by Esmeralda Draic

Created on: May 19, 2009

For the few who don't already know it, 'The Sims 2' is a Life Simulator game, the far more sophisticated successor to the huge hit game 'The Sims'. You create incredibly lifelike little people, put them in houses and then watch them live out their lives, sometimes giving them a helping hand to guide them with milestones such as getting a job, dating, getting married, buying a house and so on. But mostly, you can just let them run amok and watch what sort of (often surprising and usually very funny) things they get up to.

Via a series of Expansion Packs, loads more features that massively enhance the gameplay of the base game have been added, giving the ability to go on dates and own and drive cars ('Nightlife Expansion'), go to University ('University' Expansion), have pets ('Pets' Expansion), own a business ('Open for Business' Expansion), have seasonal weather ('Seasons' Expansion), go on holidays abroad ('Bon Voyage' Expansion), develop new hobbies and interests ('Freetime' Expansion), and now, in the latest expansion, live in apartment blocks, get involved in helpful social networking, and meet witches (yes, really - witches, complete with tall peaked hats, spellbooks, cauldrons and flying brooms).

So now, the latest expansion pack, 'Apartment Life' has become a part of my worryingly enormous collection.

With 'Apartment Life' comes several new features:

- Apartments!

You can have up to four families living under one roof (if the apartment building has more than four apartments, the other apartments will be filled by game-generated NPCs, non-player characters). Sims can visit other families in the building or invite them over, and can interact with each other in common areas such as gardens or back yards.

Sometimes the NPCs living in other apartments can be helpful to your character, for instance if you are friendly to them they may tell you that you're such a great person they are going to tell everyone they know how wonderful you are (enhancing your reputation via social networking), or by revealing that they're friends with the landlord and are going to ask him to reduce your rent. You can also take on helpful roommates and ask friendly neighbours to babysit rather than hire a nanny. If you don't get on with your roommate, you can kick them out!

- Reputations!

As mentioned above, your interactions with NPCs can now make or break your reputation. If you're nice enough, others may be able to help you advance in your career or make new friends. But if you're

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