The Sims 2: Nightlife is a charming game that isn't surely a failure. Nightlife is a must for Sims 2 owners
User Rating: 8.9 | The Sims 2: Nightlife PC
The Sims is a long time running series that has been a success because of it's high ratings, and quite a number of fans. It has received numerous awards and sold millions of copies. And for 5 years, it has been like this. So let's start with the basics of this game. The Sims is a game of real life; It revolves around living a life by finding a job, making money, making houses, accomplishing your sim's basic needs such as Hunger, Bladder, Comfort, Energy, Room/Environment, Fun, and Hygiene, and even making your sims in the desired fashion. Of course, this means you need objects to buy, which costs money. In this statement, we can conclude that we need a job. So, you usually see yourself first making a sim, then moving them to an affordable house or a lot, then build it to your own dream home and get a job. But as soon as the cash flow it doesn't end there, promotions can be achieved. Of course, promotions can be easy and hard to achieve. To be able to achieve a promotion, you need a desired amount of skills such as Charisma, Cooking, Mechanical, Creativity, Body, and Logic by using buy-able objects. Another requirement is having a good mood while your in job. Of course this can be achievable by making sure your sims are in a stable condition by buying his/her necessities in the Buy mode. Then another requirement is having a number of family friends, which is acheivable by socializing with other sims. Of course, as I said, sims can have friends which can help them advance to their chosen careers. To be able to do this, you are given different choices of interaction you want to be made, such as Talk, Compliment, etc. Of course, Friends can turn to lovers. And lovers can get married. And couples can have children. With the success of the game, Maxis has launched 7 expansions with different themes. These are Livin' Large, a simple pack adding much more experience to do the game, House Party, a game which lets your sims host incredible parties, Hot Date, the first expansion to invite your sims out of their house to downtown to date, Vacation, a pack which sends your sims to a vacation on vacation island featuring 3 locations: Snowy Summit, Forest Mountain, and Hot beach. Another expansion is Unleashed, the pack which adds to the existing neighborhood with more lots and of course the ability to own pets; Superstar, a pack which lets your sim become famous by going to the Superstar career; And Makin' Magic, the last pack where you can cast magical spells and eventually gaining power. With the success of the 7 packs, The Sims has become an enormous hit. But has EA stopped the production of The Sims? No. After a year of the release of the last Expansion, Makin Magic, Maxis launched the sequel to this game, The Sims 2. The Sims 2 was more of a remake of the original game which now features a complicated 3 Dimensional (3d) game. With all new features, such as aging, genetics, aspirations, new skills and so much more. Of course, The Sims 2 was also an enourmous hit selling a million copies worldwide in only 10 days prior to it's release. With it's hit, Maxis has launched The Sims 2: University, which was recently released just this year's March which let's your sims venture to college world academically, socially and financially. With it's release, the fans has echoed another Expansion to fix the techinical problems the Expansion has bought. And just last week, The Sims 2: Nightlife, the second expansion to The Sims 2, was launched. In The Sims 2: Nightlife, we let our sims experience the Nightlife. But it may not be as expected as you are expecting, Nightlife has a few surprises which makes the game fun. Let us say though, Nightlife contains alot of elements that of Hot Date, but doing it the Sims 2 way. Yes, Downtowns, Datings, Dinings and more are back but as I said, these features are revolutionized. Like in the original The Sims, same Dating rules are applied, make sure your zodiac signs are compatible, and start of slowly by talking with them, complimenting them and into finally asking them to have a date. In The Sims 2 though, it has been made a little bit more challenging. In this game, sims has now has their Turn Ons and Turn Offs. This makes the date a little bit fun. Sims can have 2 turn ons and 1 turn offs. Selecting the Turn ons and offs of the sims can get loony somehow. You may find yourself making Custom Hairs and Fatness a Turn On of your Sims, and Fitness as a Turn Off, which we can call wacky. There are so many choices which makes your sims more attracted to a certain sim with those features. Of course, when selecting a date with those feature may mean fiasco. That chosen sim can have a Turn Off of a feature that your sims sponsor which will make the Dating game harder. Made Harder and funner this time, The Dating Game is the main feature of Nightlife. As soon as the chosen sims accepts your date, a pop-up shows up in the upper right hand of the screen, informing the wants of your dates, the remaining time, and the rank of your date which are (ordered from Worst to Best) Horrible, Lame, Bad, Okay, Good, Great, Dream Date. Of course, there will be some rewards according to the ranking of the date that can let you put a small smile in your face, or put a wider smile (laugh) on your face. The Dating/Attraction System is a great addition to the game. Another major feature has to be the Neighborhood update. In this game, you can view the neighborhood in your very own house! You can see your neighbor's house, that big oak tree that nobody owns, or that big water tank near that amazing skyscraper. The game becomes even more fun to play because of this feature which is an advancement in graphics and gameplay.Though this option can be turned off for the advancement of slower computers. Of course, nobody can say The Sims 2 is a power hugger, and even in a fast computer you will experience lags which can turn you off. Plus to make it worse, we are going Downtown and you know the mechanics of the game when you leave your lot. But, a new feature has been introduced, instead of selecting the destination in the neighborhood, you select the lot as soon as you call the cab. But then, to make things better, Your sims can now own Cars!!! You can build your very own garage.Speaking of which, there are now new additions to the building tools. You can now make diagonal pools and half-wall. What more can we expect from this game? You can form casual groups which occasionally calls you for you to hang out somewhere. There are now Vampires in the game. Mrs. Crumplebottom is back and want to Bowl at the Bowling Arena. You can also gamble. Plus, you will find the new features of having to carry the entire Table set, including the chairs, to your destined place instead of placing them one by one. More new objects such as the ReNuYu Sensor Orb, Karaoke Machine, a big Revolving Circle thing that lets your sim ride on it. there are 2 new aspirations such as Pleasure and Grilled Cheese (which is the result of a failed experiment in the ReNuYu SensoOrb). Lots of dancing and more. Also expect to have nice new graphical effects from those disco lights and brand new environments due to the new feature of viewable neighborhood from your lot. Cool Remixed sounds and even more features a sim fan wouldn't want to miss.
