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The Sims 2 | 
| From: Electronic Arts
List Price: $29.99
Buy Used: $6.00
as of 9/6/2010 08:39 MDT details
You Save: $23.99 (80%)
New (4) from $45.00
Rating:  908 reviews
Platforms: Windows 98, Windows 2000, Windows Me, Windows XP
Genre: strategy-game-genre
ESRB: Teen
Media: CD-ROM
Number Of Items: 1
Batteries Included: No
Age: 12 - 20 years
Operating System: Windows 2000
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.6
Dimensions (in): 7.8 x 5.3 x 2
MPN: 14726
Model: EA9965814
UPC: 014633147261
EAN: 0014633147261
ASIN: B00009WNZA
Release Date: September 14, 2004
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Features:
| • | Sequel to the hit lifestyle simulation | | • | Manage your Sim's dreams and fears over a lifetime | | • | Mix Sim genes and see physical and personality traits inherited down through Sim generations | | • | Movie-making feature lets you control the camera and capture the action into mini movies | | • | Also available in DVD Edition |
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| Editorial Reviews:
Product Description
The Sims 2 is an incredible sequel to the best-selling PC game of all-time! You'll get to direct an entire Sims' lifetime, and try to get them to reach their goals in life. Will they have a long, successful and happy life - or will they end up poor and heartbroken?
The Sims was one of the most popular games ever made. In it, players micromanage the lives of a family of virtual people, or Sims, and influence their paths toward success or something akin to a nervous breakdown. Its open-ended blend of cartoonish behavior and everyday living is unique in an art form otherwise obsessed with carnage and sports. With The Sims 2, long-time fans now have a deeper game with lots of ways to customize and share their experiences. The game will also attract first-timers because the goal-oriented gameplay and the luridly fun starter families make it easier to get into the action right out of the box.
Now Sims are born with the traits of their parents, families grow, and Sims grow old.
| The People in Your Neighborhood
The game starts at the neighborhood level. Here you can create a housing development from scratch or start with one of three premade neighborhoods, each with its own theme. From there, you'll settle on a house and a family of Sims to control.  | | Create your own Sim (above) or your own house (below) from scratch with advanced tools. |  | Aside from the basic needs carried over from the previous game, Sims now have aspirations, wants, and fears. The wants and fears are the day-to-day things that occupy their minds, like wanting to see friends or get married and fearing death or being rejected for a kiss. Satisfy their wants, and they become more efficient at completing tasks you assign them. Realize their fears, and Sims become lethargic, cranky, and unresponsive to your commands. Aspirations are the big-picture things, like raising a family, becoming wealthy, and gaining knowledge. Succeed here and you'll be able to buy odd gifts for your Sim to improve his or her life, like a money tree that pays dividends or a "fountain of youth" water cooler. What Else Is New?
Of course, you wouldn't be able to juggle all that if it weren't for the improved "Free Will" option, which makes it easier for Sims to fulfill their basic needs. The artificial intelligence of the game is noticeably improved; they won't turn on radios just as a family member is going to bed but, strangely, they do occasionally put their dishes on the floor. Another big change in the series is the concept of the lifespan. Now Sims are born with the traits of their parents, families grow, and Sims grow old. Not only does this go hand in hand with aspirations (growing up is the first aspiration that a baby Sim will have), it provides a limited time with which your Sims can achieve their goals.  | | The Universal Control Panel helps you manage your Sim family. | A Family Affair
The Sims 2 not only lets you create just about any type of Sim in any type of family, build elaborate houses, and even create a neighborhood from scratch, but it also allows you to start the game in medias res, with premade households. These families all have backstories that are smart spoofs of soap-opera plots--lots of scheming, romance, ghosts, and family fighting. Parents of teens shouldn't worry, though, because nudity is tastefully blurred out and "woo-hoo" between Sims takes place completely under the covers. The ESRB has given this a Teen rating. If The Sims 2 were a film, it would likely land between PG and PG-13. The makers have included some nice tools to help share the universe you've created. For example, you can capture in-game stills and video to show friends the private moments, family interactions, and house parties of your Sims. You can even package a household to share as a blog or an album on a special Web site. The Sims 2 is for patient gamers. Like life itself, the game is filled with mundane details, like getting ready for work and doing dishes. The game also demands a level of creativity from its players that the run-and-gun game genres wouldn't know what to do with. But those who stick with it will be rewarded with an absorbing, amusing diversion and a virtual family history that they've created themselves. --Porter B. Hall Set Up a Sims 2 Machinima Studio
 Amazon.com contributor Porter Hall reveals how you can make movies using the Sims as your actors. See his guide to setting up a Sims 2 Machinima Studio.
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| Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 1-5 of 908
 DOES *NOT* WORK WITH VISTA June 11, 2010
Midnight Oil
I bought this on Amazon knowing it said to have at least Windows XP or 2000 but hoping it would work with Vista anyway after reading another review that seemed to suggest it could be done. I just want to let other customers know that it does NOT work with Vista. I uploaded all 4 CD's to my computer and it was AFTER i had done so that my computer told me there were known compatibility issues with using that software on Vista. So i never got to play the game and do not know how it is but will be looking to sell my game. I will wait til upgrading to Windows 7 and perhaps SIMS will offer a Windows 7 version sometime in future.
 This Is An Amazing Game! February 13, 2010
When I first got The Sims, I got sucked in for a few days and thought it was really fun. But then when the Sims 2 came out I got it (a few years ago) and was blown away. I was sucked in for weeks! Endless Possibilities. And each time a new expansion pack would come out I would get sucked right back in. The more expansion packs the better, but without them it's still amazing.
You can go into an existing town or create your own. You can play an existing family or create your own. You can have up to eight sims per household and the create-a-sim its great. Choose from different hair styles, outfits, skin colors, eye colors and the shape of almost every part of their body. You can create toddlers, children, teenagers, adults and elders. And choose their personalities, have them move into a house, or create your own with lots of different tools. And the game play is amazing. I could go on and on with everything you can do, but this review would end up very, very long. So try it out for yourself! And the only con I can think of at the moment is the loading screens are very long, and it takes a very long time to go anywhere. And there are more cons with the base game, but like I said before, the more expansion packs the better!
But this game is rated correctly, however nothing inappropriate is ever shown. I will sometimes get bored with it, but I have had it for years. And I still manage to get sucked in when I haven't played it in a while. You should get this game.
AMAAAZING January 29, 2010
Svetlana Sivchuk
Great Great game! I truly love and enjoy it. It's a really fun game for everyone of all ages.
The Sims 2 is one of the best games ever! December 30, 2009
JJ (USA)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
The Sims franchise is a gaming series in which you run the life of your virtual character(s). You can cook, shop, eat, fall in love, make friends, get a job, go to school, use the bathroom, die, and much more. It has so much versatility that it is a great game!
Story-One of the great things is that there is no story! You can do whatever you want to with your life. You do, however, have "wants" that are based on your aspiration. "Wants" are kind of like life dreams, they are what you want to accomplish in your lifetime. For instance the Wealthy aspiration might have you wanting to earn $100,000 or buy a $1,000 painting. Meanwhile the Family aspiration will have you wanting to have a kid or get married. If you don't fulfill want's you can go crazy (literally), but that is as much of a story as you have.
Graphics-The graphics are really good. The "sims" don't look like real people, but their movements are really good, I think. There are 3 speeds that you can do: regular, double, and triple. Regular looks the best, but double is good, too. Triple is crazy and I only use it to pass the time while I'm at work or sleeping. Also just a note to younger players, when you use the bathroom or take a shower it is blurred out 100% so don't even worry about that.
Sound-There isn't much voice acting, but what there is of it is good. The music is really nice. There are various genres from Pop to Hip-Hop to Shopping. There are probably about 10 songs per station, but they are sung in Simlish, the language sims use.
Gameplay-Okay, obviously this game is third person, and I would even call it point-and-click. You point at the object you want to use and click on it. There might be various options, but you just choose the one you want. A thing to mention is that there are "needs". "Needs" are things that you need to do such as eat, sleep, use the bathroom, take a shower, things like that. Some, such as eating, will cause you to die if you don't do them. "Skills" are another thing in this game. You can build your skills in Cooking, Mechanical, Body, and more by doing things that will help you get better at that skill. For instance, playing chess increases your intellect. Painting increases your creativity. You also need to get a job and earn money in the game. The money isn't dollars but rather Simoleons, the system of money with sims. The jobs you can get are everything from sports to culinary to business, and you can get promotions by making friends and increasing skill levels. Anytime you feel cooped up in your home you can leave to go shopping at a store by calling a taxi. Your fridge sometimes runs out of food, so you need to buy food regularly, but you can order it via phone. Also, you can buy clothes in the game and change into it via a wardrobe. You can change your hairstyle by using a mirror. In this game, there are various life stages. There are baby, toddler, child, teen, adult, and elder. You can also grow older by growing from stage to stage. Then you can die.
Fun-This game is a blast! I love everything about it, and to keep myself from getting bored, I buy the expansion packs one at a time to get something new. The expansion packs are little additions to the sim's world such as a college or downtown.
Length-Well, you can play one of two ways. You can play until you die, and then control your kids and so on or you can press CONTROL, SHIFT, C (hold them all down) and enter AGING OFF to play constantly without growing older. That's how I like to play. So, it can be endless if you so choose, or you can eventually die, but this game gives HOURS of playing time!
Overall, this is an awesome game that is a break from adventure or shooting games. You can just live life to its fullest on a computer. I definitely recommend that you buy it!
 Sims sucks: The most boring game I have ever played. December 11, 2009
Deimos (Alberta)
1 out of 7 found this review helpful
138$ for this lame, boring, annoying game??? I hope no one is dumb enough to pay that price. The Sims 2 is just as boring, stupid, pointless and annoying as the first one. Lets simulate going to work, raising a family, eating, using the bathroom wow what a game. I play games to get away from reality for a few hours not to simulate it.....my god go and cook your dinner, pay your bills, go to work and have some kids....you just played sims. LAME!!!
Showing reviews 1-5 of 908
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