Since the late nineties, simulation games have been popular within the world of gaming. Offering a way to live out niche fantasies or mundane realities from the comfort of your desk chair. One series that has exemplified this is The Sims and when it burst on the scene offering players the ability to live mundane life through an avatar and play God with wacky and fun scenarios. Then it was only logical that The Sims 2 Ultimate Collection would come along and up the ante.
This title plays like any game within the Sims series. Though outside of this game franchise, then perhaps it plays sort of similarly to My Time At Portia or Animal Crossing. With the Sims having it's roots much more firmly in the real world than those mentioned.
More of the Same
BigUglyHag Posts: 195 Member. February 2015 edited March 2015 in The Sims 2. This is my very first Sims 2 world: Pirate Bay. A view from the back so you can see more of the island: Pictured is the Neighborhood file, it has more trees than are in the SC4Terrain file, so I included both files in the upload. Sim2 AIO (all all expansions, updates and languages, including SWEDISH) - This is the full game of Sims 2 with all expansion and service packs installed. Basically this unpacks the full game and makes the required reg keys. The Sims 2 Ultimate Collection.rar (6.62GB) How to play on Windows. Make sure you have uninstalled all older version of The Sims 2 games, including registry entries, and make sure there is no “EA Games” folder in your Documents folder (if you do then delete it). The Pirate Bay was the first site I used to download music, and I still visit it from time to time just to check what’s hot. Sure, there are now many other sites like it, and most of them have more polish and nicer features, but that doesn’t make The Pirate Bay any less good.
EA knew they had a good thing going with this series and when the time came for a sequel, they didn't rock the boat. The gameplay remained very much the same. All the core mechanics remained but with the addition of more content, a much higher quality art style and a plethora of new animations and character nuances and personalities.
What the Sims aims to do is take a mundane life simulation and then offer a self-aware and satirical commentary on life itself. The presentation is cartoonish and comedic, with hilarious scenarios happening from minute to minute due to the sandbox style that the game utilizes so well.
On a bigger scale
The original Sims outing offered you the ability to create your own home and family life. However, the second outing allows to expand beyond your own means and create your own neighbourhoods. With environmental additions such as foliage, other houses, community centres and additional things that allow the player to create a surrounding environment that works for them.
Character creation has also been added to. Giving players the ability to customise their facial structure, style and personality more than ever before. Allowing you to make your character exactly how you want them to be. Whether that's a character in your own image or a role-play as someone completely different. It's all possible in this title.
Just like real life
The game also adds more focus to children and adolescents. These characters will have responsibilities much like the adults such as school, chores and social life. This adds more depth to the original concept for children and they are also available in bigger numbers. Meaning that the gameplay isn't as adult heavy and seems more realistic.
This coupled with the aspiration system that is incorporated into every character that you build for your world really adds a sense of belonging in this virtual life. Each character has an overarching life goal, whether that is a career, a family or whatever you choose it to be. It takes the rather arbitrary goal system of old and gives players a motivation to actually go after them. Rather than simply cause havoc and toy with their little test subjects.
Your Own Virtual Reality
The Sims 2 Ultimate Edition takes everything that galvanised the gaming landscape in the first title and simply adds more. Which is all anyone who loves the series can ask for The additions add nuance and flair as well as comedy and realism to the gameplay. The art style has also had a facelift too, pushing the franchise forward to bigger things.
For sandbox titles, simply giving players the tools to play their way is the ideal approach. The Sims 2 Ultimate Edition realises this and gives players all they need to have fun. Goals are included, aspirations of characters exist but ultimately, the player is in charge and that's exactly what makes this series special.
Pros
- The art style and animations look fantastic
- An abundance of new content
- More realistic considerations to take
- Ability to forge a community
Cons
- Can be mundane after a while