The Sims 2 (PlayStation 2, 2005)

Okay, I can honestly say that I have loved the Sims franchise ever since they decided to branch off from the PC. I consider myself a cut above the geeks who still sit hunchbacked in front of the screen, massaging their pocketprotectors and fiddling with the tape on their glasses. Sims 2 for the PS2 has brought playing make-believe to the 21st century, and all those who have secretly harbored a desire to play barbie dolls, can once again rejoin the rest of humanity.
Alright, let's go over the basics. The game doesn't really introduce anything overtly new or extraordinary for fear that gamers would rise up in angry retaliation. However, the game does look pretty darn good compared to its counterparts; The Sims and The Sims: Bustin Out. The characters actually look believable, and the gameplay runs smooth enough that you can play for hours at a time without food, water, or bathing. Believe you me, I've done it. And no, you STILL cannot see any bare naked sim flesh, and I still have no clue what they are saying.
Another new thing about this game is the conversation interaction mode-y thingy. Now, when you initate a conversation, the entire game seems to unfocus, and it's just you and whatever dope you've managed to corral into a conversation. Now you get to choose such prompts like "Check Out," "Card Trick," "Kicky Bag," "Confide," and my personal favorite, "Tell Dirty Joke." And no, that is no indication of just how mentally stunted I am.
Oh yeah, the newness also extends to the food you eat. Now when you go to the fridge, you can choose to pick what foods you will cook for supper or you can be lame and lazy and choose generic ingredients. If you're like me, I tend to choose those things that are easy on the pockets. Each ingredient costs a certain amount of simoleans and I have been none to make a meal for 8 bucks. Yes I know, how does she do it?
Let's see. Designing and dressing your sim is also done differently. Not only are there more choices-everything doesn't look as if it belonged in the 60s-but you can also alter your clothes to put your own personal spin on your outfit.
Now on to the bad and the downright ugly. On this game, they obviously thought that it wouldn't be necessary to let players stage their next action after their main action was completely. On the Sims 2, you have to wait till the previous action is completed before you go on to anything else. So while Bill the Specter is WooHooing with your girlfriend, you can't do anything because you're too busy taking a crap in the bathroom. Such is life.
Also, this game's objectives are a little screwy. When you complete an objective, you are given points and points are used to open new stuff. The only thing is, the objectives never seem to completely go away. I mean, one was "Sell a Painting," and I was like, "is that the best you got?" And they were like "yeah, that's pretty much it." Well, of course I sold the painting but 2 days later, guess what my objective was. To sell a f@#$%& painting! Argh!Foiled yet again. Also, it's pretty darn hard to cheat on this game. I have yet to see a F@#$%# gnome statue appear by my mailbox. It's okay, I'm not going to explode, my belly just has to be rubbed and I'm good to go
Overrall, the game LOOKS pretty darn good, and gameplay runs relatively uninterrupted. I'd recommend this game for any Sims fan, seeing as what there are only 4 games out for the PS2. And you don't want to slide back into the hellish world of PC gaming do you?