The Sims 2: Nightlife Review

It's all smiles and dancing now, but come closing time it'll be sordid alleyway sex. Mark our words.

Obvious things first - that is, this is obvious. Of all the things which people like about the Sims, the interplay between Man and Woman (Or woman and woman or man and man, equal-opportunity kissing fans) is one which is both popular and could have done with some elaboration on in the original game. To this end, Sims: Nightlife is mostly a success which fails for technical reasons. Which much like a beautifully planned and executed seduction which runs into impotence problems at the last second, is a crushing shame.

Many of its good things are illustrated by my little anecdote. Not spilling coke over Zoe, alas - that's still in the realms of next generation dreams with the forthcoming Embarrasso-life chips - but the little tale of Lucy and Luke.

Firstly, the date mechanism itself. Rather than the previous University expansion, which made its entire format into a subgame - that is, you went away to university and then spent your time trying to pass - this integrates into the world. That is, your life is bumbling along, until you decide to ask someone out on a date. At which point, the clock starts ticking and it's up to you to keep your partner interested. While in normal Sims play your character has desires which can be satisfied, the date mode opens up your partner's too. So, seeing what they'll like to do allows you to play towards them. Do well enough, you raise the metre about a threshold, you get extra time and the date can continue as you try and push towards the next meeting. Like most things in the Sims, it's contextual. If you take the date in a restaurant, people are going to want to eat. If you insist on just kissing them, expect to see their desires to turn towards ("more kissing" - Ed). As well as successfully boosting Sims mood, there are other tangential rewards. People who particularly enjoyed dates can turn up with gifts to say thank-you. Those who had a terrible time can turn to stalker-esque random cruelty. The jerks.

Some DJs just have the sort of face that fists were invented for.

With the fully developed downtown area, with a variety of lots offering various possible dates to go on, the sub-game makes a decent enough stab of making Nightlife into a little game of its own. It feels a little artificially inserted, but that's a trend which becomes increasingly pronounced in the Sims as add-on packs construct expansions on top of the original structure.

(And, for the record, I'd like to see a dedicated game based around Nightlife with the purity and elegance of the Sims Design. In case any budding hormonal Will Wright is out there.)

The other, more interesting, aspects of the add-on pack also play to this centred. They mainly involve an expanded psychology for the Sims. Of the biggest impact, at least to the core of the game, is the concept of Attraction. Before, only personality helped decide how much you liked someone. Now, as you create each Sim, you get to pick turn-ons and turn-offs for each of them. Want to like fat brunettes? Done. Every character in the game is so variably attractive to each character, with obvious effects on romantic interactions (i.e. The "I really, really, really, really like you" factor). In my example, which didn't really help the situation, Lucy and Luke had mutually entirely complimentary attractions. Imagine the sexual tension in that house. Ying!

And then he bit her arm off at the elbow.

Similarly, the concept of fury showed in the example too. In extreme cases of displeasure, Sims don't get mildly mad anymore. They go into a length period - signified by red over the character portrait - where any social interaction between them is perilous. Anyone who's ever been in a failing relationship when asking whether someone wants a cup of tea leads to a four hour screaming row will sympathise. It certainly makes - say - cheating have more extreme consequences for the Sims.

The add-on pack has a selection of other, considerably lesser, additions. To go alongside the other Sim life-ambitions, there's a new motivation called "Pleasure", where a Sim is interested in the most fun, now. Whatever makes them smile at this second is what makes them happiest, so they run from shiny thing to shiny thing without a care in the world. There's the welcome addition of Cars, to allow your Sims to get around easier. And, as expected for an add-on pack, there's a load of new items to fill your glorified dolls houses with.