Review of the Sims from a Players stand point.
The game falls somewhere between micro management, virtual life, and a simulation. At first, the idea of taking care of virtual people may sound boring. And of course, this game won't appeal to everyone, but it is an easy enough game to understand and play. As it stands, the Sims is the most popular computer game, followed up by the Sims 2 (however, I can't see the Sims 3 coming in third)
So the game plays in an easy way, repetitive chores, clicking and telling them to do simple things. Unless of course, you turn free will on. The first step is to create a family.
The following is intended for new players to the Sims 2 or the franchise itself.
Create-a-Family
-is easy enough to follow. You simply click add new Sim and go from there. In the first tab, you name the sim, change the gender, and body between normal and fat.
-in the second tab, you choose a basic head type (everything can be changed so its kind of a useless tab.
-the third tab is were you edit everything on the head. From the shape of the nose, to the hair style and color.
-the fourth tab is for cosmetics, enough said
-the fifth tab is where you choose the sims clothing, form everyday to workout (outside wear is available with the seasons expansion pack) (clothes will be added with each expansion pack and stuff pack)
-the sixth and final tab, is for personality and aspiration (turn ons and turn offs with nightlife)
And then click the check mark and you made a sim.
Move that sim/s into an already available or empty lot and your ready to either
(a) make them live their life
(b) make a house for them
Since sims only ship with $20000 for their first home, there are two ways to fix this for bigger and more interesting homes. (a) if you only have the base game, move them onto and empty lot and once it has loaded, press ctrl+shift+c to open the cheat code menu. Once opened, type in kaching for $1000 or motherlode for $50000. (b) with one of the earlier expansion packs, (nightlife?) once your in the neighborhood view with your newly made sims, press ctrl+shift+c then type familyfunds [family's last name] [amount of money. Where it says family's last name, enter the sims last name, amount of money should be self explanatory.
The tools of build mode, are easy enough to understand, as they provide a picture, and if you hover your mouse over them the give a very brief explanation to what the tool does, so I won't go into much detail here. Try out everything (as more build tool features get added with expansion packs) and look up tutorials to learn some great ways to manipulate the game to make more interesting homes. www.modthesims2.com is a fantastic (and free) website for custom content and tutorials.
Buy mode is just as simple as things can be sorted by room or object. Comfort being chairs, sofas, beds, etc ad misc. being dressers, toys, party (nightlife=cars/pets=pet supplies). Again, this is simple enough to figure out. Clicking on an objects picture, will reveal a menu of available recolors for the object.
Finally, onto Live mode. The game plays simple enough. Just click on the object you want the sims to interact with. So clicking on a fridge opening a pie menu of all available interactions with the fridge. certain choices become available as your sims skill levels go up. For instance, using a book case to study cooking, will increase the sims cooking skill, thus allowing for more meals to be selected and made by the sim in the fridge's pie menu. Jobs are another important feature in the game. Unless you cheat and then your sim never gets a job. Getting a job is simple though. Simply use a computer, or a newspaper to find a job. Jobs are randomly changed every sim day so different jobs become available. Looking through the newspaper, the sim can select from three different jobs, while A sim on the computer will find the same three in the newspaper as well of two more. Fulfill sims needs keep them happy and in good moods. Moods play an important rule in the game. If your sim is in a bad mood, other sims won't want to talk, or the sim will refuse to do certain tasks such as study until they are in a better mood. Getting sims in a better mood is simple enough.
Comfort=they need to either sit or lay down in a chair or on a bed
Environment=this can be easily fixed, as an alarm clock going off will purposely lower this sims need fully to wake it up, turning it off or putting paints and decoration can fix this problem
Social=talking with any sim will bring this need up
Fun=while most sims enjoy watching tv, sims with a more serious personality, will tend to read a good book
Hunger=feeding a sim will solve this problem, just don't feed them food with a green aroma coming out of it. A higher cooking skill and better stoves will make more satisfying meals
Energy=best solved by sleeping. Coffee and naps are quick energy boosts
Bladder=going to the washroom solves this, however (with free will turned off) a sim that gets neglected will find an alternative spot, specifically the spot there currently standing
Hygiene=simply resolved by taking a bath or shower
Better moods also affect job/school performance. Sim will get better marks going to school in a good mood, while sims going to work in a good mood, with all the required skills, may get a promotion
the final thing I will talk about, is the aspiration. This can kept up be simply making a sim perform actions that can be seen as wants. Completing a want, will result with points being added to the aspiration meter. This will slowly depleted daily and completing fears also brings this down.'
Overall, this game can hard to follow just starting out. But doing the tutorials and spending some time playing the game, can easily make the game seem easier and make it more fun. Although taking care of the sims can become quite repetitive, the can always produce an interesting twist. The aspiration meter, however serves no true purpose other than platinum mood and some objects you can buy using aspiration points, although using the objects below a gold aspiration can have negative effects. The game however, still can create an interesting play and will always keep you paying attention, because if you don't, a sim may catch fire from using a barbecue with no cooking skill and stand and watch it burn. The game is worth a try, but don't go buy the whole series, then play it to find you don't enjoy it.
Although the game can be frustrating at times, it does have a solid game play. With a nice 3D world and plenty of wallpapers, objects, recolors, and sims to choose from (and all the feature that come with the expansion and stuff packs) the game can easily entertain you for hours. Will you make 5 generations of sims? Will you mistreat and neglect your sims to find the consequences? Or will you be a great caretaker and fulfill your sims wants and avoid their fears? Only playing the game will tell. And with a game as open as this, theres always time to change, improve and a never ending game experience.