Live and Let Live Then Die

I was an absolute Sims Junkie. I deliberately stayed away from the Online version as I knew, deep down, it would kill all real social interaction and would replace my friends with little online avatars. I needed those expansion packs like a smoker needs that morning puff, even when they released the horrible Unleashed pack with little doggies that urinated all over the place. Yet I was never sated.

When the Sims 2 was announced I had multiple spontaneous orgasms in anticipation and eventually put my name on the pre-order list, about a week before its eventual release. The due date I was like a caged tiger pacing up and down waiting for the shop to call and when they did-

Disappointment. My first load of the game took about the same amount of time as an Ice Age and was about as exciting despite the litte games Maxis thoughtfully provide (nice touch that) to pass the time. The graphics looked dark and, for lack of better word, 'murky'. I couldn't get a grip on the rotation and zoom, often accidentally zooming to microscopic levels on a Sim's buttocks when all I wanted was to make them eat a sandwich.

However, slowly but surely, I became just as hooked as I was the first time round. Then I drifted off and only just recently (unemployment may have something to do with it) I became hooked again.

More than ever, Sims 2 allows you to indulge completely in your God fantasies from hatch, match and despatch. Building a Sim- once just a mere matter of minutes- can now take the finer part of an hour as you minutely adjust the shape of their jawline, or their eyebrows. Even make-up can be applied, and I was much pleased to discover eyeliner for boys. This physical attributes will play a major role in your Sim community- as Maxis have introduced genetics to the Sims, and two parents will pass on their attributes to their children and so on down the generations- with a slight nod to dominant genes (darker skin or hair) taking precedence over the more recessive genes (red hair is considerably more unlikely to be passed on to children).

Once their physical attributes are assigned, there are the mental attributes to play with. This takes the horoscope method of Sims even further with Aspirations. There are five aspirations- Wealth, Knowledge, Family, Popularity and Romance. A sixth is coming in the next expansion pack (Pleasure). More on these later.

Your Sim has five playable life stages, plus infancy where they are non-controllable and totally dependent on one of your sims. Each stage (Toddler, Child, Teen, Adult and Elder) has unique characterisations and interactive items and is marked with a birthday, which you can celebrate with a party and a cake and so on should you desire. Or if you're a bad Sim God like me, you'll often forget so your sim will progress to the next life stage at an inelegant moment like whilst on the toilet.

Of course because that Sims age- they die. For the first time, the Sims' life is divided into clearly marked 'days' unlike the timeless night/day divide of the first game. A little sliding bar under each Sim shows how many days they have left in this life cycle. Whilst my macabre side would like this feature in the Elders to show how long they have for this Simly Life, my realist is pleased that its ditched for this stage and rather just shows how many days they've lived up til now. Death can strike though not just from old age but accidents and mis-treatment like in Sims 1- starvation for example- but I had a healthy Sim die in childbirth (which threw me into Sim depression for days).

If all this aging business is just too complicated- and it certainly makes gameplay more urgent- you can turn off the aging process by opening the chat window (Ctrl+Alt+Shift+C) then typing 'aging off/on' depending what you want to do. Adults have a life span of around 28 'days'- which if they start off as a single can make it all very rushed to get them hitched and pumping out babies to please their Family aspiration so aging off can be a great help.

These Aspirations provide a mini-challenge in the game, and introduce more goal orientation to the Sims franchise. Your Sim can perform various tasks ('wants')- that change daily- from a choice of four during their routine meanderings that will increase their Aspiration meter making them a happy chappie. A Family Sim may have a want of having a child, or something as simple as talking to a relative. Wealth Aspirations will want to fill their house with paintings and sculpture. If you're a sadist, they also have three fears- from the bleak (death of a spouse) to the mundane (changin' a diaper- especially feared by Popularity Aspirees for some reason) which will plunge them into depression. If their Aspiration Meter sinks too low, they will go crazy. A number of my sims have completely flipped out- and the Social Bunny may result (and no explanation, as its appearance and purpose is a hilarious surprise).

Certain Aspirations lend themselves to certain career paths- the Wealth Aspiration for example loves the Business Career. However one of my few lingering disappointments is that the dozens of careers offered by the end of the Sims 1 franchise have been reduced to, more or less, the original half-dozen. Now it seems that everyone in my community is either a doctor or a businessman. With the aging process, you can also retire from your job now or take a teenage job such as hospital orderly. The Entertainment, Culinary, Animal, Tech, Fashion, Music, Journalism and Education (plus others I may have forgotten) careers are all extinct.

Another lingering disappointment is the lack of a downtown area- soon to be hopefully rectified in the upcoming second expansion pack. The Hot Date expansion was the best, allowing Sims to meet more Sims and easily socialise. Whilst Sims 2 has Community Lots where you can build shops of a very limited variety, I often find that they are badly under-populated and lack the amount of interaction I'd like. Restaurants were invaluable in my Sims 1 days, and no longer exist. These little things, because Sims 2 had such deservedly high expectations- are sadly missing. I also miss the more up-market shop assistant, and the classical music option and the Muzak speakers (oh! how I miss the muzak!).

The level of animated detail in the Sims is remarkable- especially the 3D nature nowadays that lets you rotate and zoom all over the shop once you grasp the technique. Children nap on sofas with one arm dangling idly to one side. On the TV now you can watch complete mini-shows on SBN and even deduce what each of the advertisements are for. You can meet new people online (what a wacky idea!) if you have a computer, and no longer do you just 'eat' but you choose the meal, depending on your Sim's cooking skill. Pregnant Sims waddle around, one hand on their lower back, and have morning sickness. Some detail is more frustrating- I tend to run out of food at inopportune moments and need to either do a grocery run or call for delivery at considerable expense. Children and Teens have to do an arduous amount of homework.

Of course all this wonderful detail comes at a cost- both the price tag and the resources. This means absolutely squat to me, but you'll need an 800MHZ processor, at least 256MB RAM and a video card capable of launching rockets into space. What this means for me is that I can't play my own game on my own laptop but instead rely on the generosity of my brother and his own computer- not an ideal arrangement.

I have found no real bugs in the game except a disease I call Sim Lethargia. It usually happens to the first family I create when I have installed the game each time (Thrice, nowadays). Essentially after a certain time of gameplay, a few weeks perhaps, the chosen family grinds... to... a... complete...halt. It will take fifteen minutes to go the toilet. It will only affect one family per neighbourhood. Impossibly frustrating, in other words. The problem fixes itself if they move house, but as soon as I save it happens again. I did email tech support but in the model of tech support for games worldwide, they were totally hopeless. So the condition, sadly, is terminal.

The first expansion pack, University, came out barely six months after the original release, and Nightlife is coming out mid-September. When my visa stops crying post-Paris, I plan to add these to my burgeoning Sims collection.

I've probably spent the equivalent of months on Sims 2- my addiction comes in bursts- and yet I barely feel that I've scratched the surface of what this game can offer me. That's a great feeling.