Bringing our indepth review to an end, we look at what cheats there are for this game, the bugs that were not ironed out before it was released and we give our critical appraisal of whether it is nearer to being the penthouse paradise or flatshare from hell that our title describes.

With ever expansion so far, there have come new cheats. Apartment Life is no exception. All of them are apartment building related and I have been struggling to get some of them to work for me.

In the time it has taken to write this indepth review, which once again is too long, two patches have been released for this expansion pack clearing out most of the bugs. If you already have this expansion or are considering getting it, I therefore recommend you to download and run the patch immediately.

The following bugs either remain or need to be treated a different way from the official patches.

As is the way with every review of mine, I ask whether it is one thing or another. Sometimes, I have my mind made up before I come to the end. In other times, I have not. I liked this expansion pack from the moment I heard of it being released and in the main, I have not been disappointed. A lot of my game playing has involved building apartments or other multiple occupancy lots. As pointed out earlier, there have been bugs but two patches have already been released for this expansion pack and although they have not fixed everything, most of them have gone. In my opinion, these bugs were the result of this pack being rushed.

The Apartment element of the expansion itself, which is the core of this expansion, has been very well put together. Although I have my criticisms on design requirements when it comes to apartment owners parking their cars outside, plus a certain quirkiness when it comes to building lots on foundations and having enclosed gardens, I am very impressed with the way it has been incorporated. You are not forced to live in apartments but it does provide a welcome alternative that I know a lot of players have been looking forward to.

The Reputation, Networking & Social Groups is an addition I am of two minds about. After a while, I find their networking perks to be limited and I have lost count of the amount of times that co-workers announce that they really work in a wholesale furniture store. Has the "credit crunch" come to the simworld and some massive wholesale furniture store is becoming a second job for sims? If they had instead said that they knew someone who worked there, it might have made more sense. Overall, though, I can get used to the social groups and reputations.

The Magic system is something I take my hat off to. This time around, I am very impressed with how this has been put together. Unlike "Making Magic", it does not seem as forced and it seems to be a lot easier to understand. The different alignments and skill levels have reminded me of various paper-and-pen roleplaying games from my childhood and of the spells that I have cast, I find the effects to be well done and less of a frustration to get the reagants. Although not all of my sims will be using magic, I can see more of my sims wanting to use it than those of mine from "The Sims".

There have been so many other small bits and pieces with this expansion pack, many that I have looked into but some I have given to you to find. More things to learn, which is a bit of a big hint.

All in all, I am very impressed with this expansion pack. Despite its flaws, I recommend it to our readers and do consider it to be a fitting show stopper to the series that we know as The Sims 2. If you haven't already bought it and if you can afford it, I recommend that you do so.

There is an encore to the very good performance from this expansion pack. "Mansions & Gardens" is the final stuff pack for The Sims 2 and it is due out in about two weeks, which we will be reviewing for you.

Also, The Sims 3 is now just over three months away. Here at the zone, we will be keeping you abreast of all news and developments in both of those fields.

Thankyou for reading.

Dag dag!