The Sims 2

From Ultimatewiki

Revision as of 18:29, 8 March 2007

The Sims 2 is a strategic life simulation computer game developed by Maxis and published by Electronic Arts. It is the sequel to the best-selling computer game in history, The Sims. It was released on September 17, 2004 and sold a record one million copies in its first ten days. The Sims 2 has been released for Windows, Mac OS X, and several game consoles. Five expansion packs and three stuff packs have been released to date. Its music was composed by Mark Mothersbaugh.

In The Sims 2, players control simulated human characters called Sims, as they interact with their virtual environments, engaging in activities and forming relationships in a manner similar to real life. It builds on its predecessor by allowing Sims to age through six stages of life and incorporating a more powerful 3D graphics engine. A sequel,The Sims 3, was announced in November 2006 by EA.

Gameplay

The Sims 2 does not have a defined final goal; gameplay is open-ended. The player has the freedom to direct his or her Sims as he or she sees fit. A player's Sims can experience a life generally reflective of reality, growing up, working, marrying, having children and eventually dying, all while trying to advance in a chosen career and build a home. However, having a family, or even a steady job, is not necessarily required; therefore the life cycle is not absolute.

Neighborhoods and Lots

Sims inhabit neighborhoods, which are self-contained; Sims from one neighborhood cannot interact with Sims from another. In The Sims 2, three neighborhoods created by Maxis, Pleasantview, Strangetown and Veronaville, were included. Each expansion pack usually adds a new area for the player to explore. For example, players associate a college with their neighborhood in The Sims 2: University, a downtown area in The Sims 2: Nightlife and a shopping district in The Sims 2: Open for Business. The Sims 2: Pets broke this tradition and did not include a new area. The Sims 2: Seasons, the fifth expansion pack, introduced a new base neighborhood named Riverblossom Hills.

Each neighborhood contains lots. There are two types of lots: residential and community. Sims live and build their homes on residential lots and are able to visit community lots by taxi. A player can build a variety of recreational destinations for his or her Sims, ranging from supermarkets to public swimming pools. Expansion packs add lots specialized to new gameplay introduced. For example, Pets includes new parks and stores for pets and Nightlife includes restaurants and bowling alleys. University also came with the option to have dorm lots, which are colleges only.

Sims

Age groups

Sims, like humans, age, have needs, develop dreams and goals, exhibit personality, form relationships, hold jobs and eventually die. They progress through six (or seven) unique life stages: baby (babies must be born; unlike other age groups, they cannot be created in the Create-a-Sim screen), toddler, child, teen, young adult (only with The Sims 2: University), adult and elder.

Throughout life, a Sim's role in his or her family changes to suit his or her age. Babies are dependent on older Sims to nurture and take care of them. As a toddler, Sims are taught fundamental skills, such as walking and talking. Children attend school and gain a new, yet still limited, independence. Teen Sims are more self-sufficient and are able to cook for themselves and work in three-tiered careers to earn Simoleons.[6] Adults are completely self-reliant, having virtually no restrictions. Elders are suited to a life of retirement, and often have to sleep and use the toilet more than adults.

Need-based motives

Sims are driven principally by their needs. In The Sims 2, Sims have up to eight needs or motives depending on their age, such as bladder, or the need to urinate, energy, or the need to sleep. The importance of certain needs outweighs that of others. For example, a Sim's neglect of his or her hunger could lead to starvation, but ignorance of hygiene does not result in fatality. A Sim's current levels in needs are averaged to determine a Sim's mood. If motives are collectively low, a Sim's mood will be negative, preventing him or her from engaging in certain activities. In the Seasons expansion pack, needs are affected in more ways.

Aspirations

As toddlers and children, Sims aspire only to "Grow Up," but upon becoming teens, the player chooses one of five (or six) life aspirations for them: family, fortune, knowledge, popularity, romance, and pleasure (only with The Sims 2: Nightlife). Each Sim has wants and fears that correspond to his or her aspiration, stage of life and present circumstances. When a want is achieved, such as to "play with a relative," aspiration points are alloted to the aspiration meter. Conversely, when a fear is realized, such as the death of a spouse, aspiration points are penalized. There are six levels to the meter, the highest being platinum, then gold, two levels of green and two of red. Aspiration levels play a part in determining the length of time a Sim will live as an elder before death. For example, a Sim who transitioned to the elder stage with a platinum level will live a much longer life than one who transitioned with a red level. Aspiration points are used to purchase special objects with helpful uses, whose beneficial effects are potentially made negative if the user's aspiration level is below gold.

Personalities

Personality is a quantified way of measuring a Sim's behavioral characteristics. There are five personality traits, each described by its opposing qualities. For example, a Sim can be active, lazy or somewhere in between the two extremes. These traits determine how fast a Sim learns skills, the rate at which specific needs decay, the types of interactions a Sim will autonomously engage in, the likelihood of accepting certain interactions and the likelihood of bringing home a friend from school or work. Sims want, fear, and behave according to his or her personality. For example, shy Sims will fear having parties and often become nervous before engaging socially, while outgoing Sims must interact constantly to satisfy their social needs and will point and wave to others as they pass by. Neat Sims will fear using public toilets, while sloppy Sims will urinate in the shower and even on bushes if desperate.

Careers

Adult careers have ten levels, while Teen and Elder careers are restricted to three. Upon adulthood, a Teen automatically joins the Adult version of his extant career. Elders are not able to surpass the third level. Advancement in career tracks, such as business and science, requires achieving certain skill levels and maintaining a certain number of family friends. The Sims 2 comes with 10 Adult careers, and some subsequent expansions add more.

Relationships

Sims form two kinds of relationships with one another: daily and lifetime. Daily relationships are influenced by recent interactions with other Sims, with lifetime relationships are reflective of a pair's relationship as a whole. For example, if two Sims meet they are able to improve their daily relationship to a perfect score of 100 but are essentially unable to do the same to their lifetime relationship. Lifetime relationships strengthen over time, while daily relationships weaken without recurring interaction. Lifetime relationships can be directly and more quickly affected by strong interactions, typically romantic.

Sims can lead a bisexual or homosexual lifestyle with few differences from heterosexual lifestyles. Gay or lesbian partners are described as being "joined" (in a process identical to marrying - i.e. two women will wear wedding gowns) rather than married, and they may move in together and "WooHoo". The "joined" may be seen as a reference to civil unions.

Death

Death is carried out in The Sims 2 by the NPC Reaper, equipped with the uniform scythe and robes. The Reaper is often seen with a cell phone or other incongruous utilities.

Sims can die several ways. If a Sim reaches the end of the Elder life stage, he or she will die of old age. Sims close to the deceased receive an amount of inheritance determined by the benefactor's relationship at death. In addition, Sims can also meet premature ends by various means, such as electrocution or drowning. Sims leave behind tombstones or urns, which are typically possessed by their ghosts. As long as the memorium is left on the lot, ghosts will haunt the household.

Ghosts

Ghosts behave differently depending on their type of death and other circumstances. For example, Sims that died from starvation will steal food from the fridge, Sims that drowned will leaves puddles on the floor as they walk around and fill bathtubs with water, leaving them dirty, and Sims whose spouses have since remarried will become angry and jealous. Ghosts come in different colors, depending on their cause of death (e.g. Sims who die of old age will be white, Sims who die of sickness will be green). Ghosts became an idea of the creators of the Sims as a consequence of an unexpected bug, in which Sims became transparent and inaccessible. Ghosts also make it harder for a Sim to live by waking up easily frightened Sims and other annoyances. A ghost can also scare a sim to death if their motives are low.

Types of Sims

Playable Sims are the Sims a player controls directly. All gameplay is executed through actions of Playable Sims. Playable Sims are created in one of three ways. A playable Sim may be created using the Create-a-Family feature and placed in the game, by birth or adoption into an existing family, or by being a non-playable Sim moved into a lot.

There are two types of non-playable Sims:

• "Townie" Sims are those which are roughly equivalent to playable Sims, having jobs and other characteristics of a playable Sim, except they do not live on an actual lot. They populate the Community lots and can be interacted with just like any other Sim. They don't age until they move in with another Sim and become playable Sims. With certain exceptions, any Townie may become a playable Sim if he or she accepts an invitation to move in or be married.
• Non-playable Sims that perform specific functions are called NPCs. NPCs can be hired to work for residential lots as maids, nannies, and gardeners. There are also cashiers who work at community lots, as well as NPC Sims with special tasks, such as social workers, police officers, and repo men. Most NPCs may become a Playable Sim through union or moving in, but unlike Townies, NPC Sims will lose their job upon moving in, appearing unemployed. Their role, now empty, is automatically filled by a new NPC.

Plot

Although gameplay is open-ended, The Sims 2 has characters with histories, and the game is designed to accommodate story-based gameplay should the player wish to do so through expanded photo album features, such as a neighborhood photo album. The three (later four, with Seasons) pre-loaded neighborhoods each have a storyline told through the existing photo albums and the Sims' personal biographies, though playing characters in these neighborhoods is still open-ended. The story can even be completely disregarded should the player wish to.

The Sims 2 is based loosely on the original plot lines of The Sims, by containing information about families extant in the first game. Several pre-loaded families in The Sims 2 have subtle clues, hinting that this game exists about 20 years after the first game.

Utilizing the complex ancestry system, The Sims 2 incorporates details that link families in this game to the first. The Broke family has a series of Newbies in their genealogical history. The Newbies were a family from the first game. The Goth family is a canon element in The Sims games. In this game, their daughter from the first game has grown into a woman about to be married, further emphasizing the passage of time. The Goths in The Sims 2 also provide a basis for story-driven play, as a plot involving their vanished mother and impending marriage is hinted at throughout gameplay. Other returning families from earlier games include the Pleasants (for whom "Pleasantville" is named), the Burbs, and the Kats (Pets expansion only). One of the new families was also married to Michael Bachelor, who is now deceased and also identified within the Sims 2 as being Bella Goth's brother.

Compared to The Sims

Graphically, The Sims 2 is far more accurate and true to real life than The Sims, immersing the player in a fully 3D world. Unlike earlier Sim games, such as SimCity 2000, which used dimetric projection and fixed resolutions, the camera in The Sims 2 allows the player to view things from many angles. Sims themselves are much more intricately detailed than they were in The Sims. Both in The Sims and The Sims 2, 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. The player can adjust, for example, a Sim's nose to be very large or very small in The Sims 2's Create-a-Sim. Texturing is still achieved through use of raster images, though it appears more lifelike. Movements are more smooth, natural and true to humans and Sims are in general more animated.

There is also an increased realism in gameplay. Sims have new experiences unavailable in The Sims, such as aging and eventual death. Sims may engage in "WooHoo," a euphemism for sexual intercourse, in order to become pregnant and have a child. In The Sims, female Sims did not become pregnant; instead, infants were spawned after two Sims' repeatedly kissed. Additionally, babies in The Sims 2 progress through life stages to become adults, while babies in The Sims only become children before ceasing to continue aging. Sims take on genetic characteristics of their parents, such as eye color, hair color and personality traits.

Game Customisation

Custom Content

Like many games, a large number of players have worked to modify both the game content and behavior of The Sims 2. Such fans are often called modders. Modders alter the game in ways as simple as creating new floor and wall textures using a downloadable tool from and as complicated as writing 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 categories: exporting (creating Sims and lots in-game or using the game's included Body Shop and exporting them to a file), recoloring (creating a new texture for an object), meshing (creating an object or modifying its shape) and hacking (writing code that manipulates game and object behaviors).

The modding community for The Sims 2 is self-supporting, with more advanced modders writing tools and tutorials to help in creating custom content and modifying the game environment. One such program is SimPE, which is an editor for game files. SimPE also facilitates the creation of custom content through several wizards and package management tools.

The official The Sims 2 website lists more than 500 registered fansites, many of which feature custom content. More than 250,000 Sims and lots have been uploaded to the Sims 2 Exchange on the site. Some fansites require either a one-time fee or a subscription to access some of all of the content on the site. Most of the sites do not charge for usage, some however, do allow voluntary donations to offset the cost of website maintenance.

The topic of paysites is controversial in The Sims 2 community. Although the license agreement specifically forbids charging money for content created with or for The Sims 2, to date EA Games has not commented on the controversy, and is not allowing any discussion of this on the official Sims 2 BBS.

The Sims 2 Body Shop

The Sims 2 Body Shop is a program shipped with The Sims 2 that allows users to create custom clothing and body recolors, such as eyes, hair and skin tone. These custom created parts can be imported directly into the game, or can be uploaded onto the official The Sims 2 Exchange. These parts can be then added to other users' games.

Game editions and add-on releases

For the PC, there have been three released editions of the core game, five released expansion packs and three released stuff packs. Many of these have been ported to Mac OS X by Aspyr. The Sims 2 has been released for a number of game consoles, The Sims 2 Seasons has just been released.

Core game

Expansion packs

The Sims 2 expansion packs provide additional game features and items. Generally, expansion packs add one central gameplay element, several peripheral elements, a new type of "expansion neighborhood", a new "supernatural" element (Zombies, in University), and approximately 125 new objects. Five expansion packs have been released.

Stuff packs

Stuff packs are add-ons to the base game that add only new objects. There are currently four released. Stuff packs were originally called booster packs, as seen in the release of The Sims 2: Holiday Party Pack. Current releases are called "Stuff Packs" and include certain gameplay elements introduced in previous expansion packs (as opposed to Holiday Party Pack, which only added a package file containing object data). Stuff packs typically add around 60 new items. None have been ported to Mac OS X.