lambchops's Full Review: The Sims™ Unleashed (Expansion Pack) for Windows
I’ve been with The Sims since the very beginning. I bought the original game and have since acquired copies of all subsequent expansion packs…Livin’ Large, House Party, Hot Date, and Vacation.
Despite each adding new items, new interactions, new places, and overall new energy to the game after the release of Vacation I was rather sick and tired. Sure, I enjoyed taking my dates out to various clubs and cafes and yeah it was nice to go to the park, the beach, and to wintery wonderland. But, darn it all…I want more! I wanted to do what seemed impossible…to have a pet (aside from that nasty diseased hamster or hungry tropical fish) and to be able to further interact within the rather stagnant community of Sims.
So along came Unleashed and my love for The Sims was once again rekindled. Sure, the series and interface are getting a bit dry. The series has been a hot seller since the moment of it’s initial release in January 2000. Yes, this game, in the same format has been around now for nearly three years. The Sims has garnered an amazing amount of popularity for any game. I guess it goes to show the quality of the graphics and the advanced nature of the title.
For those completely clueless about what The Sims is, the Electronic Artis/Maxis release allows the player to be god. To control the behavior, surroundings, employment, love interests, movements, and education of many families of a group of cyber-people called The Sims. Depending on the parameters you set, these demanding individuals may be obedient, neat and nice. On the other hand, they may just as easily be rebellious, messy, and cruel. It’s all up to you.
The Sims is an open-ended game with no real way of winning. Sure, your family might be headed by a movie star and a doctor…the epitome of financial stability. The children may even be strait-A school stars. But, the game will never end nor will the possibilities ever cease to amaze you. The most advisable way to be successful is to a) not kill your Sims, b) keep them and their surroundings clean and appealing, c) educate them, and finally d) make new friends. It really is a fun game but proves addictive and time consuming.
Anyway with that brief overview out of the way, the most recent and one of the most exciting expansion packs Unleashed has just been dropped on to stores as of September 23 of this year. It most definitely lived up to promises of more fun, added items, and increased Sim and more importantly animal (!) interaction. Specifically added are household pets (dogs, cats, parrots, turtles, and lizards). These pets can be trained, fed, and entered into competition to test the skills they’ve learned. What kind of animal you have depends on how much care they need. There are twelve kinds of cats and twelve dogs to choose from. In addition, pets add another facet to human relations in that you and your neighbor may or may not be cat lovers.
Also added are more plots of land to the downtown area. There are already vacation spots and dating venues thanks to older expansions, but this one ups the amount of families with new homes. Even better than this is the new Old Downtown area in which you can find green parks, a pet store, a café, some fashionable shops and a convenient farmer’s market. Like the earlier Vacation and Hot Date expansions, Unleashed gives the player the ability to create these new shops and cafés as they see fit and as The Sims prefer. This is a great addition.
If you don’t want a “normal” job or are sick of selling your paintings and the like, you can grow your own backyard crops to sell at the aforementioned farmer’s market. It’s not a great living, but will serve you well enough if you happen to have one of those Sims that absolutely refuses to wake up or is incurably lazy. If you have one of a few very motivated Sims (like I said…mine tend toward sever laziness), five new career paths are added. You can be in the fashion, education, animal care, culinary, or circus fields. The Animal Care is of course to eventually end up a veterinarian and take care of the neighborhood pets.
I love making my homes as nice as possible (I’m not averse to using a certain money cheat code), so the new objects are wonderful additions. There are a bunch added, most of which are for the pets. There are new skins, new NPC’s (non-player characters), new floors, new walls, new garden furniture, new counters (those do get stale), new deco, new pantries for your crops, a new bathroom collection, and some new light fixtures and ceiling fans. As far as the pet-specific ones go expect a goldfish bowl, various feeders, pet bets, litter boxes, cages, doghouses, and various play accessories.
More actions are available for The Sims, but the crux of the fun is with the pets. Your dog can be sprayed by a skunk or fight with a raccoon. It might dig up the garden if it’s being ignored. So yeah…realistic is the name of the game. With the new expansion, there are also random strays that can also wreak havoc on your new garden. However you slice it, this is a wonderfully enjoyable must-have expansion for new and old Sim fans alike.
But as with the other expansions, there are problems that have yet to be addressed in the game. My Sims continue to get stuck in the stupidest places (a bathroom, for example, for no apparent reason) and take the long way around despite there being a nifty short cut with wide halls, a staircase or whatever. That gets rather frustrating and really holds the game up. You would have thought that Maxis would have fixed that by now. Also annoying is that even the most obedient Sims forget commands for no particular reason. You tell them to use the toilet, they instead make dinner (even though they aren’t hungry). Again…it makes the game frustrating to play.
The fact also remains that the camera doesn’t always do what you want it to. To most effectively play the game, you must slow and speed up the pace. It’s not exactly fun to have to baby sit your completely capable Sims in this manner, but as I’ve already mentioned it’s not advised that you allow them to continue being unhappy or disgruntled. They might just pee in the middle of the floor or stomp their tiny cyber-feet in frustration. I’m left thinking to myself “boy are these guys dumb.”
It also seems that with each progressive expansion pack that the load time is more and more ridiculous. On my decent enough 1.4 GHz AMD processor with a completely competent 512 MB RAM, 50x CD ROM drive, and a 64 MB video card, the darned thing takes well over five and probably nearing 10 minutes to load. I can only imagine (in my nightmares!) what it may take for a slower computer. I used to run The Sims originally on a 300 MHz Pentium II with 48 MB ram and a 8 MB video card…it was painful to say the least. Maxis recommends the following completely inadequate specs when running this game:
· Windows XP/98/95
· The Sims or The Sims Deluxe Edition CD (a new, more inclusive version)
· 350 MHz Pentium II
· 64 MB RAM (128 MB RAM for Windows XP or with other expansion packs for The Sims)
· 4X CD/DVD-ROM
· 1.3 GB hard drive space
· High color (800x600 resolution) capable 2 MB video card with DirectX 7 compatible driver
· DirectX 7.0 compatible sound card
· Keyboard; Mouse
For the love of god, don’t run it one the recommend system. You’ll hate it. What I personally recommend would be something a bit better:
· 600 MHz Pentium or AMD
· 128 MB RAM
· 20x CD ROM drive
· 16 MB video card
Of course, don’t go and buy a new computer for the purpose of playing a game…that’s stupid. But, if your best computer at hope is just a 350 (keep in mind, I purchased my old 300 in mid-1998) then it might just be time to consider a new one anyway. Not to preach or anything…
With that said, Unleashed is one of the better expansions. I really enjoy the new interaction, downtown, and appreciate the addition of more lots. Most important and versatile are the new pets. If you are already a fan of The Sims, I highly suggest you pick up Unleashed. If you already have The Sims, but are frustrated with the load times, don’t get any expansions…it only gets worse. Recommended, but definitely not required.
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