[ Register or Signin to view external links. ]

Release Date: October 24, 2005
Developers: Maxis
Publishers: Electronic Arts
Platforms: GameCube, PlayStation 2, Game Boy Advance, DS, PlayStation Portable
Genre: Life simulation
Players: Single/Multiplayer
Rating:12+

The Sims 2 is the fourth title in The Sims console series. The Sims 2 was released for the PlayStation 2, Nintendo GameCube, Nintendo DS, Game Boy Advance, and PSP in the fourth quarter of 2005. The console versions include a story and gameplay similar to previous versions of the game, while the DS, PSP and Game Boy Advance contain their own storylines. This is the first Sims game to have a third person view of a character as well as the first to have the ability to control Sims with the analog sticks.

The setting for sims 2 was really whatever you wanted it to be, i mean they give you default houses but if you wanted to create your own house, so be it. What ever you want in the house, how many rooms, the luxurys everything was down to you. It gave the game a free-world feel, even though you only had a certain amount space you could move in your world. You could create a family and bring them up as you please, the game was just brilliant. Overall the setting was really nice and i loved it.

In The Sims 2 you will control your own sim and go from place to place exploring loads of houses and being able to control the inhabitants of that house. Each character on each level has a few objects and 1 important objective. Like making someone liking you, making a meal, buying a new shirt. And the important ones would usually be something that links to someones personality. Like making someone love you, making friends with someone and even meeting an alien. These are the 'Wants' of the character that earn them 'aspiration points' They also have fears like Fires,Having someone hate them ect.. These make you lose aspiration points. aspiration points are used to earn new items and new locations, which was key to progressing in the game overwise you will soon become bored of it. Also a number off things can happen if you have too many items in the place you are living in. Such as something can catch on fire, although this kinda made sense its abit weird when im outside and a trampoline randomly catches on fire. Also you can get your stuff stolen by a robber, and because you cant grab them and beat them up you have to call the police and wait for them to arrive, sometimes the robber gets away, if your lucky he will take to long. The way i prevented this from happening was by having a really long hallway until you reach the house, so i was able to prevent my stuff from being stolen. I liked the way you could build your relationships, for better of for good, the way you can marry another sim, although you cant actually bring up a family as the consoles version doesn't allow you to make children. Also if you die, either of old age or because of a poisoned food or an accident, your person becomes a ghost. The only was to become human again is either beating death at a fiddle challenge, which is where it helps if you have upgraded your person to be good at music. Or you can pay death 100 simoleons, simoleons was the sims currency. Sims is basically a game version of reality being able act out a virtual life with the ability to Sleep, watch TV, play games, eat, drink, shower, go to the toilet and go to work. You need to go to work in order to earn money so you can pay the bills to keep your house, otherwise all of your stuff gets repossessed Also you have to do thee things a healthy amount to stop your person from Peeing themselves, collapsing and then waking up istantly because they need to wash, overwise this happens and it gets quite annoying. Overall the gameplay was fantastic and i really enjoyed it.

Well the graphics were decent, your person and your surroundings was pretty great, some of the visuals of the game were pretty good but when things would catch on fire, it wouldn't really make sense and the fire was of a bad quality, that was really the only thing that i didn't like too much. Overall the graphics were okay, they seem abit stale but nothing to hard to deal with.

The controls for sims were okay, i would like to see more of an interaction as there is no try-hard mode of playing this game, it more of a chilled out, relaxing game, theres no rush to do anything. There isn't any real excitement when playing this game, its just for fun. Overall i would like to see more controls in the next game as there are only a few buttons that you use which makes the game abit bland.

Juan Castro of IGN gave the PSP version a 7.5 out of 10 praising for its new features but also criticizes for its constant loading and lack of polish. Andrew Park of Gamespot gave the game a 6.1 out of 10 also criticizing the loading times.

Overall the game was pretty good, it's a good game if your in for a real-life perspective game with a comedy twist, although it dosn't really have that much excitement going for it, it can still be quite fun and overall a well worth purchase.