This post is by guest blogger Amanda.
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Categories: Review
Tags: pc, sim
Updated, March 2007: SEASONS
Have I really been playing The Sims (PC) for six years now? And am I really one of those people who has bought every single Sims expansion pack known to man?
Yep, that would be me.
Here are my impressions of Seasons as well as a quick overview of all the other Sims 2 expansion packs.
SEASONS
What do the seasons add to your Sims experience? To be honest, not a whole lot, but this isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Some Sims expansions are so busy and labor-intensive that they make the game less fun (case in point: Open for Business). I appreciate this expansion for making the Sims experience, well, prettier. I love listening to the wind whistle around the house when it snows. The thunder crashes and lightning flashes are truly impressive. Like me, you may find the new vegetable gardening tools and fruit trees to be a little frustrating or boring–that is, until you produce your first bushel of mouth-watering tomatoes and realize how absurdly proud you are of your virtual crops. I also think the new decorative items (Country theme, racing theme) are some of the best yet. Now all my namby-pamby, middle-aged female Sims can finally have the appropriate potholders and cross-stitch samplers hanging from their walls and those hyperactive boys can sleep in a racecar bed.
PETS
All I’ve had time to do so far was make a dog (Rusty) and a cat (Pouncelor Troi) in character creation mode. I’m equally impressed with the high number of pre-made breeds available and the variety of options when you create your own pet from scratch. (Hilarity will ensue when you give a Dalmatian a poodle haircut.) I didn’t really feel like playing with my new family so I sent them to the bin for awhile and visited my current favorite family instead. The “kaching” cheat gave them enough extra Simoleons to adopt a puppy and buy him a few toys and necessities. Only time will tell how frustrating or rewarding it can be to rear a puppy. I love the random things he does–for example, “scary things” are high on his list of interests, which makes it great fun for him to bark at the t.v. I haven’t even had a chance to play with the new fish tank, birds and womrats now available.
The STUFF expansions 
I’m grouping these three things together since they are very similar. Holiday Stuff has seasonal items like a Christmas tree, stockings and a menorah. Family Fun Stuff has themed furniture and clothing for kids. Glamour Life Stuff has sexy evening wear and forties-style furniture. All the stuff included in these expansions is great, but they cost $20 apiece! If you can wait and pick them up for $10 or so, definitely buy them. But at this price, I can only give them a mediocre score.
OPEN FOR BUSINESS 
This was my least favorite expansion so far. In theory I like this idea but in practice, I find that I don’t have as much fun when my Sims run businesses. The bonuses: making cool robots, opening your own restaurant or bowling alley, creating weird stores. The downside: highly dysfunctional robots wreaking havoc on your life, the difficulty of balancing a business vs. following traditional career paths, and yet one more toolbar to deal with on the screen. Never fear: there is enough cool stuff to make this worth your money even if you don’t like to run businesses.
NIGHT LIFE 
This expansion pack added the concept of attraction to the Sims 2 world (it’s fun to make a Sim who loves stinky blonde-haired women), a downtown area, vampires and high-pressure dating. The “bad date” responses never cease to amuse. Your Sim hasn’t lived until he stomps out a bag of flaming dog poo left on his front door mat. This one’s a must.
UNIVERSITY 
This is my very favorite expansion so far, but this may just be my personal taste. I never fool around too much with the Greek Houses but I love to send my Sims to college and stick them in a dorm filled with streakers and hyperactive cheerleaders. It’s equally fun to create a super-geek Sim obsessed with maintaining that 4.0, or a romance-motivated Sim who spends all her time hooking up and sweet-talking people into writing her term papers.
I won’t bother detailing all the original Sims expansion packs because they’re so cheap. Buying a dud won’t set you back $20-$30 like a Sims 2 pack would. My favorites: Hot Date and House Party. My least favorite: Superstar.