- Each Sim has their own -- take your Sims through generations and evolve their family tree.
- Fulfill your Sims' dreams - Do they want a life of family and romance? Great knowledge? Fame and fortune? Whatever they want, it's in your hands to get it for them.
- Take your Sims to all-new extremes - They'll get arrested, see ghosts, marry an alien or write a great novel.
- All new Create-A-Sim for unlimited creativity - design a Sim, their house, even their entire neighborhood.
- New in-game movie camera lets you watch the game from a whole new angle.
Product Description
-------------------
In The Sims 2, your Sims will be more lifelike, more responsive,
and more complex than ever before. You'll be able to control your
Sims over their entire lifetimes, taking them from their first
steps to their golden years. Guide them through "Life's Big
Moments" and build their "Life Score" with every decision you
make. And since every Sim will have its own , their appearance
and personality will be passed down through the generations. Life
in The Sims 2 will take on a whole different dimension with our
entirely new 3-D engine.
.com
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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- 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
.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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From the Manufacturer
---------------------
In the The Sims 2, you direct your Sims over a lifetime and mix
their genes from one generation to the next. You set your Sims'
goals in life; fame, fortune, family, romance or knowledge. Give
them a long, successful existence or leave their lives in
shambles. Take them to extremes, from getting busted to seeing a
ghost, from marrying an alien to writing a great novel. Unleash
your creativity with the all-new Create-A-Sim feature, new
building options, and the new in-game movie camera. Get ready to
mix their genes, fulfill their dreams, and push them to extremes.
What do you want to do with your Sims' lives?
* Mix Genes: Your Sims have and inherit physical and
personality traits. Take your Sims through an infinite number of
generations as you evolve their family tree.
* Fulfill Dreams: Your Sims now have purpose in life. Do they
aspire to a life of fame, fortune, family, knowledge, or romance?
It's up to you to decide if they will be a lover or a loser, a
prince or a pauper, a fool or a mastermind, and many other
choices. Give them what they want and they'll lead a long,
successful existence; indulge their fears and risk ruining their
lives. It's all in your hands.
* Push The Extremes: Will your Sims be left at the altar and need
a shrink, or inherit a fortune and become filthy rich? Witness
the big moments that make every Sim's life uniquely memorable.
* Unlimited Creativity: Generate unique Sims with the new
Create-A-Sim, packed with a vast selection of facial features,
hairstyles, and outfits. Build dream homes and design
neighborhoods with new building, design, and home furnishing
options.
* Revolutionary Movie-making: Make your own Sim films with the
all-new movie-making feature. Create the cast, set the stage,
take control of the camera, and capture your own screenplay in
action. Zoom in close to record every detail as your very own
Sims sitcom unfolds.
Sims 2 DVD Edition Content:* Interviews with The Sims 2 game
designers
* The Sims 2 Film School 101
* The Sims 2 Movies and Outtakes
* Exclusive Digital Goodies, such as a variety of desktop
wallpapers, exclusive instant messaging kit and a fansite kit to
create your own website
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