The Sims 2: Free Time (PC)
Latest expansion makes hobbies worthwhile
3/14/2008 12:00 AM | 33 Comments | Page 1 of 2
What's Hot: All the same Sims 2 fun, with new Sims 2 stuff
What's Not: All the same Sims 2 fun packed with a little bit of new Sims 2 stuff
By any normal measure, we'd be done with The Sims by now.
Whatever dollhouse lightning Will Wright managed to bottle in this soap opera simulator has kept the franchise active long after the original hit the stands in 2000, so it is with some trepidation that we turn to the seventh, the latest and, possibly, the final expansion pack in the endless line of
The Sims 2 add-ons.
The Sims 2: Free Time hopes to entice you back to the game with the promise of new and improved hobbies. Yes, we've waited four years since
The Sims 2 first came to life in 2004 so our little simulated families could get serious about collecting bugs and working on hot rods.
Once again we dive head-first into mini-world of imaginary people put through a series of escalatingly weird situations that would make a TV writer blush. I'm sure there are some Sims players who just try to put together a happy family with dad on the career path, mom at home watching the kids and working out, but surely those idyllic creators' efforts pale in the face of the massive numbers of Sims players who just want to build up their little computer people so they can crush them later.
Yes.
The Sims 2 remains interactive entertainment's version of watching TMZ on late-night TV. You know you need to go to bed, you know that what's in front of you is devoid of any meaningful content, and yet it is totally entraining. You don't need to know who Paris is dating, but you can't stop looking. You don't need to see if your Sim can get the hot mom next door into bed, but damnit, you're gonna try.
Now, you can spice the same old fun with tales of architects who can't stand oceanographers, and listen to blowhards who only want to talk about their tinkering hobby or go on and on about the cooking contests they've won.
The 10 new hobbies included in this pack include tinkering, cooking, fitness, sports, nature, science, music and dance, film and literature and, obviously enough, games. Sure, lots of these activities have made cameo in The Sims over the years and through the various expansion packs. This time, though, tinkering doesn't just let you fix the toaster, it can lead to an obsession with remodeling junk cars. Expressing your creative side doesn't just prop up your your Sim's need for fun by slinging a little paint or pottery, now you can immerse yourself in the arts so deeply that it makes other needs easier to meet and might even lead to a little cash for your creative output.
In
Free Time, simple hobbies just got complicated.
New careers also open the door for new fantasies. Tracks in entertainment and dance, life as a spy, wet suit wonderment in oceanography and a long-awaited chance to Mike Brady-out as an architect keep things interesting.
A feature sure to entice long-term
The Sims 2 fans -- and leave the rest of the world scratching their heads -- is the idea of secondary lifetime aspiration. Now a Sim can want to reach the top rung of the corporate ladder
and find true love. Meeting these aspirations provides items which, presumably, make life simpler. In addition to the previous addition of surreal characters such as vampires and robots,
Free Time unleashes a wish-granting genie.
