Pros: Fun and at last more objects and interactions for Sims 2...
Cons: ...still a few bugs that should have been fixed before release.
The Bottom Line: A fun and worthwhile addition to the commercial blockbuster franchise of the Sims, slightly marred by some annoying bugs that really should've been dealt with.
munkus's Full Review: The Sims™ 2: University for Windows
With the speed at which this expansion pack for Sims 2 came out, it can only be assumed that it was practically in the works from Day 1.
As a non-American, the concept of 'College' as presented in endless cinema, books and now computer games is completely foreign. It wasn't until I discovered internet porn that I really knew what a frathouse was (yet still puzzle over why anyone would want to be one voluntarily). Most Australians go to university in their own city, only living in colleges if they're from the country or their family is completely intolerable. It is rarely a by-choice thing.
So it is hard to comment on whether Sims 2: University is a reasonable portrayal of college life (reasonable for a PG rated computer game at any rate). However even with my limited knowledge of American college, I can say that your Sims do spend a startling lack of time actually attending classes. More on that later.
The problem with massively successful games like the Sims is that they either spawn poor imitators or endless franchising. Maxis and EA have cleverly cornered the market with the latter so that the former are nightmarishly bad (Singles? anyone?) and disappear from the market in lightning speed. This also means that there is no real competition and the pressure is slightly off- who are they going to lose Sim addicts like myself to? One of the biggest gripes with the expansion packs for the first franchise was that they were released so quickly to capitalise on big bucks that they were full of bugs. The bugs I've found to date, famous last words, have been minor. I have had a few houses now where every sound effect was replaced by the sound from the computer game- quite amusing when a Sim went to the toilet. This is similiar to the bug from the first game where the idling truck sound could be heard for days (until you reloaded your house at any rate). That bug seems to have been fixed. Another Sim had his left arm in a chicken wing position for a few days- then it too magically fixed itself. Then there's Vanishing Bills Disorder (VBD in the trade) where I start getting those Repo notices for non-payment of bills until eventually the repo man comes and takes a bit of furniture. Thing is, there are no bills lying around anywhere. Another household had a wedding before I bought University and the couple moved out- and when I loaded this house after university the Wedding Party scenario started again with the timer, and even the limo arrived to collect the happy couple- who hadn't lived here for some time. In fact, the more I look around on the net, the more it becomes clear that the general consensus amongst the Sims fans is that University was released in an unfit stage- the Sims 2 Website BBS had a forum which listed all the known bugs for University- yet (and this is an absolutely true story)- I gave up waiting for the massive page to load. One site reports 113 known bugs. Maxis/EA have decided not to release a patch for some unfathomable reason which has led to some interesting protest action by Sims-Junkies boycotting the next expansion pack, Nightlife (it is absolutely amazing what you can find on the Net). Some enterprising fans though have released their own patches as zip files, which is remarkable considering they don't have access to Maxis coding.
The game is now heavily weighted towards attending university, and if your Sim doesn't they do so at their own peril. At some point during their teenage years, they can pick up the phone and off they go to one of three college towns- Sim State University, La Fiesta Tech and Academie La Tour. Each is pretty much the same, with largely cosmetic differences (the latter- the Sorbonne rip off- doesn't have any frat or sorority houses though you can start one). If, and only if, your Sim goes to College they experience the Young Adult Life Stage. You'll need some scholarship money so work hard at school and if your grades are decent you'll have enough cash to furnish your dorm room.
Too poverty-stricken, your Sim will have to live in a dorm for at least the first few years of their College education. True to form, they're small and poky with shared bathrooms and the build tool is inaccessible. Supposedly, living in a dorm makes things much easier for more social sims and less easier for studious sims (and these effects are multiplied in frat houses). The big problem is with the ticker counting down to the end of semester exams (a pass is critical to continue at university) there's not much time for anything. I've found it a lot easier to make friends when my Social Sims have moved out of a dorm into their own house- which I feel is a bit of an antithesis to what the designers intended.
One of my biggest critcisms of Sims 2 was that the community lots were more often than not eerily deserted. I'm pleased to say that University has rectified this- the Campus Lots positively bustle with life. There are other college Sims everywhere and you don't need to stumble upon them somewhere to meet them- by clicking on a phone you can access the complete Campus Directory.
Speaking of phones, your Sim can now purchase a cell phone which works exactly the same way. However whilst this means you can place calls from anywhere, it does also mean that it is constantly attached to your body. So you're often woken at midnight by an incoming phone call. Speaking of odd scheduling of activities, I've had final exams now quite regularly at 2 or 3 in the morning.
The chronology of the College Towns is different from your main community in that there is no longer a sense of 'days' but rather time progresses in hours- each semester (with two semesters a year) lasts 64 game hours. The semesters and hours tick by in a manner similiar to the Life Stages of the main game. One of the many little word jokes is the course studied each semester- my Art Major sim had "Life Drawing: An Excuse to See Naked People" for second semester of her Freshman year.
These Majors will segue you into a career- there are 11 to choose from and each trains you for three careers. Each major though works best with a single career- Art, naturally, for the Art Career (one of four new careers available- at last!). Psychology works best for the Paranormal, but will also open up Law Enforcement. And so on. Strangely, there is no dedicated Major for the Medicine Career- Biology is for Natural Science (as is, curiously, Mathematics).
Also, there are (at long last) some new radio stations so that my older sims can listen to jazz instead of pop. There is also a wonderful College Rock station- what we here call Prock (Pop Rock) with either a flawless parody of Tori Amos on a track or Ms Amos herself singing in Simlish.
One of the common criticisms is that load times have become even more sluggish. They're marginally slower for me, but not really noticeable (I probably wouldn't have noticed if I wasn't looking out for it). Again, its a resources hog. You'll need another 1.5GB to play the game (Sims 2, by comparison, is 4.5GB alone).
University is a great idea rather clumsily executed and riddled with bugs that really should've been dealt with. Yet despite the numerous minor annoyances of the programming, it is still a lot of fun, hence the star rating. But Maxis is rapidly using up goodwill, and if the release of Nightlife is just as un-polished, they deserve to go to Sim Hell.
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