The Sims 2 (Sony PlayStation 2, 2005)

Okay, I can honestly say that I have loved the Sims franchise ever since they decided to branch off from the PC. I consider myself a cut above the geeks who still sit hunchbacked in front of the screen, massaging their pocketprotectors and fiddling with the tape on their glasses. Sims 2 for the PS2 has brought playing make-believe to the 21st century, and all those who have secretly harbored a desire to play barbie dolls, can once again rejoin the rest of humanity.
Alright, let's go over the basics. The game doesn't really introduce anything overtly new or extraordinary for fear that gamers would rise up in angry retaliation. However, the game does look pretty darn good compared to its counterparts; The Sims and The Sims: Bustin Out. The characters actually look believable, and the gameplay runs smooth enough that you can play for hours at a time without food, water, or bathing. Believe you me, I've done it. And no, you STILL cannot see any bare naked sim flesh, and I still have no clue what they are saying.
Another new thing about this game is the conversation interaction mode-y thingy. Now, when you initate a conversation, the entire game seems to unfocus, and it's just you and whatever dope you've managed to corral into a conversation. Now you get to choose such prompts like "Check Out," "Card Trick," "Kicky Bag," "Confide," and my personal favorite, "Tell Dirty Joke." And no, that is no indication of just how mentally stunted I am.
Oh yeah, the newness also extends to the food you eat. Now when you go to the fridge, you can choose to pick what foods you will cook for supper or you can be lame and lazy and choose generic ingredients. If you're like me, I tend to choose those things that are easy on the pockets. Each ingredient costs a certain amount of simoleans and I have been none to make a meal for 8 bucks. Yes I know, how does she do it?
Let's see. Designing and dressing your sim is also done differently. Not only are there more choices-everything doesn't look as if it belonged in the 60s-but you can also alter your clothes to put your own personal spin on your outfit.
Now on to the bad and the downright ugly. On this game, they obviously thought that it wouldn't be necessary to let players stage their next action after their main action was completely. On the Sims 2, you have to wait till the previous action is completed before you go on to anything else. So while Bill the Specter is WooHooing with your girlfriend, you can't do anything because you're too busy taking a crap in the bathroom. Such is life.
Also, this game's objectives are a little screwy. When you complete an objective, you are given points and points are used to open new stuff. The only thing is, the objectives never seem to completely go away. I mean, one was "Sell a Painting," and I was like, "is that the best you got?" And they were like "yeah, that's pretty much it." Well, of course I sold the painting but 2 days later, guess what my objective was. To sell a f@#$%& painting! Argh!Foiled yet again. Also, it's pretty darn hard to cheat on this game. I have yet to see a F@#$%# gnome statue appear by my mailbox. It's okay, I'm not going to explode, my belly just has to be rubbed and I'm good to go
Overrall, the game LOOKS pretty darn good, and gameplay runs relatively uninterrupted. I'd recommend this game for any Sims fan, seeing as what there are only 4 games out for the PS2. And you don't want to slide back into the hellish world of PC gaming do you?

I've been a Sims fan for years, and I've seen the PC games pretty much go from terrible graphics, and very little detail in the story line and game play - to WAY better graphics, and very detailed story line and game play.

I think 'The Sims 2' for PSP was kind of a step down from the PC version. The biggest cons for me were:

- No kids (even in the original version of the Sims you could have kids).

- No aging.

- One action at a time (no planning ahead in your actions. You have to wait until you're finished with each thing before you can click the next).

- The fact that no matter what time your 'sim' goes to sleep, they only sleep until their sleep meter is full. They never sleep through the entire night.

- Gaining relationship points with characters is this game is much more difficult. They all seem to be bi-polar.


Now for the PRO's

- Wider selection in wardrobe. You're able to put your own spin on the clothing with more options.

- The locations thing is cool. Lots of different places with different people for your 'sim' to visit.

- Pretty fantastic graphics.

- New careers. Similar, but not exactly the same.

- Addictive factor. It IS a Sims game, so even though it does have quite a few cons, you're still definitely able to get zoned out into this game for hours at a time.

So, in my opinion... Here is what it comes down to. The PC version of 'The Sims 2' is a MUCH better option, the PS2 version is definitely a down grade, but it's not too shabby. Give it a go. If you like sims games, you'll enjoy this - and if you haven't played the PC version you'll probably love it.

This is a great game. Good for single play and for two players. I started playing this with my daughter when she was almost 8 and she has really improved, but most importantly, she has really enjoyed it. Her favorite part is picking out her character and dressing her. This one is a far improvement of the first game.
The only downside is that you still can only save one sim game per memory card. So, if my daughter brings a friend over and they want to play, I either have to buy her a new memory card or she can't save their game. My daughter has a lot of friends and finally decided since the part she likes the most is at the beginning, she simply starts a new game every time she has a friend over. The downside again, is that she can't save it if the friend is coming back soon. Our saved game has been deleted twice, so now we back it up on our two memory cards, which again, means she can't save any other games on there. I really don't understand why that is. Once we've won the game, I'm sure she'll want to start saving her games with her friends and we'll lose all the stuff we've unlocked. Really disappointing. The plus side is, all the cheats are available online and it's more fun for her and her friends to play with everything unlocked. Again though, I have to help her unlock everything before her and her friend can really play. I hope they improve their storage space with the third installment.

The Sims 2 so far has been the worst version of the game for the Playsation 2 console, and for many reasons.

-You can build no levels or stories above your house, but you can on the PSP version.
-You can have no kids, no matter how much ‘Who-Hoo’ you do.

Though if you want a game for gags, this might be it. Here’s some of the stuff you can do in the game.

-Make deadly foods to give to your friends or enemies. Some cases this kills. But you don’t go to jail, or get fined.
-Have several relationships with guys and girls at once, which is a little weird to me.
-Have a three way marriage from what I’ve seen so far.

I have really enjoyed this game so far. It gets a little tricky to play sometimes. In each new house you move into you have to help at least one of the people who live there. It's hard to complete their wants and your own persons wants at the same time. Usually I just focus on the person who lives there so I can keep moving through the game. It's also hard to keep your Sim's friends while you play since they have virtually no time between work and fulfilling their daily needs.

Pros:

-New places to visit all the time.
-You can skip going to work more often, just make sure they don't miss two days in a row.
-New wardrobe.

Cons:

-You can't have children.
-You can't have any pets.
-The fire hazard thing is ridiculous. If you buy too many objects you will violate the fire hazard rule, and objects in your house will start setting on fire until you remove some objects.

Some other facts:

-You can be married to more than one person.
-You can die and become a ghost, and can be brought back to life if you pay the Grim Reaper $100.

All in all, you are much better off buying the computer game.