To be fair, this is probably the expansion pack Maxis were least unwilling to make -in fact it probably only required minimal whipping at the hands of EA to produce. Also, for no reason at all, Hilary Duff is in it! Why? Because kids like Hilary Duff! Yay! Well, here's your chance to buy it again, this time for The Sims 2.
Remember how in 2002 there was an expansion pack for The Sims called Unleashed? It had pets in it - really oddly animated pets. But it gets the worst out of each one, failing completely to see what made them great in the first place. It tries to mix a game like The Sims 2 with the mechanics of Nintendogs. The story mode has a lot of possibilities and in itself is not terrible, but is ruined by the terrible game mechanics. It's a weird mix of a game, you can see elements of a nicely developed game but they are scarce. Taking care of the animals is quite boring and repetitive, with simple tasks that you'll have to take care of over and over again. The animals are spooky and there's only dogs and cats. The Sims 2 Pets is a bad game, there-s no other way around it. But after Playing The Sims 2 Pets, it was probably for the best.
Sure, the veterinary element is completely missing in Nintendogs. In both games, you have to take care of their needs and heal them up. Unlike Nintendogs' version of dogs, The Sims 2 Pets aren't that pretty nor realistic. At the same time, when you think of a game about taking care of animals on the DS you immediately think about Nintendogs. If you played the original The Sims 2 for the Nintendo DS, you-d expect something of the same quality here. It's smaller than the original The Sims 2 game for the DS in terms of customization and play hours. What we arm them with and the capabilities and frameworks we arm them with and where they take that I think it’s going to be a pretty significant surprise and a pretty exciting time for us as we bring these tools and platforms to market.You'll choose and customize your character and the house they live in, but the main aspect of the game is the veterinary element. They are sharing, they could create marketplaces. And it’s us being able to create a framework and that players are actually gonna create these experiences and in the end, it's doing it together, doing it collaboratively. Geoff Keighley: I imagine as The Sims becoming more of a platform for creativity – it feels like an opportunity? Laura Miele: Absolutely. The team is hard at work on the next generation of that experience. And then to do that together – I think that’s one of our biggest opportunities with The Sims is the social connection component that we need to bring to this brand and this franchise. I think 20 years later we learned a lot about how players interact, what motivates players, how players can come together co-operatively and so as you imagine as we think about the next generation of The Sims it’s SUPER important for us to have the best tools, the most flexibility and for players to really expand on their creativity, remix items and objects in the world.
We had The Sims Online that came out in 2002 which was around 20 years ago. It seems like The Sims out of all your franchises is maybe best equipped to play in this world? Laura Miele: Yes, a lot of fertile ground for The Sims for sure and the idea that we will build on the tools for people to play with life and the idea for people to be able to play with life together. Is there sort of an opportunity to do more of there? I look at Roblox, Fortnite Creative and things like that. The Sims is still a vibrant franchise for EA right now. It was 20 years ago, ahead of its time, with letting people build a character, build your environment. Geoff Keighley: On another note, I talked a little about The Sims – you mentioned that which is totally a great point with Maxis related games SimCity, SimFarm, even The Sims Online.
SIMS 2 STEAM FULL
Check out the full transcription below courtesy of Sims Community.