Great new options

Note: Make sure all your graphic drivers are fully updated before you play to avoid frustration later on.

I've been a hardcore Sims fan since the days of Sims 1, and I delayed getting Sims 2 for a while since I was so hooked to the original. Even after making the switch, which I'm glad I did (hurray for 3 story houses!), I sometimes cheated and turned the aging feature off..

Open for Business is the first expansion that I bought for the Sims 2 because it just sounded more enticing to me than the other expansions. It offered the opportunity for your sim to work at home, giving the home a whole other dimension instead of just giving them somewhere else to go.

The first thing I have to say is that I've been playing the expansion for months now and still haven't explored all the new possibilities it offers. I just enjoy coming up with new and different ways to make a home business with the new objects they provided. You can even stick a ticket counter by your front door and charge people to use your house. Just imagine the possibilities with that one -_^ (I've applied that to a never ending hedge maze once...).

The expansion, like the other expansions, adds a lot of new objects to the games that offer a lot of new possibilities.
Some of my favorites:
* The elevator, which you can also use on residential lots, for my lazy, spoiled sims. I also used this to make a really beautiful, insane 3-story house with the elevator connecting to a roof deck. It was pretty funny when the elevator broke down and there were no emergency stairs (haha :p ).
* I also love the "crafting" stations, which allow your sim to make flower arrangements, toys, and robots to stock their shelves with and sell or put around the house. Earning crafting badges also adds yet another thing for your sims to work on (they basically represent your 'experience' in making certain things, so a better badge = a better crafted product).
* One of my favorite home businesses is a little salon with living quarters upstairs because that is what one of my friends wants to do in real life :D
* Shopping cart! I didn't even notice that there wasn't one in the original Sims2 (was there?), but it sure is fun to buy every outfit in one shot (wish I could do that in real life ;D )

Note: You need to use the 'lock door' feature wisely with home businesses if you don't want random sims exploring you bedroom.

The only thing that bothers me is that the lifelong goal of the sims are still mostly centered around the classic career paths (for Fortune aspirations, the lifelong goal is still pushing for Athletic career path, and Knowledge is still Science, etc.). I'm not sure if some new Open for Business lifelong goals were incorporated, but from what I've seen so far, there are none.

Conclusion
I love this game. Some of my sims are still going to go for the normal career tracks, but it's refreshing to actually play a home business and see how well you do or how outrageous of a business you can come up with.