A good game with great detail that is sure to bring the architect out of you. If you want to jump into cliche.
When The Sims 2 debuted in stores all over, it was considered one of the best PC games of 2004 and a major improvement over The Sims. Just look how far we've come now with the recently released Sims 3.
The Sims 2's basic formula is still the same as the Sims. You create a family, move them into a lot and begin running their lives, after you give them everything need to make them live.
the new addition of creating custom neighborhoods was a biggie. Unlike The Sims with their predefined neighborhoods you decide how big the lot can be and where you want to place it. If you have Simcity 4 then you can build your own neighborhoods. As I mentioned in my review for The Sims, you can create different kinds of houses. Ranging them from different genres is a lot more descriptive than in The Sims with the collections menu. In The Sims I couldn't find a genre of a home. Was it traditional or contemporary? This time you can decorate the neighborhood how you want it. But, as I said, different kinds of houses. Like a house on top of a bathroom in the middle of a swimming pool. Or, since the story limitation has been set to 4 (8 or more if you mod the game), you could make a house float high above the trees now (Even though in The Sims it was still possible to float houses but they weren't high enough).
But anyway, about the new design features from the original game to Mansion and Garden. Boy, how far they've come from the original. The build mode is by far the best thing I've seen. Decks that can be used for porches, trailer homes, or to just make your house seem taller (you need a taller house to make a porch like I mentioned at first). New ways to roof your home, too (even though at first they took away the re-size function). Now you have diagonal roofs for those homes with an extensive amount of diagonal walls. Gates are now a part of your fencing (even though I thought there could be more, including fences). Driveways, garages, customizable mailboxes, 4 story homes, half-walls, curved pool corners, recolor for windows and doors, beautiful landscaping tools, greenhouses, real-for-once fireplaces, stages for higher flooring indoors or a modernized roof, etc. Holy cow! My brain hurts just thinking about the amount of features they put in the build mode that you couldn't possibly think of in The Sims. But some things weren't that good. Like for instance when Seasons came around the ability to have an attic or a second story covered by a roof with dormers was ultimately destroyed. I tried setting a ceiling light in an attic and it tells me that the light must be placed inside. Okay? There is a ceiling and four walls but why wasn't I able to set a light. Well, one of the walls is actually a support fro the roof and is technically not a wall even though you could set a window there. So Sims living in homes like that in winter wouldn't be fun for them. It is a fatal flaw in the game and I'm sure it wasn't intentional or even noticed but Desighing homes like that has limited my architectural abilities. I sure do hope you know what I'm talking about. Plus, I thought there should have been more doors and windows. I've built like a thousand or more homes now and have had to reuse things I've used many times in previous homes. Overall building homes is quite fun and innovative.
The Buy Mode is cool. So many objects to recolor and set where you please. As I mentioned in The Sims review, you could decorate your home with decently organized stuff or just randomly set things where you wouldn't usually find them. Like a spa in a bedroom or a grill in the bathroom. It is just unlimited. Unlike build mode, though, the buy mode isn't as advanced but still a good improvement from the original. A TV mounted on a wall, neat new ways to hang pictures on the wall, modernized furnishings, fantastic decor to make a home feel more real, stunningly beautiful cars, there is a smorgasbord of stuff. But the downside is the kitchens have no upper cabinets like most homes around the world do (How could they overlook kitchen cabinets?). It made each kitchen feel like there wasn't enough storage to make it feel like a real kitchen (even though it's fake, of course). The bathtub with the shower like most standard homes have didn't have any recolor so I had to stay stuck with a common item with a yellow shower curtain. Plus, I thought there should have been a recolor for the gaming console. The same blue system was just annoying. And I certainly wish that the wall TV looked a little more attractive than a board with speakers that looked like they were pieced together. Overall, though, there is still plenty of objects to choose from and recolor.
Now creating Sims has gotten a complete makeover. You can change their face and make them good-looking or you can concoct something so strange it isn't exactly a human. Skinny lips or humongous lips? Skinny eyes or eyes the size of dinner plates? Big belly or not? It is all there. Skin color, including (if possible) green and pale skins. Lots of clothes to choose from and plenty of ways to make a unique personality. Plus, the playing with genetics is pretty neat. There is so many ways to make a Sim.
About the gameplay. The Live Mode is where everything happens unexpectedly. You have a lot of things to do for your Sims like getting them a job, making money, moving, paying bills, having fun, having kids, increasing reputation, going on vacation, going to college, partying all night, bowling, driving, fighting, Woohooing (yeeeeeaaaaaahhh!), grow old and die, etc. This game is Et Cetera kingdom! So much to do for your Sims. Make them happy or ruin them if you want. It is up to you to decide your Sim's destiny. Plus your Sims feel more alive than they were in The Sims with their robot like path finding (The Sims 2 has pathfinding issues, however, but they move around with a more human touch). They react more to their environment and notice Sims walking by them. It is just amazing the great big jump from The Sims to The Sims 2 could be too great of a jump!
Overtime though, the game will start to feel cliché and you'll be able to figure out a lot of what will happen before it even happens. To some of you, though, you probably might not mind, but having to use the same objects over and over can be annoying. But it is still fun to build. The only reason why I feel that I've used most of the same objects and coverings is because there is a majority of things in the game I never really liked because I don't have a clue what to use them for. I like things to match but some things in the game are ugly. But overall, this game made my 5 years worthwhile. The Sims 3 is here now and so I may not be playing The Sims 2 as often as I once did. But, great game, The Sims 2. Kudos to EA games and thanks to Will Wright! Thank You for creating a game that I could never get tired of no matter how cliché it feels or how faulty it can be sometimes.