by GJ

Created on: June 07, 2008   Last Updated: August 19, 2011

As my first article, I have chosen to write about something which I love: Sims 2! Sims 2 is one of the best selling computer games on the planet, and rightly so.
Players are given the opportunity to create families, houses and neighbourhoods with thousands of different options. With just the base game, after making a neighbourhood, players create community lots which their "Sims" can travel to. Community lots can range from libraries and parks to busy supermarkets and classy restaurants. Players now make their sims, with up to eight people in a family. They then move them into lots and make houses for them, one of my favourite parts! From here, the families fate is in the players hands! Some sims are destined for a flashy business career, some for show business and some for art, there are no limits!

One of the best things about the Sims 2 is the ability to expand your gaming experience with expansion packs. For example, players who enjoy taking their sims out and concocting romance among their sims will enjoy the E.P 'Nightlife', while players more interested in careers and making money will choose 'Open for Business'. Sims are even given the opportunity to take higher education with Sims 2 'University'! Each expansion pack adds new building options, new objects and new actions which really make playing the Sims 2 enjoyable. As well as expansion packs, consumers are encouraged to buy stuff packs, for example, 'Teen-life Stuff' and 'Celebration Stuff'. These games are purely for adding objects to your game, and are usually cheaper than Expansion Packs.

The best part of Sims 2 for me is the ability to create 'custom content.' Included in the game is a program called 'Sims 2 Bodyshop'. This gives players the chance to design clothes for their sims, which really can be hilarious. I like to make t-shirts for my sims with my face on them! As well as clothes, players can create custom wall paper, ground cover and even objects. Sites like Modthesims2.com allow their Sims 2 community to share content and ideas on the game. 'Custom Content' and houses and sims can also be downloaded on the Sims 2 website. This website is useful because once you have downloaded a house full of custom content, you don't have to download it all separately, it is automatically added to your game. This way, you can download objects like Ferrari's and Ninendo Wii's without the complicated 'file extraction' process.

My only criticism is that Sims 2 is not Windows Vista friendly. I'm not sure exactly why, a friend of mine tells me that it is something to do with the video card/flashplayer tolerance.

I really would recommend The Sims 2 to anyone who owns a PC. I've had it for a year and still play it every weekend!

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