The Sims 2 Preview

By Rob Fahey Published 2 September, 2004

A step on the path to an interactive sitcom, according to Maxis' Neil Young, as he demonstrates his Sim Fawlty Towers scenario and more to the Edinburgh Games Festival.

Order yours now from Simply Games.

Everyone knows the Sims story by now, and it's a familiar story that's been repeated many, many times. Boy buys game, boy plays game, boy thinks it's fun for a while but ultimately tires of it within days and craves a return to more manly pursuits involving aliens, nazis, car crashes and head-shooting. Girl sees boy playing game while he's neglecting her needs at that bloody computer. Girl is intrigued, girl surreptitiously tries out game. A fortnight later, boy is having to practically beg to be allowed to check his email just for five minutes, and is scanning the low-end PC market for a bargain in desperation.

Yes, that was The Sims. The story doesn't end there, of course. There's an entire chapter where Girl goes out and tells all her friends about the game, and soon they're all tormenting the males in their lives by using the ninja rig he assembled in order to lay down the smack in Quake 3 as an incubator for little computer people. Then there's the moment where boy realises that this could be a good thing, since EA is planning on churning out enough expansion packs that he's sorted for birthday and Christmas present ideas for the next three years.

One chapter you might not know about is the prologue - the part of the story which seems almost ludicrous in light of the 40 million copies sold worldwide by the Sims and its associated expansion packs, bundles and whatnot to date. The fact is that Will Wright, creator of the whole SimWhatever franchise and philosophical parent figure to billions of little sims, fought tooth and nail for a long time to get The Sims green lighted by Electronic Arts - and even then, they simply didn't predict the whole part of the story after "boy buys game, boy brings back game on ten day return policy." Their initial projection for sales of The Sims came in at under 160,000 units, so there must have been some red faces in Redwood Shores when the sales figures started rolling back in - albeit red faces with big, happy smiles on them.

Northern Exposure

'The Sims 2' Screenshot 1

The Sims 2, then, comes with something more of a weight of expectation than its predecessor did. Just ahead of the game going gold at EA's now-internal Maxis studio, it was given its first public airing in a rainy and windswept Edinburgh, where Maxis general manager (and Brit ex-pat) Neil Young took the stage in the city's Odeon Lothian Road cinema and gave the general public their first ever glimpse of how his team plans to top the achievements of the best selling PC game in history.

After a short presentation about the concept behind The Sims and the success of the series, Neil launched straight into the philosophy of The Sims 2. For once, it seems, this isn't a sequel which is just about being bigger, faster and having more explosions; EA has exhausted most of those routes with its endless stream of expansion packs. And while The Sims 2 is in glorious 3D, and really does look very spangly, it's not just about applying a fresh lick of polygon loving to an existing game either. In a move which cynics might say is very un-EA, Maxis have taken The Sims back to its roots, and aimed for a genuine evolution of the entire concept, rather than just an upgrade.

Neil explained this by reference to a diagram which will be familiar to any students of economics, or indeed philosophy, in the audience - Maslow's hierarchy of human needs, a pyramid of our basic motivations which starts out with fundamental biological needs at the bottom, and works up through desires such as security and status towards concepts like dreams and aspirations at the top. The theory (as we understand it) is that once one level of this pyramid is satisfied, a person instantly starts to crave the things above it; and The Sims 2 is all about upping the ante and focusing on higher levels of the pyramid than its predecessor.

Motivating Maslow

'The Sims 2' Screenshot 2

To explain; in The Sims, while there was a general desire to make money, increase your status and Buy Cool Stuff (which has basically been the central motivation for humanity since the invention of the Walkman), the fact is that you spent rather a lot of time dealing with the bottom of Maslow's pyramid. Your Sims weren't terribly self-sufficient, or bright - they needed to be chaperoned around tasks like going to the toilet, washing, eating and sleeping. In The Sims 2, if what your heart really desires is to take iron-fisted control over your sims' crapping schedule, that's entirely possible, but the game has added a new focus higher up the pyramid that you can choose to follow - giving each tiny sim hopes, dreams and desires that you can work to fulfil.

All of these dreams appear in a box at the bottom of the screen when you click on a Sim, and they can range from moment to moment desires - like, "I really wish I could eat a turkey sandwich" - through to medium term goals, such as "I very much like the idea of making whoopie with that attractive sim", through to very long term aspirations about position, status or possessions. Meeting the criteria for these desires fills up a happiness bar on your sim, and earns points which can be used to buy unique objects - including new additions such as The Money Tree, which directly contradicts everything my parents ever told me about finance.

The overall effect is to give the game much more direction and focus, without preventing players from enjoying the sort of free-form gameplay that made The Sims popular in the first place. Neil Young believes that male players, in particular, will far prefer being given a set of short, medium and long term goals to fulfil, rather than simply being dumped into Simsville and told to get on with it - while the new focus on rather more important life goals than being tired or wanting to take a leak should also help to make the game interesting for many people who might formerly have disregarded it.

Supercharged Sitcom

'The Sims 2' Screenshot 3

One of the recurring themes in Neil's presentation about The Sims 2 was the idea of creating a game which is essentially a sitcom that you control. The Sims, he said, was the first game in the people simulation genre; The Sims 3, at some indeterminate point in the future, will - in his mind, at least - be the first user-controlled sitcom. The Sims 2 certainly lies somewhere along the path to that goal, and there's a surprising level of cinematic influence in how the game looks and plays. In fact, there's even a mode which puts you behind the camera as a director and lets you create your own Sim movies featuring the characters from your game, which can then be distributed to other fans over the Internet. It's a nod to both the odd subculture of creating movies in game engines which originally grew up around Quake, and the enormous wave of Sim fanfiction, role-playing and mod creation that has swept across the net in the past few years, and it has all the hallmarks of a phenomenon in the making.

Nowhere was the sitcom influence more clear, however, than in the live demonstration which Neil chose to show the audience in Edinburgh. The Maxis team had created a house modelled after Fawlty Towers, and populated it with characters from the Fawlty Towers cast - albeit with certain changes, such as Manuel suddenly finding himself in the guise of a sexy Spanish girl in a fetish-friendly maid uniform. As Neil played through this scenario, demonstrating the way that the desires system works (Basil was particularly keen on bedding as many of the young ladies in the house as possible, while on his "fears" bar, being found doing so by Cybil rated highly), the game managed to set up a host of amusing, sitcom-style moments without anything but the gentlest of prompting.

Some of this is truly emergent behaviour - it's simply funny to watch these characters, with their surprisingly human impulses, living out their exaggerated lives. Other elements are very deliberate indeed. Upon successfully initiating a bit of nookie with another character, a custom animation would play, utilising the new 3D engine's capacity for facial expressions to the utmost to give the camera some salacious winks while a highly unlikely love scene played out. All PG-rated, we should add, and far more Carry On than Debbie Does Dallas - this is good clean fun for all the family, but it definitely is funny. Similarly, when fights developed into something more than Basil being slapped around a bit, the game launched a cartoon-influenced animation of a dust cloud with arms, legs and heads poking out, in true Looney Tunes style.

Family Values

'The Sims 2' Screenshot 4

One of the richest veins of comedy for sitcoms through the years has always been family relationships, and here, again, the planets have aligned for The Sims 2. Unlike its predecessor, where you largely managed a static group of sims who didn't really age or develop, The Sims 2 allows sims to be born, grow up, have children, grow old and die - and their happiness, affluence and success even goes so far as to influence their lifespans. The game implements a form of DNA which allows sims to breed and passes on characteristics to their children, while growing old will, as you might expect, have a fairly major influence on the type of desires and dreams your character has.

It would have been so easy for EA to turn around and make a quick, dirty sequel for The Sims by tacking on expansion pack style content and a spangly new 3D engine. In some ways, this makes The Sims 2 even more impressive - it's a genuine evolution of the whole concept, which brings the basic concepts behind The Sims to a new level and adds gameplay and interface elements which the original game never concieved of. You're no longer overseeing a flat full of unaging characters, you're overseeing a family dynasty. Your sims are no longer automatons whose greatest desire in life is to eat and crap, but real characters with desires and fears that they can communicate to you. And the humour which was in many ways emergent in the original game has been honed, refined and distilled into something much finer, but just as unpredictable as before.

The audience in Edinburgh loved The Sims 2. Young and old alike were enthralled by the game, and Neil Young's presentation drew more laughs than many comedy films that have graced the Odeon's big screen. EA seem determined to create a title which will pull back the heartland male gamers, while still having much to offer to The Sims' unique set of fans. It's a tall order, and we won't know for sure how well they've done until we finally get our hands on review code later this month. For now, though, all the signs are pointing at a game which will not only be hugely commercialy successful, but might just be a lot more interesting to hardcore gamers than any of them would believe.

Order yours now from Simply Games.

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About Rob Fahey

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Comments (45) Latest comment 7 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • bionutz #1 8 years ago

    still no comments on how good it actually is!

  • lost_soul #2 8 years ago

    It sounds ... quite good :-O

  • Blerk #3 8 years ago

    Boy buys game, boy plays game, boy thinks it's fun for a while but ultimately tires of it within days

    You just summed up my personal experience of The Sims perfectly!

    Sadly... I have no interest in returning for Sims 2, regardless of how 'fancy' they make it look. The novelty wore off very quickly...

  • UncleLou #4 8 years ago

    We watched the moment of defeat
    Played back over on the video screen
    Somewhere deep inside
    Of my soul.

    I've never played the Sims. I've read a glowing review of this one in a print mag, so I must admit I am mildly interested.

  • MoFo #5 8 years ago

    Since I only play most games for a few days anyway that probably means this game will be a good buy for me.

  • Zero Beat #6 8 years ago

    Ditto Blerk. The jerky scrolling was very offputting when I played too, and apparently that wasn't PC spec related. Give me a Sim Ant or Sim Tower.

  • UncleLou #7 8 years ago

    all the signs are pointing at a game which will not only be hugely commercialy successful, but might just be a lot more interesting to hardcore gamers than any of them would believe.


    Well, from what I've read, it's so hardware-hungry that it makes Doom 3 seem like a retro game, specs-wise.

    Hardware manufacturers will be confronted with a very unexpected share of the demographic spectrum. :D

  • girl_gamer #8 8 years ago

    Oh Dear. I've fallen into the stereotype by adoring this game. Spent ages on it.

    The kids had much more fun by working out ever ingenious ways of killing their sims - making pools with no way out to drown them, rooms with no doors to starve them, cookers with no cooking skills to torch them etc etc. They got sophisticated enough to plan and manage their own little Sim graveyards. Bless.

    I won't be getting the new one though. Gave up with PC games ages ago. Can't be bothered to keep the hardware up to date.

  • joephish #9 8 years ago

    I have to admit, I was one of the many who tried the game for a few days, then got bored. I think it was just the frustration that everything always seemed to go wrong for my Sim and I didn't seem to be getting anywhere, and there was just soooo much micromanaging (as the reviewer said, with respect to telling your sims exactly when to eat/go to the toilet etc).

    I'd definitely be interested in trying this, but then again I don't have much of a PC. Still waiting to play Doom 3, and it's going to be a while until I get to try Half-Life 2 as well :-(

  • pjmaybe #10 8 years ago

    Oh Dear. I've fallen into the stereotype by adoring this game. Spent ages on it.

    The kids had much more fun by working out ever ingenious ways of killing their sims - making pools with no way out to drown them, rooms with no doors to starve them, cookers with no cooking skills to torch them etc etc. They got sophisticated enough to plan and manage their own little Sim graveyards. Bless.

    I won't be getting the new one though. Gave up with PC games ages ago. Can't be bothered to keep the hardware up to date.

    Mum? ;)

    Peej

  • Whizzo #11 8 years ago

    Well I've had it on pre-order for ages, I quite enjoyed the original but it got very samey after a while and having to hand hold the Sims all the time was a pain.

  • Feanor #12 8 years ago

    Hmm, my computer meets those system requirements, and the wife's birthday is only three weeks away.

  • Whizzo #13 8 years ago

    Anyone know if the onboard Intel graphics chipset that Dell uses has T&L? It's not a great graphics system but if it doesn't I don't think my sister-in-law is going to be too happy, she's really looking forward to this.

  • pjmaybe #14 8 years ago

    "Anyone know if the onboard Intel graphics chipset that Dell uses has T&L? It's not a great graphics system but if it doesn't I don't think my sister-in-law is going to be too happy, she's really looking forward to this."

    None of the intel chipsets on our dells at work will work with BF1942 (believe me I've tried - I ended up having to bring in my old TI4200 from home) so I'm guessing they won't work with this either...

    Still you can pick up a cheapo GeForce nowadays, in fact I've got one for 30 quid if she wants it...

    Peej

  • pjmaybe #15 8 years ago

    No, I'm a rooster, fuckhead.

    Peej

  • Feanor #16 8 years ago

    "Anyone know if the onboard Intel graphics chipset that Dell uses has T&L? It's not a great graphics system but if it doesn't I don't think my sister-in-law is going to be too happy, she's really looking forward to this."

    I am 99% sure it doesn't, sorry.

    But I just found out the detailed The Sims 2 system requirements from here, and they sounds like better news for your sister-in-law:

    http:// www.ebgames.com/ebx/product/235404.asp

    System Requirements:

    If you have a T&L capable video card with at least 32 MB of video RAM (such as nvidia GeForce 2 or better or ATI Radeon 7000 or better) then you need at least:
    * 600 MHz P3 processor
    * 256 MB RAM if Windows XP, Windows ME, Windows 98 or Windows 2000
    *At least 3.5 GB of hard drive space

    If you have a non-T&L capable video card (such as TNT2 or Intel Integrated for example) then you need at least:
    * 1.5 GHz processor
    * 256 MB RAM if Windows XP, Windows ME, Windows 98, or Windows 2000
    * At least 3.5 GB of hard drive space

    Recommended video cards (and the more video memory the better):
    * ATI Radeon 9800 Pro
    * Nvidia Geforce 4 or FX series cards
    Edited by 1 at 02/09/04 @ 17:25

  • smelliot #17 8 years ago

    I don't play it because it's crap, and because girls play it. Admittedly it's something to talk about, but the way they continuously spawn lazy expansion packs is just shite. It totally destroyed my respect for Maxis. Bullfrog all the way!

    I might buy it when it's bundled with the next set of forty expansion packs.

  • Sko #18 8 years ago

    "Shame that people have to resort to a silly game to get a real life,"

    Yeah, people play sports games as a substitute for real sports and The Sims as a substitute for real life. *sigh*

    Why couldn't you have just said "I dislike this game but I desperately need to belittle those who like it just to make myself feel better and/or more important". We all would have understood.

  • UncleLou #19 8 years ago

    Hehe, yes, fascinating how this is dismissed by the "hardcore" crowd. So they think it's an indication that you need to "get a life" if you enjoy The Sims, while playing, say, UT2004 is something entirely different?

    Mind, I have neither played the first one, nor (of course) this one, but from all I've read, it could be fun. And that's what games are about.

  • Psi #20 8 years ago

    Honz, rooster pj rocks, you suck, see you next tuesday

    /lick

  • red_shift #21 8 years ago

    46, i have mind powers you know! i also predict that... heads will roll for this! how could i let people know that i have mind powers, ill kill that red_shift, the dickhead

  • 3william56 #22 8 years ago

    Funniest intro evah!

    Is the La Palma chippie still across the road from the Odeon? Best sausage and chips in Scotland, when I were a spawny student in Auld Reekie.
    Edited by 1 at 03/09/04 @ 07:57

  • Whizzo #23 8 years ago

    Cheers Feanor, I'd have hated to tell her that she couldn't have run it!

    No AGP port in the PC would have made things a bit of a hassle to "upgrade" it. I did warn them when they bought it not being able to put an AGP card in wasn't very good.

  • Feanor #24 8 years ago

    Yeah, my computer only has a PCI port so the best video card I could get was a GeForce FX 5200 PCI. My computer has a 1.7 GHZ Celeron and 384 MB RAM so I'm hoping that's enough to run Sims 2 decently.

  • Nikanoru #25 8 years ago

    I've never touched the Sims, I'll never touch this one.

    Look at them. Fucking look at them.

    DULL DULL DULL DULL.

    I'm forced to stare at these fuckfaces and tolerate their non-brainwaves way, way too much in real life already. I can't imagine what kind of fucking soaked-in-mainstream shitbrain it takes to even pick these games up after having a single look at them.

    Fuck the sims, and all it stands for. Fuck its every orifice with a dildo covered in glass shards.




    Ok, I'm done. I feel a little better now.

  • Scuzz #26 8 years ago

    Oh great, I'm about to lose this PC again. Only just got it back after a couple of girls I know went crazy with their expansion pack lust.

  • Nillsens #27 8 years ago

    I borrowed the original from a friend for a few days, only played it for one.

    No matter how well I would point the blighter in the right direction, if I would leave him alone for just one hour he would ruin his life (get fired/starve/argue with his neighbours/etc...).

    Anyhow, it got old. FAST.

  • pdumas #28 8 years ago

    great article at least

  • nelsona #29 8 years ago

    Having been at the presentation I can say that it does look a lot different to the original Sims...

    Some of the things they showed were very good.

    As for the guy asking how many expansion packs they said there would be one every 6 months for at least 2 years.

  • UncleLou #30 8 years ago

    :|

    verm? :-D

  • Nikanoru #31 8 years ago

    No YOU're tha losar. ;0

    People who like the sims are the most boring fucktards around. Oh and they have herpes too! And uhh ... more as soon as I think of it.

  • Johnny Blade #32 8 years ago

    "I am a fan of sims 2 and peed off cause it wont work now we have 2 pay £200 pounds for a new graphic card for my computer and i really hate maxis and that stupid will wright he has wript everyone off!!!!!!!!!
    he doesnt care about fan`s he just care`s about the money it took me ages to save for sims 2 and i got it the day it came out but that prat of mr wright is wrong i hate him i wanna stab him up!!!!!"

    Wow, you really need to... you know, get a life.

  • candy #33 8 years ago

    Okay, well, all I can say tp all of the people who are telling everybody else to go get a life...LMFAO!!!!! WHY ARE WASTING YOUR LIFE AWAY READING ABOUT...AND FIGHTING ABOUT...A GAME WHICH YOU HATE?! GO SOMEWHERE ELSE BEFORE I BASH YOUR FUCKING SKULL IN WITH THE FIVE STAR RATING THAT THIS GAME WAS REWARDED. IT'S A GREAT GAME, HAS AN ENORMOUS FANBASE, AND AS I SAID BEFORE, GOT A FIVE OUT OF FIVE STAR RATING! I think it's YOU who need to get a life. Stop wasting your time here and making yourself and others unhappy. Go check up on a game that you actually enjoy...and don't make judgements on ANYTHING you've never experienced. I have The Sims 2, and I think it's so amazing. Did you know that over 20 MILLION FUCKING DOLLARS went into making this game so people could enjoy it? Why the fuck do you think you can just come in here and say FUCKING RUDE things to people acting like you're better than them? It's time for a really rude awakening then!...YOU ARE JUST SOME FUCKING LITTLE PRISS-ASS GAY LOSER WHO HAPPENS TO BE A WASTE OF HUMAN FLESH, OXYGEN, AND LIFE. GO AWAY YOU FUCKING PIECE OF ASS PLUGING SHIT!......Oh, and DON'T YOU DARE ever call anybody around here stupid for liking this game or saying that they need to get a life. I love this game and I happened to go to Stanford University and I have PHD's in Psychology and Fine arts. I'd like to know where you went to college and what games YOU like to play?....unless of course...you never went to college...or maybe you're some 14-year-old child who knows absolutely nothing of the world because your parents happen to buy you EVERYTHING. Having a passion for something(such as a game) doesn't make you stupid! Being stupid makes you stupid! You're boring me so go jack off thinking of the "dream girl" that you WILL NEVER HAVE because you're too pathetic and too shy to do anything about it. You'll end up alone and sad....or at least I hope so.

    THE SIMS 2 KICKS ASS!

  • catterz #34 8 years ago

    Moderator?

  • catterz #35 8 years ago

    It should state on the game case that non-T&L graphics cards would require a faster processor.

    Here are the updated minimum specs as given by the website:

    For T&L graphics cards:

    800 MHz processor or better
    256 MB RAM if Windows XP, Windows ME, Windows 98 or Windows 2000
    At least 3.5 GB of hard drive space

    Non-T&L cards (Intel Extreme Graphics or Radeon 7000/VE series):

    2.0 GHz processor or better
    256 MB RAM if Windows XP, Windows ME, Windows 98, or Windows 2000
    At least 3.5 GB of hard drive space

  • #36 8 years ago

    That was uncalled for, UncleLou. :|

  • #37 8 years ago

    "GOT A FIVE OUT OF FIVE STAR RATING!"

    Hoi, holy candy-jar oh whup-ass, you do realise this site don't actually give out FIVE OUT OF FIVE STAR ratings.. or any STAR OUT OF FIVE STAR ratings at all, right? Is all x/10 here, you see. So.. until next time, WATCH THE SKY! THAT'S WHERE ALL THE SECRETS LIE!! I ain't talking doo-da!!

  • Sid-Nice #38 8 years ago

    CANDY ARE YOU BGiE?

  • Johnny Blade #39 8 years ago

    @ Candy.

    I never said I hated Sims 2, I acctually like it and play it. But to react like Anoyed teen! did, means that he/she is taking it to seriously and need to, well you know... get a life. Seems like you need one to. Bad.
    Edited by 1 at 20/09/04 @ 08:23

  • Lutz #40 8 years ago

    Does it have teh m040Rb1k35????!!!onetwo?

  • Clive_Dunn #41 8 years ago

    Well I played it over the weekend and really enjoyed it - never played the first version so its all totally new to me. Still not figured out what I actually should be doing, but I'm having fun creating dysfunctional relationships.

    /sells out.

  • pjmaybe #42 8 years ago

    It's very good. Surprisingly good in fact...

    The way you can create absolute chaos in such a short time...fantastic.

    /redesigns "Romeo and Juliet" neighbourhood to look like springfield, complete with nuclear power station on every corner

    Peej

  • candy #43 8 years ago

    SidNice: What's Bgie?*is happy*

    Johnny: Oh yeah! I need to go get a life....I think I'll pick one up while I'm at JC Penny today along with my new skirt.*rolls eyes*

  • candy #44 8 years ago

    Buffalo Gap Instrumentation and Electrical?

    The Business, Government and International Economy ?

  • Johnny Blade #45 8 years ago

    @ Candy:

    You sure do. Good luck.

  • Nipples #46 8 years ago

    Anyone slightly worried about 'annoyed teen's" comment?? Jesus. I'm sure what they should've done is made it with really crappy graphics and not much gameplay, oh, a bit like Sims1, just because you don't have a decent graphics card!! IDIOT!
    For the record, you don't need a £200 graphics card to run this game. I run it smooth as silk on 1024x768 on high detail on a crappy old Geforce ti4600 which cost me £40. I also only have a 1800xp CPU.

  • PSPFANBOY #47 7 years ago

    If you don't like the sims here's a way to make it more fun take them downtown to a bar drink loads then make them talk and eat and do other stuff till they fall asleep on the pavement. Pure gold