We're sure there are Sim's Anonymous meetings out there.
A little out of date, considering the Sims 3 has been released, but I'm never one to keep up with the latest and greatest. Actually, I just never buy new releases because they are hella expensive!
So, however many years too late, I bought the Sims 2 Double Deluxe for a whopping $19.99.
<strong>Good:</strong> The game, like its predecessor, managed to suck me into a black hole for several nights, where nothing existed but my Sim and her perfect little house. I remember being in college and playing the original Sims... on a Friday night... until 4 am. Sad, I know. Sims 2 has a more customizable and better quality Sim with new outfits and the ability to be fat or thin, young or old. You can create a family complete with toddlers, adolescents, adults, and even octogenariens. You can have a massive Tudor-style home with antique furniture and dark wood, or a cute one bedroom rancher with kitchy neon signs and hot pink carpets -- and anything in between. The most fun is had by entering a cheat code, giving yourself 100,000 simoleon dollars, and decking out your house in the most luxurious or obnoxious decor you can imagine.
It was fun discovering different things for the Sim to do that differed from the first game (at least as far as I could remember), like yoga or DJing a party. Sims 2 Double Deluxe includes the base game as well as the Nightlife expansion pack and Celebration Stuff pack. With Nightlife, you can go "downtown" to hang out at bowling alleys, restaurants, clothing boutiques, etc. You can even try to put the moves on another Sim on a hot date. Just make sure a jealous husband or wife isn't around -- or prepare to tussle.
Why is this stuff just as or even more fun than doing it in real life? Beats me, but somehow it is.
<strong>Bad:</strong> The weird fun only lasts so long. First, taking your Sim to the toilet or cooking three meals a day is only fun the first half a dozen times. After a while, it's tedious. They introduced desires or life goals in this game, where you designate whether your Sim will be most interested in marriage/family, career, wealth, etc. When you achieve a goal in your chosen desire, your Sim is happier and more persuasive. In game, this means very little and is more annoying than anything. They also tried to make the Sim more realistic, so that if your lazy Sim never exercises, s/he will physically gain weight. Also, unless you enter the cheat code to turn it off, there is an aging feature. After something like 27 Sim days, your Sim will turn from an adult into a gray haired, slouchy granny. It's fun watching the transition from a baby to toddler to teen to adult, but way lame when you're trying like mad to reach the top level in your career but before you can max out your skills you suddenly enter retirement age.
<strong>Ugly:</strong> The game is not designed to run on laptops, and many people have experienced problems trying to do so. Me included. I have a newer laptop and it's still unable to play the game. Major downfall, considering I'd specifically purchased the game to play on the laptop while the bf is using the desktop. My other gripe -- the game becomes super repetitive after two or three days of (nonstop) playing. You are almost forced to buy expansion packs to keep it interesting. And as I found with Celebration Stuff, some of the expansions are a rip off. In said "Stuff pack," I got a handful of catering tables, party balloons, and birthday cakes. Not something I'd pay extra for (although for some reason I'm eyeing the pets pack and H&M clothing pack).
All in all, I'd recommend Sims 2 for a weekend or two of fun, at the pricetag of $20. That's a bargain for games these days. But don't expect the fun to last more than a couple weeks at max.
