The Sims 2 Christmas Review

By Kieron Gillen Published 28 November, 2005

Christmas is coming and the accountants are getting fat.

Version tested: PC

It's a joy of living. If you wait long enough, the world will prove any of your arguments for you.

I've a knee-jerk distaste for the argument that says the Sims add-on packs are just the milking of a cash cow or a rip-off of the devoted fanbase. Because they're not. They add new gameplay elements - and when it's the only game in an entire genre, that's absolutely required. Imagine there was only one decent first-person shooter in existence. God knows we'd crave whatever add-on packs its publishers could produce. So just dismissing Sims add-ons because they're not to your taste... well, it's just wrong.

The joy of the Sims 2 Christmas Party pack is that it illustrates perfectly why even the others, even the worst of them, aren't simple rips-offs by showing exactly what a Sims 2 rip-off looks like.

Its good points are simple. It only costs ten pounds. For that, you get forty season-themed decorations (including some for Easter and Halloween) to spruce up your little computer people's homes, and other seasonal bits and pieces. There's certainly nothing which actually counts as a gameplay element here. You can easily work out a holiday-styled mini-game, where in a hectic 24-hour period a player has to try and keep everyone's spirits high and satisfy their Christmas wishes and so on. None of that is here. The piles of Christmas presents you can put down aren't for opening, but just for mute staring at. I ended up getting a little sad having Mortimer Goth stare longingly at presents whose contents would never be identified.

'The Sims 2 Christmas' Screenshot 1

Cat. Rhymes with hat. Also, splat.

And that's it.

With it being one of the most successful games of all time, with an enormous fan community of busy modders, I figured a quick nose around would result in something equivalent that the fans have made which you - the online reader - could download, burn on a disk and give as a personalised (and cheaper) gift to your chums. And save the ten quid for give to Tiny Tim or similar.

Except, as even a cursory glance at Google, I could do better than that. If you fancy the beautiful Christmas garlands or a customisable snowman or a Christmas tree... well, why not just head over to the Sims 2 site and download them. They've been up there for a year, after all.

No, I'm not joking. Go see.

'The Sims 2 Christmas' Screenshot 2

I don't know about you, but I feel really magical now.

So, a proportion of the "40 new items" are available for free a couple of clicks away to you. In fact, glancing at them, the majority of the best items are available already. Once you remove the enormous inflatable cat with the turn-on-offable eyes from the package, you're not left with much. Can't find the mechanical mini-snowman who plays a pop remix of Jingle Bells when you turn him on, so that's at least one interesting thing for your crisp tenner.

What was a fairly obvious cash-in's true colours are revealed: as a genuinely impressive cash-in which I can't recommend to anyone. Perhaps the most depressing thing is that the free objects were original bonuses for fans in an online give-away. Clearly, such seasonal altruism was noticed by someone who couldn't bear to live without turning the expenditure of creating them into a nice black figure in some grand corporate tallybook.

But, yeah, it's only ten pounds. And if you can't think of a better use for it than this, send the beautiful note to me, care of Eurogamer, as God knows I can.

1 / 10

Read the Eurogamer.net scoring policy
Picture of Kieron.

About Kieron Gillen

Kieron is one of the founders of the lovely Rock, Paper, Shotgun and nowadays writes comics for Marvel starring characters that even his mum has heard of.

Read more articles from Kieron by visiting the Kieron Gillen archive page.

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Comments (36) Latest comment 6 years ago

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

  • UncleLou #1 6 years ago

    Heh. Worse than Simpsons Skateboarding, then. ;)

  • Genji #2 6 years ago

    Are there people around who like the Sims enough to give this reviewer a royal flaming? I sure hope so!

    /fetches popcorn

  • UncleLou #3 6 years ago

    But the point is that the Sims isn't a bad game at all, Genji. Just this particular expansion pack is a rip off. :)

  • Genji #4 6 years ago

    I know, Lou. It's just that giving an EG reviewer shite for being "unprofessional", or whatever, sure seems to be "in" these days. The reasoning doesn't have to be sound.
    Edited by 1 at 28/11/05 @ 08:48

  • Lukree #5 6 years ago

    Haha, a true classic then! :D

  • Carrybagma #6 6 years ago

    Why not 0/10? Inflatable cats merit a point? That's something for Bungie to remember.

  • Tiger_Walts #7 6 years ago

    Shouldn't be marked down for being a shameless cash in, should be marked down for not adding anything the original game can offer.

  • Alien Love Gardener #8 6 years ago

    "Shouldn't be marked down for being a shameless cash in, should be marked down for not adding anything the original game can offer."

    Surely that's the same thing?

  • BremXJones #9 6 years ago

    Not wanting to turn this into another of the popular Eurogamer "What's a review anyway?" comment threads, things aren't really "marked up" or "marked down". They're "marked". The mark isn't, for me, primarily a critical evalulation - it's a buyer's guide.

    KG

  • mastertigurius #10 6 years ago

    This is not the first ripoff to be released for The Sims, and it won't be the last. I've looked at several expansions for this game, and after a quick search on the net, I've found almost every piece of furniture (or something that's practically the same) completely free, and easily available.
    There's not a speck of doubt in my heart that the publishers are milking the game for what it's worth.

  • BremXJones #11 6 years ago

    The reason why they're *not* pure rip-offs is that they offer a hell of a lot more than just new items to plug into the game. The Nightlife was the dating subgames - the University ones the whole school setting and approach. This is different from inflatable cats, and it's disingenious to claim otherwise.

    KG

  • Furbs #12 6 years ago

    Kieron, you guys going to be reviewing the Battlefield 2 expansion? (although I bet EA are bricking it now if you do!). Or should I break out my reviewing crayons?

  • BremXJones #13 6 years ago

    Furbs: Doing that now. Should be later in the week.

    KG

  • Furbs #14 6 years ago

    Coolies - well if you want to try it out in the real world, we'll be on the EG server tonight. Its no "Barbarians" quality expansion though. Still, its better than this Sims one.

  • Eddz #15 6 years ago

    £10?! Bargain! Might have to pick this one up myself.

  • saku #16 6 years ago

    A bit harsh review here.

    While this Chrismas "add-on" can be called a rip-off for a normal gamer (if there is such creature), at least some hard core Sims2 addicts are not complaining.

    My fiancé for example just had to buy it even though she spends her freetime browsing the official and unofficial on-line object collections and forums, and is well aware that some of the items on this pack are already available as downloads. But these downloads do not come in such a fancy package that looks good alongside the other Sims2 packages (and mouse pads, and keychains, and... :)

    For those unfamiliar/uncomfortable with downloadable content, or a Sims-junkie like my loved one, I'd still rate it 7/10. The price is could be lower, though.

  • PearOfAnguish #17 6 years ago

    Your fiance is a fool. Take the ring back and find someone else.

  • 3william56 #18 6 years ago

    Bah! Humbug!

  • BremXJones #19 6 years ago

    Saku: I did consider making the "Well, you could consider this a glorified Christmas Card - god knows people pay ten quid for an "amusing" Christmas gift" argument but - well - I'm *reviewing things as videogames*.

    KG

  • MrAtheist #20 6 years ago

    No trip to see the devs here then!?

  • Furbs #21 6 years ago

    I'd love to have seen the reviewers face...

    "Righto, got Perfect Dark here for review on the 360, the gorgeous looking NFS:MW on PC, but ummm Keiron, can you do us a review of this Sims 2 addon?"

  • giraffegirl #22 6 years ago

    worth a 5 or a 6 8)

  • kalel #23 6 years ago

    /sigh

    See, give this a 4-6 and I will happily just ignore it as I do with all other Sims expansions. But by giving it a 1 you challenge me. I will now probably will buy this, as I just have to know if it really is that bad. So thanks :p

  • pjmaybe #24 6 years ago

    The sad thing is, if you go on any Sims 2 fan site, you can download better "seasonal" content than this for nothing.

    This will sell loads, mostly because most Sims 2 fans can't operate Google and go look for the stuff themselves.

    Bad EA, Dirty EA, in your BED!

    Peej

  • Artemus #25 6 years ago

    So what's this, the 3rd 'expansion' in one year?!

  • Furbs #26 6 years ago

    How come theres noone moaning the score is too low, the review is wrong and doesnt match with what the words say?

  • Kostabi #27 6 years ago

    EA just declared jihad on you... ;)

  • Stickman #28 6 years ago

    "So what's this, the 3rd 'expansion' in one year?!"

    Yes, but like Kieron pointed out, the other two have been well worth the money. They're not just object packs, they bring something new to the original game. The University expansion in particular, opens up a whole new age group, extending your Sim's life by a significant proportion.

    What is it with this snobbery about the Sims anyway? I've never understood it.

    Clearly this one's a load of bollocks, mind.

  • Metalfish #29 6 years ago

    Great gelantinous osprey! Everyone is more or less agreeing on a Eurogamer comments section!

    *Decides to utilise the "duck and cover" method due to the high likelyhood of universe imploding*

  • Artemus #30 6 years ago

    /waits for 'comedy' member to rate it 10

  • urban #31 6 years ago

    lmfao. so true

  • vane101 #32 6 years ago

    It sounds great to me. Should be a free download though.

  • Pho-Zoon #33 6 years ago

    I think I can safely say: LMAO!

    heh heh, a nice clean 1.

  • Bitkari #34 6 years ago

    I wonder how many people that voted for scoring this game have acutally played it and how many just want to spout their uninformed opinions on something they've not played themselves.

    That said, this does look rather shit.

  • Krun #35 6 years ago

    This should have been a give away.

  • ReviewingMad #36 6 years ago

    EXCUSE ME, WRITER! SOME THINGS ARE PEOPLE COULDN'T BOTHER TO MAKE IN THE WEBSITE! WHY THE HECK ARE YOU GIVING THIS GAME A 1?