Why The Sims 2 is still awesome

I haven't blogged in days, and since this is partially due to the arrival of a certain game, I thought maybe this game deserves a post of its own. So...today's post is dedicated to 'Why the Sims 2 is Still Awesome'. After I got a laptop for Christmas, I found that I had an unredeemed Amazon gift certificate languishing in my e-mail! We can't have that, so the gift certificate is spent, and I am once again in possession of one of my favorite old games from my other computer.

If you have played this game before, or know a little about video games, at this point you may say, "But hasn't Sims 3 been out for a long time? Why play an old game?" Here's why:

1. If you play a slightly older game on your snazzy new laptop, it will run really, really well, and do things it didn't do the first time through, when you were running it with your so-so older computer. It plays videos that weren't there before. The objects inside the house look almost realistic, and can be viewed up close or from very far away with the smooth touch of a button. It's so much more fun to play things that are working propertly. (Unfortunately, this perk doesn't apply to really old games, like Princess Maker 2, for instance, which won't run because it's DOS-based.)

2. If you've already collected all of the expansions for a game, it's so much more fun to only have to install them, or buy one lost disk and install them, than to buy seven more new games! And less costly too!

3. Ok, so that's why version 2 is better than version 3 - Why play the Sims at all? Because it's like running your own tv show. Or like an exercise in group psychology - if you get a bunch of little people together and give them just what they want, what will they do with that? I'm not sure how realistic it is, but it's fun food for thought.

4. Ok, this is a scatter-brained post - but I'd like to mention, too, why I like the actual game mechanic of 2 better than 3. In 3, the creators became too smart for their own good. They said, "Wait a minute! We'd like to create a game that is true to life, but this game isn't so realistic. When people are satisfied, or unhappy, that's usually temporary!" So they came up with what they call a 'moodlet' - a temporary state of mind that affects your character's mood. They also, rather than having four clear goals all the time for your character, keep sending you goal options that you can choose to accept or not. I find that this simultaneously gives me too much power over my characters and not enough. Too much, because who am I to tell them what their goals are? It's much more fun to maintain the illusion of independently thinking computer creatures who have their own goals, thanks, no matter what I'd like them to do. And not enough, because - what if I don't like those goals and decide to hold out for better ones? Then my character is just walking around aimlessly.

As for moodlets - version 2 has what they call a lifetime achievement bar. When you fulfill their goals, either long-term or their one short-term goal, it fills up the bar so that it goes from almost empty and red, to full and shiny silver. I like to see that - tangible proof of their little microchip satisfaction. If their good mood is going to go away tomorrow, that's kind of sad for them. It doesn't work for me. I can temporarily satisfy people in real life. If I'm going to satisfy fake people, by golly it ought to last!

And that's my 2 cents, for what it's worth. Anyway, it's a great game, and you should check it out. Even in the new version, if that's more your cup of tea. I'll stick with my old one.