A little later than usual (due to internet problems), but again there's a lot of news about the Sims 2. Some shops have started shipping or selling it already, and people will be playing the game by masses before long (if they aren't already). The official site will also be relaunched between 9am and 3pm PST (5pm-11pm in the UK and Portugal, 18:00-24:00 CET) today (tuesday). Flash Player will be required for the site. See this thread in the BBS for more information.
There are also a lot of new reviews, articles, screenshots, and movies. Read on for all of that (and it's a lot this time!).
To start with the latter: The Sims 2 Creation (French fansite) has posted a movie. It can be found in the "De nouvelles vidéos et images..." newspost, behind the link saying "par là". They've also posted a bunch of screenshots in their screenshots section. The video of the Fountains of Wayne featuring the Sims 2, which was shown on MTV the 18th, has now been posted for download on MTV. You can find it on their artist page. The Dutch SP Zone has also posted some screenshots of the Dutch version of the game. They've been posted throughout this thread in their forums.There are also a lot of new reviews, articles, screenshots, and movies. Read on for all of that (and it's a lot this time!).
Mercury News has also posted an article about the sequel of the biggest PC game ever. It's about the AI (Aritifical Intelligence) of the Sims, saying the Sims now behave more realistically. Although in the Sims 1 Sims were animated, they were pretty dumb too. Not in the Sims 2, says Mercury News. It's something different than the usual reviews, so read the article if you're interested. Thanks to David Pendray for submitting this link.
On to the reviews, there's currently one new one, from GameSpot. Rating the game an 8.9, they too are positive about it like almost every other site. There's one in text form, of 3 pages, which starts on this page, and of course it comes with a huge batch of screenshots. A video review, and 5 more gameplay videos (11-16) have been posted on GameSpot's media page. If you already have the game, or want to expand it as soon as you get it, you can already download a 89 Mb Valve Mod-Pack which gives you some Half-Life 2 material for within the Sims 2. It's a beta pack and fan-made, so unsupported by Valve or EA.
Games site 1Up has expanded their GamePlay diary, and it now contains 5 days. Screenshots are included, and you can see it all right here. Finally an old review has also been expanded: our affiliate SimsZone has posted 2 more parts of their huge review. This time they discuss the Careers and Skills ("Berufe und Fähigkeiten") and disasters ("Tücken des Alltags"). For the screenshots they've made visit SimsZone, for a summary in English read the rest of this post.
Careers and Skills:
Bills still have to be paid in the Sims 2, and food doesn't drop from the sky either. Time for your Sim to start earning some money - the honest way. Take the paper or the computer, and start looking. There are 10 careers, and every job has 2 days off sometime during the week. Yes - the Sims 2 has weeks from Monday to Sunday now. The days off aren't necessarily during the weekend though. In some cases, your Sim might even get 3 or even 4 days off per week, depending on the career and level of promotion.
As if that's not enough, there are also holidays. Using them is easy: just don't show up at work for a day, and you'll still be paid while having a free day. Of course your Sim cannot be promoted at home. As before, you cannot follow your Sims to work, and they'll still be driven there by a carpool, rather than driving themselves. Much hasn't changed since the Sims 1 concerning careers so far. The Atheletic, Business, Criminal, Culinary, Law Enforcement, Medical, Military, Politics, Science and Slacker careers have been seen in the Sims 1 as well. However, there's one new feature: mini-games.
Those games, if you can call them that, consist of 50/50 questions. A certain situation is described quite extensively, and you'll be given a choice of what to do. Two options, and ignoring the event, can be chosen. It's simple: one choice will give your Sim a reward, another might make them lose a bit. The further your sim is in the career, the more is at stake. Rewards can be money, promotion, or skill points, but if you lose, it can cost your job, or other things. By ignoring the event, nothing will happen. You have to read the situation, and use some common sense, to make the right choice.
To get promoted you need skill points and friends, just like the predecessor. However, besides the usual bonus, you can now also get career rewards when you do well enough in a career. New is the advantage that skill points are gained more easily. Special abilities can also pass on to the next generation. There are also many new ways to train the skills in the Sims 2. Working out doesn't necessarily have to be done on the bench press, but it can also be done in front of the tv. When using the skills, they also improve. For instance if a Sim is preparing dinner, their cooking skill will go up. Sims can also improve their Cleaning ability by just doing it.
The speed of the Sims 2 has increased compared to the Sims 1. It's easier to get high in a career, and training skills goes faster as well. Less friends are needed for promotion too, which makes things a lot easier. Don't forget the careers for teens and elders, which are a nice addition. More about that can be found in other articles.
As before in the Sims 1, and almost any Maxis game really, there are some disasters with which you can ruin the lives of your Sims. First of all, your Sims will have to keep the house clean. Including sinks, otherwise they'll be filled with unwanted pets before you know it. If you want your Sim to be messy, just let them leave unfinished food around, and soon they won't care much about having a shower anymore as well. If everything has been cleaned up, your Sims might still have to use a spray can on the cockroaches.
Besides keeping the house clean, it may be the skills - or the lack of them - that cause trouble. Sims without cooking skills may set the kitchen on fire while trying. Sims may also be too dumb sometimes, and forget the stove while putting something in the oven. It's obvious a fire alarm is not something you should just forget to buy. Sims may also not be too skilled to repair things, resulting in electrocution when changing a light bulb or making bigger reparations. However, the shower and toilet seem to fail the most, flooding the bathroom.
The list is far from complete. Imagine old food, which results in food poisoning. Hungry sims will eat anything, no matter how old or how many green clouds are coming from it. Ill sims will walk around sneezing and coughing. It can transfer to other Sims too, and as NPCs can be ill as well your Sims might get it from the maid too. If you don't take care of your ill sims, they can eventually die. Hunger and energy (and probably also comfort, though not mentioned in the SimsZone review) will have to be kept high to cure your Sim.
As many NPCs (except a few), the burglar too has moved from the Sims 1 to the sequel. Burglar alarms will help again, but they're still no guarantee that your precious furniture will stay at home. Somebody which legally takes items away is the repo-man. Coming over if your Sims don't pay the bills, he will use his vacuum cleaner (or Object cleaner really) to take some items away. In the end, there's a lot which can mess up your Sims' lives. Sooner or later you'll find even more things like the ones mentioned above while playing the game.
There's just one final part left to be posted for this review, and that's an extensive conclusion. It will be posted at SimsZone soon.
Written at 17:52 on Tuesday, 14 September 2004 by ChEeTaH.
