The Sims: House Party is the second add-on for Maxis' extremely popular life simulator, The Sims. Like the previous add-on, Livin' Large (which isn't required to play House Party), House Party adds new household objects, home-decorating themes, and character skins. But most of Livin' Large's additions didn't really add all that much to The Sims' core gameplay. In contrast, House Party's new features, which focus primarily on social interaction, enhance the basic game considerably, since they let you throw wild parties and make building houses even more enjoyable.

House Party focuses on giving your sims more opportunities for social interaction

If you're reading this review, you're probably already familiar with The Sims--the original game let you control the lives of miniature computerized people, or "sims," by either choosing to play as a family of pregenerated sims or by creating them from scratch by customizing their appearances and personalities. Once you'd chosen your family of sims, you'd place them in a house that you could design and build from top to bottom and then manage their lives. You could satisfy (or ignore) their needs of food, rest, amusement, and social contact by feeding them, providing beds for them, entertaining them, and letting them interact with other sims from the neighborhood.

If you're familiar with The Sims, you know that one of the most enjoyable and intriguing things about the game is its social system--the way your sims interact with other sims who have similar or different personalities. You also know that maintaining relationships with your sims is one of the most difficult parts of the game, especially if your sims are trying to pursue careers and don't have much spare time to get to know their neighbors. Fortunately, many of House Party's new features let you entertain and socialize with many different sims at once and often also let you fulfill other needs at the same time. For instance, if you buy the new punch bowl item for your house, sims will mill around it and exchange conversation. And once they've drunk from it, they'll be less hungry and more "entertained"--though if they drink too much, they may get rowdy. Other sims will gather around to watch if one rides the new mechanical bull item, and the sim riding may even increase its body skill (which may help it advance in certain career paths).

Numerous colorful, new home furnishing options are available

Some of the add-on's new items and services don't just help with parties; some are also extremely useful in general for saving time, space, or both. For instance, House Party lets you purchase pre-prepared meals, like roast turkeys, which saves the time and trouble of cooking (and learning to cook). Or you can hire an expensive caterer over the phone to cook meals for parties or for large families, and if your sims happen to be lonely, the caterer himself will gladly chat with any sims who happen to be hanging around the kitchen. House Party also features a new table, called the "artist's concept table," which is extremely small but can seat four sims. This saves a lot of space in cramped rooms and lets you focus on filling up your sims' house with more interesting fixtures.

Designing, building, and furnishing houses have always been some of the most enjoyable aspects of The Sims. And House Party features all-new items, as well as new interior design motifs that'll let you prepare your house for the perfect luau, hoedown, or rave. If you've played The Sims before, you may have enjoyed building houses specifically for making your sims comfortable or fitting a certain décor. House Party's new fixtures, wallpaper patterns, and items let you design houses specifically around throwing parties and give you plenty to work with. For example, you can plan to throw a luau out near your swimming pool by putting down a campfire and lining the area with tiki statues, or throw an ultramodern dance party with a DJ turntable in front of a lighted dance floor.