Dusting Off My Shelf for Sims 2 and the Expansions

The original Sims was pretty fun and I took the time to collect some of it. The issue was that your Sims never died unless you killed them on purpose. So there weren’t generations and so eventually you got tired of it. The sequel was the Sims 2, which is my favorite of the Sims series. It’s not too complicated and it’s more direct on what you’re able to do. That is why when I purchased the Sims 3 I felt overwhelmed.

It took me about 4 years to collect all of the Sims 2 Expansions and every once and awhile I will go into a phase where I play it. The purpose of the game is to control people aka Sims and their lives. You can raise a sim family, their pets and what they do with their life. Create a Utopia family or a rebel family. Your Sims can get married, have kids, age, die and go on to the next generation. With the expansions they’ve added different elements such as witches, vampires, werewolves and zombies. I never got to make a zombie or werewolf which I want to learn how to do in the future. You can create the homes they live in and also share your creations at sims2.com. Also you can customize hair, clothes or make your sims look like your favorite T.V. characters.

Here is a break down on all of the Sims 2 Expansions. It’s still a great game and I encourage everyone to try it out if you haven’t already.

The Sims 2 University

In order to get your Sims into college you must send them before they become an adult when they are a teenager. Never after that can  your Sim go to college or if they drop out of college they can’t go back to college.  This expansion adds on scholarships for your sim, so when they go to college they can use that money to get a dorm room or a house. As your Sims do well in school they qualify for additional scholarships. Before your senior year you must settle on a major. Now the benefits of this expansion includes progressing in your career faster, gaining an extra desire box and adding more life to your Sims.

College life is a separate generation from the original Sims 2. In your college life you can become sexually engaged with anyone your age or an adult. You can’t get married and can’t have kids in college. You can also increase your social experience by getting into a fraternity or sorority.

The Sims 2 Bon Voyage

This is the expansion that completed my Sims 2 Collection, a gift from my little brother. Now the purpose of this expansion is to let your Sims go on a vacation. You have several choices including camping, Asia or the tropics. While on vacation your Sims can learn some new skills such as being a ninja and teleporting. The nice thing about this expansions is that you don’t have to take your whole Sims family on vacation and you can invite a guest on vacation who isn’t part of your family. In the game your Sim family includes the Sims who live in your household. If your Sim wants to have an affair they can invite their mistress on vacation without the wife finding out.

While your Sim is on vacation everything back at home freezes in time. You can call your friends and family to keep in contact with them.

The Sims 2 Seasons

Add in the elements of the four seasons. Your Sims can have a SNOW DAY and not have to go to school. This also add some activities such as farming, snowman making, snow angels, raking leaves and snow ball fights. This expansion is more of a headache because there isn’t that many days between the different seasons. If you aren’t careful and leave your Sim outside too long they can get sunburn or freeze. If your Sim children gets to a freezing level and you don’t warm they up fast enough they will be taken away by the government.

The Sims 2 Apartment Life

As you add on my expansions the game gets increasingly more difficult because you have more going on. The Sims 2 Apartment Life increases it by a lot. The biggest problem is that even so you are playing a family in an apartment you still have your neighbors running around. Your neighbors can just show up and walk right into your apartment if you’re not careful. It can be to your benefit because only in the apartment can you ask your neighbor to watch your kids for you while you’re at work. Rent is due every Monday and if you don’t pay your landlord will show up at your house. A benefit though is that your landlord will come fix everything for you if you remember to call them.

Now since you have a apartment that mean you share walls so your neighbors can be loud and keep you up. So stop that you must either slam on the wall to tell them to stop or go to their apartment and confront them. This expansion is harder to multitask because you have so many people to try to get along with in the same building. Not everyone you see you can control.

The Sims 2 Open For Business

This is the one expansions that I have not mastered at all. It probably gets you really thinking about a real business. You can have a business in your own home or in a separate building in the city. There is an addition of activities you can do now including woodworking, florist, building toys, cooking and a salon.  I can’t really give you any tips on this expansions because I haven’t really figured out how to successfully run a business in this game.

You have a meter for how happy your customers are but I have no idea how to keep them happy. Whatever you do, don’t have your business at home because people just walk in and won’t leave.

The Sims 2 Pets

You have an addition to the family which can be a cat, dog, bird or hamster. When you go to the pet store you can personalize your pet down to what color their eyes are or what shape they are. If you’re too lazy to go load a trip to the pet store you can just adopt a pet from the pounds. When you don’t good care of your pet and they are sad they can run away. Make sure to get them a collar or you will never see them again. Pets can mate, age and die. Took me awhile to figure out that you need to buy a dog house for your pets to mate and they must really like each other for you to suggest them to mate.

The nice addition is that your pet can learn skills and also get jobs. It’s a nice way to add a little to your Sims income. Also if you’re tired of a pet you can send them to the pound or you can sell them to a friend.

The Sims 2 Nightlife

Your teenagers can either ask permission or sneak out at night to go out with their friends. You can go out  gambling, bowling, singing, dancing and so much more into the middle of the night. It does drain your Sims energy but a benefit is that when you can home again time has not passed. If you leave at 10 pm then go downtown when you get back it’s still 10 pm. So you have time to catch up on sleep and get ready for the next day.

The Sims 2 FreeTime

Out of all of the expansions this one is my favorite because it adds more that your Sims can do with their free time. They can have game nights, dance, work out, fix cars and create pottery goods. As they get better with everything they can make money from selling items or participating in contest. For all the gamers out there your Sims can participate in Gaming tournaments.

This is just a fun expansions to give your Sims more to do. If you were to just get one expansion I would say get this one.

Additional Item Expansions

This final list doesn’t need to be described separately. They are expansions that just add additional items to your game. This can include, furniture, wall paper, clothes and items in general. They don’t add onto your experience as far as interactions with your sims.

The Sims 2 Kitchen & Bath Interior Design

The Sims 2 Celebration Stuff ! 

The Sims 2 H&M Fashion Stuff

The Sims 2 Teen Style Stuff

The Sims 2 Family Fun Stuff

The Sims 2 Happy Holiday Stuff

The Sims 2 Glamour Life Stuff

The Sims 2 IKEA Home Stuff

Review Of The Sims 2

This is one of those games that I can get in the mood to play for a few weeks then stop playing for a few months then play again. It’s nice because of the replay value in the game. My only issue is that it takes up so much memory in your computer. If you play too many generations then it will reset the whole game for you. I don’t think I’ve ever gotten past the 7th or 8th generation of Sims which is a disappointment.