The Sims 2 is a 2004 strategic life simulation computer game developed by Maxis and published by Electronic Arts. It is the sequel to the best-selling computer game, The Sims , which debuted on February 4, 2000. It was first released on September 14, 2004 for Microsoft Windows. A port to Macintosh was released on June 13, 2005. Eight expansion packs and nine micro-expansion packs were subsequently released. In addition several console versions have been released. Though not commonly known, The Sims 2 is offered on mobile platforms. Mobile manufacturers such as Nokia offer The Sims 2 from the Ovi Store. It costs $4.99 USD. A sequel, The Sims 3 , was released in June 2009.
The Sims 2 has the same concept as its predecessor. Players control their Sims in various activities and forming relationships in a manner similar to real life. The Sims 2 , like its predecessor, The Sims , does not have a defined final goal; gameplay is open-ended. Sims have life goals, wants and fears, the fulfillment of which can produce both positive or negative outcomes. All Sims age, and can live over 100 Sim days depending on the degree of which their aspirations are fulfilled. The Sims 2 builds on its predecessor by allowing Sims to age through six stages of life and incorporating a 3D graphics engine. Although gameplay is not linear, story-lines exist in the game's pre-built neighbourhoods. Pleasantview is based 25 years after the town in the original The Sims. Strangetown's storyline is based on the supernatural, and is loosely connected with Pleasantview. Veronaville's characters are based on Shakespearian characters.
The Sims 2 was an instant success, selling a then-record one million copies in its first ten days. As of July 26, 2007, The Sims 2 has sold more than 13 million units worldwide and was the best-selling PC game of 2004. During April 2008, The Sims 2 website announced that 100 million copies of The Sims series had been sold. In addition to its commercial success, The Sims 2 was well received by critics gaining a 90% score from aggregators Metacritic and GameRankings.
Gameplay
Neighborhoods
There are three pre-made neighborhoods in The Sims 2 : Pleasantview, Strangetown, and Veronaville. Others come with various expansion packs. Many pre-made characters have their own storylines and history. The main neighborhood that has run through The Sims and The Sims 2 is Pleasantview (called both Sim Lane and Old Town in the original). Strangetown is based on a sci-fi theme and Veronaville is based on Shakespeare's works "Romeo and Juliet" and "A Midsummer Night's Dream". The Sims 2 is set 25 years after the first game.
Live mode
The gameplay revolves around controlling Sims with a point-and-click interface. Actions are performed by clicking on an in-game object and selecting an interaction with that object. Each Sim has a life-span of approximately 90 Sim days (each day lasting about 25 minutes) and progresses through six different age groups: babies, toddlers, children, teenagers, adults and elders. Each age-group has interactions specific to itself. Toddlers can be taught skills such as walking and talking, children and teens attend school and do homework, and elders have the ability to retire and collect a pension.
The game provides goals to the player in the form of wants and fears. Fears represent things for the player to avoid such as getting demoted or contracting a disease, while wants are generally positive and can involve buying new objects or reaching the top of a career track. Wants are selected randomly but are weighted toward a Sim's aspiration. Players are able to select one of five aspirations, including family, fortune, popularity, knowledge and romance. These mainly deal with determining the chance of specific wants appearing on the want panel. Family Sims are more likely to experience wants involving having children, while Fortune Sims will experience career-related wants. Completing wants will provide aspiration points, a currency which can be used to purchase reward objects such as a money tree or an elixir of life.
Two important aspects are the Sims' needs and moods. Needs represent physical and psychological aspects of various Sims and include the need to eat and sleep as well as the need for entertainment and to be hygienic. Needs are tied down to a Sim's mood which represents a Sim's willingness to perform specific tasks. Needs are indicated to the player in the form of bars which increase or decrease depending on what actions the Sim is performing.
Sims can also have specific relationships with other Sims, including friendly and romantic ones. A Sim's attitude toward others is represented with two bars: a short-term relationship bar and a long-term relationship bar. The short-term bar is easy to fill up but can also decrease rapidly. The long-term bar is less volatile. Sims that behave romantically can unlock the option to become engaged and married. These relationships are restricted to non-family members.
Sims can choose one of ten career tracks in order to earn an income. A career track consists of ten levels which represent advancement. To move up to the next level, Sims must advance in various skills which represent their ability to perform certain actions. For example, the cooking skill represents how good a Sim is at preparing meals and the speed in which they do so. Sims must also establish good relationships with other Sims to move up the career ladder.
The simology panel on the interface represents miscellaneous information to the player. A Sim's personality is represented on a scale between one and ten for various elements including neatness, laziness, niceness, shyness and playfulness. These are a major factor in their autonomous behavior. Sims also have interests that are displayed when talking to other Sims. Finally, Sims can earn memories from specific events in their life. These can be positive or negative.
Buy and Build mode
From the neighborhood view, the player selects to play one lot, as in The Sims . There are residential and community lots. Sims live in residential lots, and can travel to community lots to purchase groceries, clothing and magazines as well as interact with Townies.
The player can choose between playing a pre-made inhabited lot, moving a household into a built-up lot, or constructing a building on an empty lot. One novelty from The Sims 1 is foundations.
The player switches among the "live" mode (default) to control Sims, the "buy" mode to add, move or delete furniture, or the "build" mode to rebuild the house. Buy and build mode for community lots is locked when player Sims visit the lot but are available from the neighborhood view. It is also possible to import neighborhood terrains from Sim City 4.
The game contains some time-bound social challenges that provide a reward if successful. Sims can throw parties to gain aspiration points or invite the headmaster over for dinner in order to enroll their children in private school. Some expansion packs have new mini-games, like running a Greek house in University or dating in Nightlife . In Nightlife , each date is a challenge to keep both Sims as happy as possible while accumulating aspiration points.
Comparison to The Sims
Graphically, The Sims 2 is more detailed than The Sims and allows players to view its world in full 3D. This is a change from earlier Sim games, such as SimCity 2000 , which used dimetric projection and fixed resolutions, as the camera was in The Sims . In The Sims , Sims are 3D meshes, but The Sims 2 introduces far more detail in mesh quality, texture quality, and animation capability. A Sim's facial features are customizable and unique, and Sims can smile, frown, and blink. The player can adjust a Sim's features in the in-game Create-a-Sim tool; for example, noses can be made to be very large or very small. Texturing is achieved through use of raster images, though it appears more lifelike.
The Sims 2 characters' pass through six life stages (seven with University ), with eventual death of old age, while babies in The Sims only become children before ceasing to continue aging. The aspiration system (described above) is also new to The Sims 2 . Sims can become pregnant and produce babies that take on genetic characteristics of their parents, such as eye color, hair color, facial structure, and personality traits. Genetics play a major role in the game, and as such, dominant and recessive genes play a larger role than they did in the original game.
Some of the other additions to gameplay are career rewards, a week cycle, the cleaning skill, a variety of meals (depending on time of day), exercise clothing, body shape affected by diet and exercise, and houses built on foundations.
Game customization
The Sims 2 is an extremely malleable game. Modders alter the game in ways as simple as creating a new floor texture of rocks or as complicated as writing entire patches for the game code to customize its behavior. Such modifications are all loosely referred to as "custom content". Specifically, custom content can be divided into four categor
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