The Sims 2 - Two Hundred Times Better Than the First

I know all of you who have stopped in most likely already know about The Sims 1. Well Maxis has amped it up a lot since then. The Sims 2 was a release fans have known about years before it even hit the shelves. We all drooled together as Maxis released mini teaser photos and video trailers. Then finally as if it couldn't come any sooner, the game hit the shelves.
One small problem, if you were trying to run this game on a low end older PC it was not happening. This game actually caused me to junk my old PC and go out and buy an all out gaming machine.
The Sims 2 required a video card with at least 32 MB of video RAM (such as nvidia GeForce 2 or better or ATI Radeon 7000 or better), then you need at least: 800 MHz processor, 256 MB RAM if Windows XP, 128 MB RAM if Windows 98, Windows ME, or Windows 2000 and at least 3.5 gigs of free hard drive space.
My old computer had none of that, and when I tried sneaking by the requirements I ended up with some slow motion moving Sims. Not good.
SO WHAT IS THE SIMS 2?
Only the best simulation game in the world! Gez! But for real, The Sims 2 is a people simulation game. It's like real life, and you pretty much live it for them. They have needs, such as using the bathroom, eating, socializing, having fun, and sleep. Pretty much your normal everyday life routine, only everything is done in Sim land.
Your Sims need to have jobs in order to make money to afford more expensive items such as cars, Jacuzzis, and more luxurious household items. This is basically the game in a nutshell, only their are tons of things that were added in The Sims 2 in order to make the game more appealing.
The Sims need housing, and you can choose whether or not they move into a pre-built home, or if you decide to build the home from scratch. Building homes from scratch are always the most fun.
Your Sims have a new bar in this game, they now have aspiration meters. Every morning you're Sims menu will pop up with new things they want to do. If you complete the task, the Sims aspiration meter will rise. The higher it goes, the happier the Sim will be.
The Sims also have fears, such as seeing a ghost, or changing a diaper. If your Sim runs into one of these tasks their meters will fall into the red. If you Sims meter falls too far into the red, they will get a visit from the head doctor. This doctor will only be seen by that depressed Sim. So if you want to see the shrink, make sure you click on that Sim.
BUILD YOUR FAMILY:
Or make some celebrities to roam in your Sim town. The best part about the Sims 2 is building a Sim, or Sim family. Maxis has added tons of new features, and you can even build you Sim to look like you if you are crafty. You choose the shape of the face, nose, eyes, lip, chin, ears. You can adjust everything on the face. Make a Sim with a huge nose, or flat one. The possibilities are endless. There is also a limited amount of hair styles, but you can always download content online for new styles. You can have up to 6 Sims living in a household at one time. However if your PC is jacked up you can fit even more.
I like building celerity families. But if Angelina adopts more kids, I won't be able to fit them all in. Haha!
Anyhow, after you have your Sim looking the way you want, you can then move them into an empty lot, or pre-built home. If any of your Sims have children their children will take on their look through genetics. It's pretty neat. So if your mom Sim has a big nose, and the dad Sim has a big nose, most likely the baby will too.
BABIES:
This time around Maxis has surprised us all by adding in birth. You can get a Sim pregnant by making whoopie in either a bed, jacuzzi, photo booth, or elevator. Once two male and female Sims have a high relationship, the 'try for baby' button will become available. If the pregnancy was successful you will hear a mini chime. You have to really be listening to hear it, as it is a very light noise.
Your Sim will now be pregnant for 4 days, and as the days go by you will watch as her stomach grows until she gives birth. Fear not though, there is no mess scenes here. The Sim will moan for a bit, and the screen will blank out. Next a baby will literately fall from the sky and land into the Sims arms. The baby will be either a boy or girl, and there is also a very random chance of having twins! Next you name the baby or babies.
Your baby will age, and you can see how old he or she is by looking over at the new AGE meter. The age meter will tell you how many more days till your Sim becomes a toddler, child, teen, adult and elder.
MEN CAN GIVE BIRTH TOO:
Thats right, keep staring through the telescope and the aliens will come and get you. They will impregnate your sim, and soon the male sim will give birth to a bouncing 'green' baby. They do nothing special, but look green.
TODDLERS:
In 3 days a baby will become a toddler. Here you start teaching your child how to speak, walk, and use the potty. This is a very important time in a Sims life. If the toddler is ignored, it will suffer aspiration failure and grow up unhappy as they become a child.
CHILDREN:
As a Sim child your Sims basic job is to just have fun and complete homework. They go to school 5 days a week from 8am to 3pm, and will be off on Saturday and Sunday. They sometimes will bring a friend from school home with them on the bus. This is good for socializing, and hey, maybe this friend will turn into a potential date in the future?
Older Sims can influence younger Sims as well. They can teach them to be nice to others, or to be neat instead of sloppy. It takes a lot of work to add on points, but you can fill up a Sims personality bank before they turn into teens.
TEENS:
At this age your Sims can get a part time after school job. Or they can just live it up. At this age some of your Sims may become rebellious towards other family members, and fighting occurs a lot between other teen relatives, so watch out! honestly though there is no way to get a teen to stop fighting or hating a sibling. They could have even had a great relationship as they were children, then one day... one hits the other, and the rest is history.
As a teen your Sims will run away from home if they feel neglected. The cops will bring the teen back the next day if they find him or her, or the teen will return in 3 days if not found.
Sim teens will also sometimes sneak out with a boyfriend or group of friends. You don't get to go with them though, but they will return back to the lot at around 6am with low need levels.
Did I jump the gun and say boyfriend? Yep, teen Sims can now have boyfriends and girlfriends. The Sims 2 does not limit it to male female relations either. Your Sim boys can date Sim boys, and Sim girls can date Sim girls.
Tenn Sims can kiss, make-out, and flirt, but they cannot make whoopie yet.
CHILD PROTECTIVE AGENCY:
If a toddler is starving or neglected the social worker will pull up in a black van and take all children from the lot away. So take care of your kids!
The social worker will visit if the child is hungry, or doing bad in school.
ADULTS:
As adults you have the job of bringing home money, raising a family, and preparing for retirement. Once your Sims have achieved their aspiration, which may be to become a famous chef, their aspiration meter will remain in the platinum zone until death. Once you have enough aspiration points, you can buy new unlockable items.
ELDERS:
Your Sims can still work, but you can also choose for him or her to retire and they will get paid a weekly pension. Depending on how well your Sims has lived his or her life will determine how much longer the Sim has to live. Your Sim can live up to 25 days more as an elder. But if your Sim had a shaky unbalanced life, they may die sooner.
Death will come, dressed as the grim reaper to collect the old person, and an urn will be left behind. If you move the urn outside, you can have a gravestone for your other Sims to mourn at. This Sim ghost may visit every now and then, or not. (There is also a way to resurrect dead Sims, but I will cover this later).
RELATIONSHIPS:
Sims make relationships with other Sims either in the neighborhood, or by you setting up their relationships in the build a Sim mode.
The relationship will grow stronger the more they pay attention to one another. As time goes on eventually one Sim or both Sims will grow crushes on one another. Once a crush has been established it's pretty easy to take it to the next level into love. Once love is present your Sims can do everything a couple would do; even whoopie.
However if your Sim is ever caught flirting with another Sim, the other party will get a cheating memory that will be stored into their memory bank. That Sim will then fall out of love, and resent the cheating Sim for quite some time. It is hard to repair a relationship once cheating is involved, but it can be done if you work on it.
You can cheat on other Sims you are involved in so long as they are not on the lot. But be careful, if someone else spotted you, they will store this memory, and if they happen to talk to the Sim you are cheating on, they may tell him or her. It can be a really drama filled experience once Sims cheat. Children will be effected if they find out, and will resent the cheating Sim as well.
Fights:
Sometimes two Sims just don't get along. Their personalities clash and they just hate to even be in the same room as them. If they come in contact with one another teasing may occur first, which will lower the relationship score into the red zone. Once a Sim has a -100 relationship with another Sim a brawl can break out. The most fit Sim usually wins.
Your Sim can get fit by using exercises equipment, swimming in the pool, doing yoga, or working out to the TV. Beef your Sim up if they are prone to fighting.
DEATH:
Sims can die. Not only due to old age, but other factors can play a part in a Sims death. A Sim with low skills in mechanical may try to fix a broken TV set, if they get zapped death could occur. There is also a small random chance that a satellites crashes down on them while they are watching clouds outside. You can also starve a Sim which will cause death. Also if the house is a mess a swarm of flies could also eat you alive. This is a rare odd occurrence, but can happen. Your Sims can also die in fires and in the pool.
Once death comes to collect, if there are Sims who have high relationships with the dying Sim, they can bargain with Death. He will roll a dice, and if you win, the Sim lives. But if your relationship is not too high, and you win this Sim may come back as a zombie. If you loose the Sim dies.
Depending on why the Sim died will play a role in whether or not this Sim comes back to haunt.
If a Sim dies from hunger, and there is no food in the fridge, it may throw things in the house around, or turn lights on and off, and sometimes even scaring other Sims to death.
If a Sim is electrocuted they will be a yellow ghost. If a Sim drowns, blue. In a fire, red and smoking. It's pretty neat having ghosts haunting the lot, especially angry ones. Heheh!
OTHER WAYS TO BRING BACK A DEAD SIM:
You can call them on the psychic phone. They however may come back as a zombie. The psychic phone can only be bought once someone gets a career in the paranormal. After that you can call up any dead Sim on the lot.
MAID!
Like in the Sims 1, a maid can be called upon to clean the home. She or he will arrive from 11 am till 5pm or until the house is fully cleaned. If you notice a maid not doing her or his job efficiently, you can fire them, and rehire someone else.
SHOPS:
There are stores in the neighborhood you can visit, or you can build yourself. From coffee shops, to hang out spots for your Sims to meet with other Sims. Your Sims can get here by calling a cab, or driving their car. Yep! The Sims can now drive!
BUILD MODE:
This section is based primarily on building your home, and making gardens. Here you will find building supplies such as windows, doors, walls, fences, pools, lawn coverings, plants, bushes, trees, roofs, fireplaces, columns for the home, and many many more things. Building a home can take a lot of time, but it adds a game to the game. There is nothing I like more than building a dream home for my Sims.
DON'T STOP THERE:
You can now purchase expansion and stuff packs to add even more into your game. I recommend sticking to the expansion packs though, and ignoring the stuff packs.
Expansion packs will add pets, a college, a downtown, businesses, or seasons! The expansion packs are a must have for any Sim fan.
You can also download original content at www.thesims2.com, or google keywords 'Sims 2 downloads'.
OVERALL:
Bravo, this is an excellent game indeed, and I couldn't recommend it more. The game play is endless, and so is the fun. Making Sim dreams come true, or wreaking havoc! It's up to you.
AVAILABILITY:
The Sims 2 is now available almost everywhere, Game Stop, Target, Walmart, or online at the Sims 2 site. The price still remains at $39.99 and has not gone down since it's release. But there are times it goes on sale, and there are some releases for the same price that come with more items and game aspects than just the original title. It's called The Sims 2 Deluxe.