For those reading every letter of news about the Sims 2, there's some stuff to go through again. A couple of new reviews have appeared, as well as 2 new articles from SimsZone's review. First of all some Japanese screenshots, from 4Gamer.net. The review is unreadable for me, but pictures say more than a thousand words. Check out the 20 screenshots for more. Another (English) review comes from Inside Gamer Online. Not much news there, and they've got some old screenshots. If you're interested, just read it. Finally there's a gameplay diary at 1Up. They have posted 3 days of the diary already so far, and will be adding more parts soon. Besides the screenshots, there's no real new info there as well. Go on and read through it if you feel like it.
As said, our affiliate SimsZone has posted two more parts of their in-depth review, and there are still a few to go. Visit their review homepage for all the articles and screenshots ("Teens" and "Erwachsene, Senioren, Tod" are the newest articles). As you might make up from the titles, the first part is about Teens, and the second about Adults, Old Geezers and Death. Read more for the highlights, translated to English. More parts of the review are expected soon, as they're still not finished. With thanks to "A TS2 Fan" and SPZone for some of the links, and of course SimsZone for their review.
Teens:As said, our affiliate SimsZone has posted two more parts of their in-depth review, and there are still a few to go. Visit their review homepage for all the articles and screenshots ("Teens" and "Erwachsene, Senioren, Tod" are the newest articles). As you might make up from the titles, the first part is about Teens, and the second about Adults, Old Geezers and Death. Read more for the highlights, translated to English. More parts of the review are expected soon, as they're still not finished. With thanks to "A TS2 Fan" and SPZone for some of the links, and of course SimsZone for their review.
From happy child without worries to a Teen with all the annoyances you can probably imagine for teens. From getting rid of those zits to getting a first kiss, it's all in the Sims 2. But as they're growing closer to becoming adults, teens can do almost everything adults can as well, including cooking and leaving the house on his own, buying and using aspiration rewards, etc. Teens have their own set of wants and fears, but working on that is not the only thing on the mind of your teenage sims. Homework will have to be done, and free afternoons can be spent with earning some money.
School for teens takes 2 hours shorter than for children, but if your sim has a job besides school, not much time is left. Usually the school performance will drop if your teen has a job as well, while they will hardly have any time for friends anymore. With just ยง50 per day at the start, taking a job is not really worth it for teens, unless the family has to think twice about spending a penny. The career tracks are the same as for adults, but the jobs are different. Also, the working hours don't interfere with school, so they're either in the afternoon or the evening. As the free days off the job aren't in the weekend but during the business week, your teens will not have a single day off when having a job. All in all, teenage jobs are nothing but a nice addition to the game, but not worth too much. There are far more interesting things to do.
Being a teenager in the Sims is all about love. A first love. Noticable is that Sims will respond to the player's actions and choices immediately. A shy sim will look at you in a way of "Me..?" when you tell them to flirt. But flirting is just the start, the first kiss is the biggest moment for a teenage Sim to experience. There are also some limits - teens can only fall in love with teens, and they can't play like adults can.
Finally, Sims can also go to wild parties. Although you won't see what happens there, your teen may be dropped off by a police car if they go there without asking the parents. Also, a friend will have to come along to the party. A sport car will pick the sim up, and they'll disappear from the lot for a while. Teens are almost like adults, and they've become real sims. It's time to live a life, in the 15 available days (which can be extended using some aspiration rewards, of course).
Adults, Geezers and Death:
Life has seriously started for your Sim in the adult stage. No more school - time to get a job and start a family. There's a lot to do in just 30 Simdays. That's just enough time for a dream career, without a family. Especially mothers will lose much time when they have kids, due to pregnancy and maternity leave. The only way to combine career and family well in the short period of time, is by using the less realistic Elixir of Life.
The reward object is very useful as it allows you to more or less choose how long your Sim stays teen, adult or senior. Using that, there's no real reason to say the time you have is too short, as you have it in your own hands. But at some point the next generation should get a chance, and adults will grow up to old geezer. Life isn't over... yet. Seniors too can do almost everything adults can, although they're not as active anymore and need a bit more sleep (as well as the toilet). A good thing is that even though the Sim is getting old, they'll keep their job as they grow up. Retiring is something you can save for the last days of the Sim's life.
When being retired, old Sims receive about 20% of their salary as pension. If your Sim has been jobless for their life though, they won't receive anything. At any time, the retired Sim can also take a part time job, like teens. Contrary to teens, adults do have time for that, as they don't have to go to school. It doesn't earn much, but it keeps the geezers out of the house.
Even though it may sound like it a bit, old Sims are still a bit restless. They can't make any babies anymore, but the rest is still alright and they can always play with the grandchildren. They're always useful as babysitter too, saving you the trouble of having to hire a nanny. The whole family will have to live under one roof for that to work though.
Where before the age indication showed how long it would take for a Sim to grow up, in the senior stage it will show you how long they've lived so far and how good the life has been. The more wants you fulfilled, the longer your Sim will live. At some point, it's inevitable that they'll die though (unless you turn off aging). The sim will drop on their knees, after which mr. Reaper will come over to get the sim. With some luck you'll be able to revive a dead Sim, if they didn't die from a natural cause anyway. Related Sims can plead for life with the Grim Reaper, similar to the Sims 1.
Dead Sims have not completely left the game though. They will remain around as a ghost coming from a gravestone they left behind. If that's too much trouble for you, you can get rid of the urn or gravestone to get rid of the ghosts as well. Dead Sims will also leave some money from life insurance, that relatives will receive. The amount depends on how wealthy the Sim was. So it's up to you if you kill your Sim to get some extra money or not...
Written at 22:05 on Friday, 10 September 2004 by ChEeTaH.
