The Sims 2 (Mac)

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Label: Aspyr Media
Publisher(s):

Aspyr Media

Studio: Aspyr Media
Manufacturer: Aspyr Media
Binding: DVD-ROM
Brand: Aspyr
Model: 10880
MPN: 10880
Platform(s): Mac OS X
ESRB Rating: Teen
List Price: $49.99
Our Price: $40.99
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
Feature(s):

Lifestyle simulation where you manage your Sim's dreams and fears over a lifetime
Mix Sim genes and see physical and personality traits through the generations
Control the camera and capture the action into mini movies
Generate unique Sims with the new Create-A-Sim feature
Build dream homes and design neighborhoods with new building options

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

The Sims 2 is an incredible sequel to the best-selling PC game of all-time! You'll get to direct an entire Sims' lifetime, and try to get them to reach their goals in life. Will they have a long, successful and happy life - or will they end up poor and heartbroken?

Amazon.com

The Sims was one of the most popular games ever made. In it, players micromanage the lives of a family of virtual people, or Sims, and influence their paths toward success or something akin to a nervous breakdown. Its open-ended blend of cartoonish behavior and everyday living is unique in an art form otherwise obsessed with carnage and sports. With The Sims 2, longtime fans now have a deeper game with lots of ways to customize and share their experiences. The game will also attract first-timers because the goal-oriented gameplay and the luridly fun starter families make it easier to get into the action right out of the box.

Now Sims are born with the traits of their parents, families grow, and Sims grow old.

The People in Your Neighborhood
The game starts at the neighborhood level. Here you can create a housing development from scratch or start with one of three premade neighborhoods, each with its own theme. From there, you'll settle on a house and a family of Sims to control.

Create your own Sim (above) or your own house (below) from scratch with advanced tools.

Aside from the basic needs carried over from the previous game, Sims now have aspirations, wants, and fears. The wants and fears are the day-to-day things that occupy their minds, like wanting to see friends or get married and fearing death or being rejected for a kiss. Satisfy their wants, and they become more efficient at completing tasks you assign them. Realize their fears, and Sims become lethargic, cranky, and unresponsive to your commands. Aspirations are the big-picture things, like raising a family, becoming wealthy, and gaining knowledge. Succeed here and you'll be able to buy odd gifts for your Sim to improve his or her life, like a money tree that pays dividends or a "fountain of youth" water cooler.

What Else Is New?
Of course, you wouldn't be able to juggle all that if it weren't for the improved "Free Will" option, which makes it easier for Sims to fulfill their basic needs. The artificial intelligence of the game is noticeably improved; they won't turn on radios just as a family member is going to bed but, strangely, they do occasionally put their dishes on the floor.

Another big change in the series is the concept of the lifespan. Now Sims are born with the traits of their parents, families grow, and Sims grow old. Not only does this go hand in hand with aspirations (growing up is the first aspiration that a baby Sim will have), it provides a limited time with which your Sims can achieve their goals.

The Universal Control Panel helps you manage your Sim family.

A Family Affair
The Sims 2 not only lets you create just about any type of Sim in any type of family, build elaborate houses, and even create a neighborhood from scratch, but it also allows you to start the game in medias res, with premade households. These families all have backstories that are smart spoofs of soap-opera plots--lots of scheming, romance, ghosts, and family fighting. Parents of teens shouldn't worry, though, because nudity is tastefully blurred out and "woo-hoo" between Sims takes place completely under the covers. The ESRB has given this a Teen rating. If The Sims 2 were a film, it would likely land between PG and PG-13.

The makers have included some nice tools to help share the universe you've created. For example, you can capture in-game stills and video to show friends the private moments, family interactions, and house parties of your Sims. You can even package a household to share as a blog or an album on a special Web site.

The Sims 2 is for patient gamers. Like life itself, the game is filled with mundane details, like getting ready for work and doing dishes. The game also demands a level of creativity from its players that the run-and-gun game genres wouldn't know what to do with. But those who stick with it will be rewarded with an absorbing, amusing diversion and a virtual family history that they've created themselves. --Porter B. Hall

Set Up a Sims 2 Machinima Studio
Amazon.com contributor Porter Hall reveals how you can make movies using the Sims as your actors. See his guide to setting up a Sims 2 Machinima Studio.

Customer Reviews

Sims 2 for Mac

Well, it still didn't work well with the mac. I've removed it from the computer. It would freeze and some characters, after a while, I'd lose the ability to move them no matter what I'd do.

Great Game

Cheaper to buy it here than it is going to be at most places that carry a Mac version of the game even with priority shipping it came out to be less than the retail price of [...]

Sim happy

What a game!
That's my main point, but I'll go more in depth for you incredulous SOBs.
If you don't know the Sims premise, here it is: I'm a deity, lets mess around with people's lives.
Being the evil, domineering, and downright cruel person that I am, the Sims is my greatest fantasy. You don't have to share my personality to have this game cater to your desires; if you like RPGs, simulations, life and style games, career games, or all of the above, the Sims is what you want, nay, what you NEED.
For anyone who has ever played the original Sims and thought: "Man, I wish there was..." or "Wouldn't it be cool if..." say no more, Sims 2 has got your back.
Game-Play is wonderful: the Sims are very customizable, their lives are manageable, the game is lovable, nuf said. Asypr did let some glitches slide though, there are a few problems with changing households, but they don't subtract too-much from the game.
I have a decent fast computer, a 13 inch 2.4 Ghz MacBook with 2 GB RAM, and Sims 2 runs like a dream. I only wish I had a better graphics card to improve the frame rate on the 1200x800 screen setting; whatever.
Finally, the service was great. I got my package in 2 days with expedited shipping. If you can't stand waiting 5 or 6 days, cough up the extra 3 bones: its worth it.
If you haven't guessed by my review, I rated the whole thing 5 stars. If this game interests you even a little, buy it.

Simple Sim...

It's okay... This was my first Sims purchase -- I take that back! This was my 2nd Sims purchase; I HAD to buy it because I purchased another Sims product that wouldn't work without having this one installed first! After installing this one and then installing the 2nd one, I'm unable to use this one... It's like the 2nd one wrote over the 1st one. I assumed that having both installed, I'd have access to both (?)....

Awesome!

I recently bought a macbook, so none of my old sims disks would work on my mac. I couldn't stand not playing the game, because it's the greatest game of all time...so I had to at least order the first disk of the sims 2 for the mac platform.

I received the item promptly and undamaged. A+ service!

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