and personality, which is different amounts of points for certain personality traits. For example, 9 neat points will be a very neat sim. (probably a virgo).

The music in this game is catchy as ever and really creative. I could not discribe it in words, for it is not like any other music I know. I have a song in my head now.....hm ba ba hm hm hm.....lol. If your sims buy a radio, you can listen to songs (some actual songs, some made up) in sim language, which I believe is called simlish. The sim language is cute and jibberish sounding, sounds a little like french, but more random and annoying "Jhibby Jhabba!". Plus, everyone that is the same age and gender has the exact same voice, which is frusterating. The sound effects are astonishing however, from bubbles popping to toilets flushing, from chopping vegies to beeping carpool horns. When no one else is home, I turn up the sound very loud and enjoy it. The sims2 will make you dance, its so catchy!

If you adjust some things in the options pannel, this game has amazing graphics. Shadows in the night, glitering sim eyes, realistic looking faces. When you leave the game on for a long time the graphics get a tad fuzzier, but its barely noticable. The one thing I am bugged by is sim hair, which never moves, even if a sim were to hang upside down. I would like some pixar hair graphics generators to meet the sims team, now! Hair help!

This game is great for people who love building things, because there are many interesting house building options in the sims2, including floors, foundations, walls, gardens, roofs, wall paints, pools, ponds, stair cases, pathways, terrains, fences, doors, windows, archways, pillars, fireplaces, and a whole lot more! The house building options never end, and as you play this game you get better and better. objects in this game include chairs, beds, tables, fridges, counters, toys, easels, books, exersize machines, paintings, mirrors, dressers, the list could go on and on. There are a lot of items I could think of that this game should have but doesn't, like I think kids should have backpacks for school, but thats just me. I have played this game forever and I'm still not a building houses expert...
The sim food in this game is great and tasty looking too, yummy steaming mac and cheese to tasty baked alaskas. Food can go bad pretty easily though, which is dissapointing.

Another nice aspect in this game is carreers, which range from slackers to scientists. Your salary, job and work outfit changes as you move to the top by making other sim friends and getting skill points.

Sim relationships in this game are kind of silly if you ask me, because you can become best friends and fall in love in a day, which is silly. These things take time! Sims can talk, play, hug, entertain, annoy, argue, fight, kiss, flirt and prank other sims. There is also what the sims2 calls "woohoo", which is well, sex in a nicer term. Of corse, the game doesn't show very much, just covers moving and squealing sounds, but we all can tell what it is, and that's the main reason why the game is rated "T for teen", even though I started playing when I was nine.

Another great thing about this game is the sims2 online community. There is a vast amount of costom objects and sim hair and clothes you can download online, which makes the game more fun, but also slower. On the game you can Take screenshots and put them into an album along with captions, which allows you to make sim stories that you can publish online. Many edit their expert pictures in photoshop and write creative interesting stories for others to read, enjoy and praise around the community. The sims2 is loaded with talented people from all over, which is great. There are an unlimited number of websites deticated to this wonderful game.

Even though sometimes this game feels like doing the same things over and over again, I've never gotton bored from it and continue playing to this day. The only thing that bugs me about the sims2 is that as your watching sims grow up, you start to feel like your wasting your life with your butt on a computer chair. My suggestion would be to buy this game and play it, just don't get addicted and play with moderation.

price: I payed $30 for this game, I bought it at game stop at the mall. It's totally worth it, too!