An English Review: The Sims 2

Hello again, everyone!

In this post I would like to share my thoughts about a game. You already knew what I am going to tell you, certainly, since I put the name on the title of this post. I've always wanted to write a game review, but never attempt to do so. There are a lot of game reviews on the internet, which will make my own review looks not even better to everyone to see.

Because not every person in our dearly earth understands or have interest in playing games, I'd like to share it in a general way, I will just introduce you about this game, not the gameplay itself.

The Basic: What is The Sims Series?

The Sims Series is a simulation game which introducing the first gaming method of controlling your character in their everyday life. It looks like playing a doll house, but more in a complex way. It's originated to be an architecture simulation game since it also has many features on building section.

The Sims 2, is one sequel of The Sims Series published on 2008. It has more features compared to the previous one: The Sims. We're already   able to move our point of views in game freely without having to click on something; just scroll or move your mouse in order to do so.

The game makes you feel you can do almost anything with it. You can make your own character, or maybe you can make your own self. This part of the game is called "Create-a-Sim". You can customize their face, change their clothes, and make their traits or personalities in there.

The CAS (Create-A-Sim) Display

The characters on this game also have their own names; they are called "The Sims". It's similar with humans but they only appear in this game. They also have something above their heads, a glowing-diamond-like thing that represents their moods. Each sim needs to fulfill their basic needs including hunger, energy, fun, comfort, bladder, hygiene, and environment in order to keep their moods in the green state. If their moods are kept up high they’ll be able to do many things you wanted them to do.

Fulfilling your sim's needs is a basic requirement when playing this game

Every living thing also needs a place to live. In this game it's called "Neighborhood". There are several neighborhoods provided with the game and ready to play. But, if you want to make yours, you can make it by yourself by clicking on the plus icon on the neighborhoods panels. Making a neighborhood is a little bit complicated since you want your characters to be able to go somewhere other than their house, which means you need to build many buildings with their own features, or you may pick the available building in the housing panel.

Neighborhood Panels

Neighborhood View

Now, you already know about the basic knowledge on playing this game. For me, the game itself is easy to play since there are a lot of explanations, in-game tips, and even walkthroughs on the internet. Just search about "The Sims 2" and you will find some of them.

Some people may still wonder what makes this game series become unexpectedly famous. I've said it before the game introduce you to a new gaming method which allows you to make a character, build their house, and make your own story with it. You can make a single man who met a beautiful woman and married to each other, or you can make an evil sim to ruin other sim's life. It's all up in your hands and mind, the only boundary is your imagination.

Additional Features

Every series has its own features. The more expansion packs you installed, the more features you get. Expansion Pack is an addition part of the game which will make your base game becomes more interesting and more engaging to play. There are up to 8 expansion packs for The Sims 2, and they're all unique. There's one expansion pack which allows you to send your characters to college life, an expansion pack which also allows you to make your characters grow their own crops just like farmers, and so on.

They also have stuff pack. Unlike expansion pack, stuff packs only give you additional stuff in the game and most of them are useful for you if you want to make your game more interesting. There are 8 stuff packs, some of them are H&M Fashion Stuff Pack, Happy Holiday Stuff Pack, Garden & Mansion Stuff Pack, and many more.

But well, not even a single game is perfect. All of them have their own plus and minus. The Sims 2 does have almost anything I need. The only thing which sometimes makes me want to pull the trigger is the 3D graphics. Because The Sims 2 is the first sequel which makes you to be able to zoom in your sims, there's also a possibility that your sims will have their flaws because the 3D animation didn't went well. Some animations also have trouble called “glitch” which will be quite troublesome if you want everything to run perfectly.

I'm interested with the game, how do I play it?

If you are interested in playing this game, I suggest you to have at least 2GB RAM on your PC. This game didn’t took much space compared to the later series, but every game should run smoothly if the PC is working properly too.

This is the system requirements for The Sims 2 based on what I saw on the internet.

Minimum Requirements for The Sims 2

Recommended Requirements for The Sims 2

The first time I know this game did exist is when I was still in junior high school. I know it from my underclassmen who told me about the game. Then, I tried to search about it on the internet and become more interested for joining in. I like the complexity and how endless the possibilities when you play the game. One other thing is because the whole game itself uses English as their main language.

While playing this game, I also realize I managed to learn new words unconsciously. I rarely used dictionary when playing this. Simply knowing the meaning of the words by clicking on my sims to do certain works. This game is great for people who want to improve their English effortlessly.