From the creator of The Sims comes the most ambitious video game ever made: here you don't just control a single family or city but control an entire species from a single cell organism to a galactic conqueror. As impossibly complex as that might sound, the most impressive thing about Spore is just how accessible and fun it all is. The game is split into six evolutionary phases, starting with almost action-style gameplay at the microscopic level. From there you move to the creature phase on dry land, before going on to the tribal phase and the beginnings of society and technology. From there it's onto the city phase, which plays a bit like SimCity, and from there to the Civilisation phase which plays something like, you guessed it, Civilization. The final phase takes part in outer space where by hook or by crock your species must reign triumphant.

Each phase has its own editing tools associated with it for things like vehicles and buildings. By far the most fun though is the creature tool, which allows you to create your own fully animated lifeform from scratch using a huge range of limbs, facial features and colourings. What's also interesting is that the other planets in the galaxy aren't all pre-populated by the game. Instead, by connecting online you can upload your races, and download those from other people, to fill the galaxy with civilizations from other players around the world. Any one of the six phases would normally be enough for any one game on its own, but this looks like it's going to turn out to be the world's first everything simulator.
HARRISON DENT

Balls, 19 Nov 2008
DRM or not, this game is boring. Boring at the start, moving on slightly to annoying. Well, at least there's a bit of variation!

It has all been said before - annoying DRM, gameplay too basic. Honestly, this game should've been marketed as a kid's game. As it was not, we'll assume EA/Will Wright prefer to insult their customers' intelligence.

Waste of money, 18 Nov 2008
I was really disappointed with this game. The game-play is very repetitive and whilst the creature creation mechanics are fun for a while, you quickly realise that the design of your creature has little impact on your species' success or failure.
It's nothing like the innovative game I thought it would be.

Worst of all, having played it through and decided I won't be playing it again, I can't sell it second hand because of EA's restrictive DRM. So all in all a complete and utter waste of money which has left me vowing never to buy another game with DRM.

SPORE - Please give me more!, 14 Nov 2008
One of the most hyped up games of the year has now been released, and I have finally resurfaced to tell you about it. Made by the creator of the SIMS, SPORE was never going to be a disappointment. There are some pretty obvious similarities, like the graphics, SPORE has the same simple futuristic 3D animations and idiot proof options tabs, and just like the SIMS I did feel a bit like God on a power trip. But this is where the similarities end, SIMS fans be warned. You are now in control of evolution. Life for you starts out as a single Spore in a tide pool; you must fight your way through life, evolving and reproducing until you can walk on land and create a future for your species in space. Travel through six evolutionary phases by making friends and killing your enemies, whilst all the time moulding your creatures for their survival. As exciting as this sounds, at times the game does become a little tedious and almost too easy; this may have been because I played it on `easy', but still, it is a shadow of what it could have been. Despite these flaws I did admittedly become quite addicted, and found letting my peculiar and ugly featured aliens go, extremely hard. Overall I would say it is definitely worth a bit of your gaming time, but do not expect the epic adventure we were all led to believe SPORE would be.

RUBBISH!!!, 13 Nov 2008
My friends convinced me to get this game. I thought that the demo creature creator was fun so i got it. But it was absolutely rubbish. On my pc it froze at tribal stage, so i installed it on my mac. In creature creator was black i couldn't see anything so i had to make something on my pc and then load it onto my mac. Really annoying. Then it really wasn't fun at all. Just annoying. Sireously do NOT but this game no matter what anyone says it RUBBISH!!!!

Don't hype it up too much., 08 Nov 2008
The reason so many people have rated this game 1 is because the expected so much and therefore were disapointed. Obviously Maxis cannot make a game that satisfies all people, so it is no reason to rubbish a game because it is not exactly what people wanted. I also think as a third reason people like to jump on the bandwagon of Spore not being good as all the PC magazines have rated it highly.

I personally find it very enjoyable. I did not have a level of expectation before I bought it, I had just seen my boyfriend play it and it looked really fun (which it is). I liked previous Maxis games (the Sims, Sims 2 etc) and this looked of the same style so I was right to think it would appeal. It is of course very different to other Maxis games, as it combines a number of different gaming styles into one game. For example, I had never played a strategy style game before Tribal Stage in Spore.

The most impressive aspect of Spore is the sheer size of the game, and how everyones game is different. It may seem that once Space stage is reached, the game is almost over. However, when you zoom out it is obvious to see the game has barely begun. The number of places to visit is virtually limitless, and each planet is different and has different potential.

What makes this game so original is the amount of content created by the player rather than the game designers. There are a number of different creators where you can design anything from a creature to an religious water vehicle. The possibilities for designing and building are unlimited, so many hours can be spent experimenting and building a masterpiece, which can then be uploaded and shared with the rest of the world!

Balls, 19 Nov 2008
DRM or not, this game is boring. Boring at the start, moving on slightly to annoying. Well, at least there's a bit of variation!

It has all been said before - annoying DRM, gameplay too basic. Honestly, this game should've been marketed as a kid's game. As it was not, we'll assume EA/Will Wright prefer to insult their customers' intelligence.

Waste of money, 18 Nov 2008
I was really disappointed with this game. The game-play is very repetitive and whilst the creature creation mechanics are fun for a while, you quickly realise that the design of your creature has little impact on your species' success or failure.
It's nothing like the innovative game I thought it would be.

Worst of all, having played it through and decided I won't be playing it again, I can't sell it second hand because of EA's restrictive DRM. So all in all a complete and utter waste of money which has left me vowing never to buy another game with DRM.

SPORE - Please give me more!, 14 Nov 2008
One of the most hyped up games of the year has now been released, and I have finally resurfaced to tell you about it. Made by the creator of the SIMS, SPORE was never going to be a disappointment. There are some pretty obvious similarities, like the graphics, SPORE has the same simple futuristic 3D animations and idiot proof options tabs, and just like the SIMS I did feel a bit like God on a power trip. But this is where the similarities end, SIMS fans be warned. You are now in control of evolution. Life for you starts out as a single Spore in a tide pool; you must fight your way through life, evolving and reproducing until you can walk on land and create a future for your species in space. Travel through six evolutionary phases by making friends and killing your enemies, whilst all the time moulding your creatures for their survival. As exciting as this sounds, at times the game does become a little tedious and almost too easy; this may have been because I played it on `easy', but still, it is a shadow of what it could have been. Despite these flaws I did admittedly become quite addicted, and found letting my peculiar and ugly featured aliens go, extremely hard. Overall I would say it is definitely worth a bit of your gaming time, but do not expect the epic adventure we were all led to believe SPORE would be.

RUBBISH!!!, 13 Nov 2008
My friends convinced me to get this game. I thought that the demo creature creator was fun so i got it. But it was absolutely rubbish. On my pc it froze at tribal stage, so i installed it on my mac. In creature creator was black i couldn't see anything so i had to make something on my pc and then load it onto my mac. Really annoying. Then it really wasn't fun at all. Just annoying. Sireously do NOT but this game no matter what anyone says it RUBBISH!!!!

Don't hype it up too much., 08 Nov 2008
The reason so many people have rated this game 1 is because the expected so much and therefore were disapointed. Obviously Maxis cannot make a game that satisfies all people, so it is no reason to rubbish a game because it is not exactly what people wanted. I also think as a third reason people like to jump on the bandwagon of Spore not being good as all the PC magazines have rated it highly.

I personally find it very enjoyable. I did not have a level of expectation before I bought it, I had just seen my boyfriend play it and it looked really fun (which it is). I liked previous Maxis games (the Sims, Sims 2 etc) and this looked of the same style so I was right to think it would appeal. It is of course very different to other Maxis games, as it combines a number of different gaming styles into one game. For example, I had never played a strategy style game before Tribal Stage in Spore.

The most impressive aspect of Spore is the sheer size of the game, and how everyones game is different. It may seem that once Space stage is reached, the game is almost over. However, when you zoom out it is obvious to see the game has barely begun. The number of places to visit is virtually limitless, and each planet is different and has different potential.

What makes this game so original is the amount of content created by the player rather than the game designers. There are a number of different creators where you can design anything from a creature to an religious water vehicle. The possibilities for designing and building are unlimited, so many hours can be spent experimenting and building a masterpiece, which can then be uploaded and shared with the rest of the world!

Worth every penny £ $, 27 Oct 2008
Brill game worth every penny may slow up your game but worth the wait so much is added belladona cove is a amazing neighbour hood brillant would recomend this game to sims2 and non sims2 fans alike so worth everything.

STILL WAITING FOR IT TO ARRIVE, 25 Oct 2008
I ORDERED THIS ITEM IN SEPTEMBER & WITH IT NOW BEING OVER A MONTH I'M STILL WAITING FOR IT TO ARRIVE EVEN WITH 1ST CLASS POSTAGE - & NO REAL EXPLANATION FROM AMAZON - JUST AN AUTOMATED RESPONSE!

Better than it sounds, 25 Sep 2008
From the blurb on EA's site, I wasn't expecting great things from this expansion. It sounded as though you just get a new building type, but there's much more to it than that.
Sure, a large element is the apartments, but even those are better than I anticipated. If you've ever been stuck with a homeless family with low funds, or if your single guy is friendless, apartments provide the perfect solution. If your sim feels lonely, they only have to go and tap on someone's door (at a reasonable hour), and some apartments cost less than 1k a week.
There's also a hint of magic in the air, but I suspect that it takes more than the hour that I played to find that

Apartment life, 13 Sep 2008
I Think this is the best expansion pack yet,I love playing on the Sims and this really expanded the level of play!
The only downside is that it really slowes down the loading time even in the simplest of tasks inclueding make a family
but a few more min waiting is nothing compared to how mutch fun the game is

This game is definatly worth buying

One of the better expansions, 10 Sep 2008
As opposed to the waste-of-money, product-placement-up-the-arse "Stuff Packs", most of the Sims 2 Expansion Packs actually add useful functionality and gameplay elements to an already decent game, and this is one of the best ones. If I had to recommend just one expansion, it would probably be this one (or Seasons), as it adds exciting and new, yet realistic, gameplay.

Apartment living is easy to get into. Either pick one of the premade families in the new neighbourhood, Belladonna Cove, or make your own Sims and move them into apartments. If you're really adventurous you can build your own apartment buildings, but this is very difficult due to the complexity needed in apartments, and you have to use a cheat to zone the apartment correctly (I think the official website has a tutorial). Apartment building is only recommended for experienced builders.

I had no problems installing or running this. One tiny complaint is the load time on game startup; if you have all the expansions or lots of custom content, or both, be prepared to stare at a blank screen for 10+ minutes while the game starts up. I run the Sims 2 in a window for this exact reason - I can watch a video or browse the internet or something while the game is loading.

Overall I recommend this expansion pack. If you only have the base Sims 2 and want to add that little bit extra before the release of Sims 3, get this pack. It's the last pack that will come out and it adds (in my opinion) the most varied and useful gameplay elements. If you have all the previous packs, then why are you reading this review? You're going to buy it anyway :-)

Oh, and one final quibble: It's not an apartment. It's a FLAT. Bloody Americanisation strikes again.

Balls, 19 Nov 2008
DRM or not, this game is boring. Boring at the start, moving on slightly to annoying. Well, at least there's a bit of variation!

It has all been said before - annoying DRM, gameplay too basic. Honestly, this game should've been marketed as a kid's game. As it was not, we'll assume EA/Will Wright prefer to insult their customers' intelligence.

Waste of money, 18 Nov 2008
I was really disappointed with this game. The game-play is very repetitive and whilst the creature creation mechanics are fun for a while, you quickly realise that the design of your creature has little impact on your species' success or failure.
It's nothing like the innovative game I thought it would be.

Worst of all, having played it through and decided I won't be playing it again, I can't sell it second hand because of EA's restrictive DRM. So all in all a complete and utter waste of money which has left me vowing never to buy another game with DRM.

SPORE - Please give me more!, 14 Nov 2008
One of the most hyped up games of the year has now been released, and I have finally resurfaced to tell you about it. Made by the creator of the SIMS, SPORE was never going to be a disappointment. There are some pretty obvious similarities, like the graphics, SPORE has the same simple futuristic 3D animations and idiot proof options tabs, and just like the SIMS I did feel a bit like God on a power trip. But this is where the similarities end, SIMS fans be warned. You are now in control of evolution. Life for you starts out as a single Spore in a tide pool; you must fight your way through life, evolving and reproducing until you can walk on land and create a future for your species in space. Travel through six evolutionary phases by making friends and killing your enemies, whilst all the time moulding your creatures for their survival. As exciting as this sounds, at times the game does become a little tedious and almost too easy; this may have been because I played it on `easy', but still, it is a shadow of what it could have been. Despite these flaws I did admittedly become quite addicted, and found letting my peculiar and ugly featured aliens go, extremely hard. Overall I would say it is definitely worth a bit of your gaming time, but do not expect the epic adventure we were all led to believe SPORE would be.

RUBBISH!!!, 13 Nov 2008
My friends convinced me to get this game. I thought that the demo creature creator was fun so i got it. But it was absolutely rubbish. On my pc it froze at tribal stage, so i installed it on my mac. In creature creator was black i couldn't see anything so i had to make something on my pc and then load it onto my mac. Really annoying. Then it really wasn't fun at all. Just annoying. Sireously do NOT but this game no matter what anyone says it RUBBISH!!!!

Don't hype it up too much., 08 Nov 2008
The reason so many people have rated this game 1 is because the expected so much and therefore were disapointed. Obviously Maxis cannot make a game that satisfies all people, so it is no reason to rubbish a game because it is not exactly what people wanted. I also think as a third reason people like to jump on the bandwagon of Spore not being good as all the PC magazines have rated it highly.

I personally find it very enjoyable. I did not have a level of expectation before I bought it, I had just seen my boyfriend play it and it looked really fun (which it is). I liked previous Maxis games (the Sims, Sims 2 etc) and this looked of the same style so I was right to think it would appeal. It is of course very different to other Maxis games, as it combines a number of different gaming styles into one game. For example, I had never played a strategy style game before Tribal Stage in Spore.

The most impressive aspect of Spore is the sheer size of the game, and how everyones game is different. It may seem that once Space stage is reached, the game is almost over. However, when you zoom out it is obvious to see the game has barely begun. The number of places to visit is virtually limitless, and each planet is different and has different potential.

What makes this game so original is the amount of content created by the player rather than the game designers. There are a number of different creators where you can design anything from a creature to an religious water vehicle. The possibilities for designing and building are unlimited, so many hours can be spent experimenting and building a masterpiece, which can then be uploaded and shared with the rest of the world!

Worth every penny £ $, 27 Oct 2008
Brill game worth every penny may slow up your game but worth the wait so much is added belladona cove is a amazing neighbour hood brillant would recomend this game to sims2 and non sims2 fans alike so worth everything.

STILL WAITING FOR IT TO ARRIVE, 25 Oct 2008
I ORDERED THIS ITEM IN SEPTEMBER & WITH IT NOW BEING OVER A MONTH I'M STILL WAITING FOR IT TO ARRIVE EVEN WITH 1ST CLASS POSTAGE - & NO REAL EXPLANATION FROM AMAZON - JUST AN AUTOMATED RESPONSE!

Better than it sounds, 25 Sep 2008
From the blurb on EA's site, I wasn't expecting great things from this expansion. It sounded as though you just get a new building type, but there's much more to it than that.
Sure, a large element is the apartments, but even those are better than I anticipated. If you've ever been stuck with a homeless family with low funds, or if your single guy is friendless, apartments provide the perfect solution. If your sim feels lonely, they only have to go and tap on someone's door (at a reasonable hour), and some apartments cost less than 1k a week.
There's also a hint of magic in the air, but I suspect that it takes more than the hour that I played to find that

Apartment life, 13 Sep 2008
I Think this is the best expansion pack yet,I love playing on the Sims and this really expanded the level of play!
The only downside is that it really slowes down the loading time even in the simplest of tasks inclueding make a family
but a few more min waiting is nothing compared to how mutch fun the game is

This game is definatly worth buying

One of the better expansions, 10 Sep 2008
As opposed to the waste-of-money, product-placement-up-the-arse "Stuff Packs", most of the Sims 2 Expansion Packs actually add useful functionality and gameplay elements to an already decent game, and this is one of the best ones. If I had to recommend just one expansion, it would probably be this one (or Seasons), as it adds exciting and new, yet realistic, gameplay.

Apartment living is easy to get into. Either pick one of the premade families in the new neighbourhood, Belladonna Cove, or make your own Sims and move them into apartments. If you're really adventurous you can build your own apartment buildings, but this is very difficult due to the complexity needed in apartments, and you have to use a cheat to zone the apartment correctly (I think the official website has a tutorial). Apartment building is only recommended for experienced builders.

I had no problems installing or running this. One tiny complaint is the load time on game startup; if you have all the expansions or lots of custom content, or both, be prepared to stare at a blank screen for 10+ minutes while the game starts up. I run the Sims 2 in a window for this exact reason - I can watch a video or browse the internet or something while the game is loading.

Overall I recommend this expansion pack. If you only have the base Sims 2 and want to add that little bit extra before the release of Sims 3, get this pack. It's the last pack that will come out and it adds (in my opinion) the most varied and useful gameplay elements. If you have all the previous packs, then why are you reading this review? You're going to buy it anyway :-)

Oh, and one final quibble: It's not an apartment. It's a FLAT. Bloody Americanisation strikes again.

Disappointingly Limited, 25 Sep 2008
Perhaps I was wrong to expect more from it, but it seemed like there just weren't enough new items in this pack to justify the cost. Colour options are quite limited, so you can't always get the shape of sofa you like, for example, to match the colours in the rest of the room, and a lot of the things that I've seen at Ikea and would want to have appeared in the game weren't included. I think they picked the most popular Ikea products, and though I find it funny that the sims can now have a bookshelf identical to mine, there's not much variety, and the designs chosen are mostly the simpler, boxy ones, rather than anything more daring. Although it's called 'Home stuff', you basically get items for a few styles of living room, study and bedroom - there's nothing for the bathroom or kitchen (so maxis can make more money from another stuff pack, I assume) and so you can't make your whole house in a matching style. The pack could easily have included more (like a kitchen set, or some of the ikea kids' stuff) that would have made the pack more worthwhile to me. The objects are cheap in-game, but not so good at satisfying motives, so the actual sims react badly when you buy them, and fortune sims want it replaced with more expensive stuff that would mess up your carefully planned ikea decor. On the plus side, it comes with two premade houses - good if you're feeling too lazy to furnish one, but nothing amazing - and there's plenty for if you want minimalism or a trendy office. However, I got this cheaply from a friend, and I'm glad that I didn't buy it new, because I think I would have been disappointed at the amount I paid for it. With the variety of user-made objects available online for free, you can easily get item sets more interesting than this without the price tag.

Not as great as you'd think, 19 Sep 2008
I thought the Ikea pack was a great idea. I love Ikea and I was hoping that a lot of the furniture I own would be available in this pack. I was so disappointed! It really is the least of all the stuff packs, there's barely anything in it and it's all just available in one colour. And it's not even particularly nice. I'd recommend the Family Fun Stuff or the H&M Stuff instead.

Fantastic game, 14 Sep 2008
This was the first expansion pack we bought, and it's amazing. THe furniture is so stylish, and you get 2 new houses that you can buy as many times as you like! Buy it for sure!

IKEA STUFF!, 10 Aug 2008
Let me guess...when you open the box half the bits are missing and you cannot understand the instructions!

Great "stuff" pack for The Sims2, 02 Aug 2008
If you researched on the Sims2 website before hand it shows you a list of most of the items in the add-on. The game has great items for around any Sims home, and are likely to nicely fill empty gaps.
-The pack also has the wardrobe I bought from Ikea in!

Balls, 19 Nov 2008
DRM or not, this game is boring. Boring at the start, moving on slightly to annoying. Well, at least there's a bit of variation!

It has all been said before - annoying DRM, gameplay too basic. Honestly, this game should've been marketed as a kid's game. As it was not, we'll assume EA/Will Wright prefer to insult their customers' intelligence.

Waste of money, 18 Nov 2008
I was really disappointed with this game. The game-play is very repetitive and whilst the creature creation mechanics are fun for a while, you quickly realise that the design of your creature has little impact on your species' success or failure.
It's nothing like the innovative game I thought it would be.

Worst of all, having played it through and decided I won't be playing it again, I can't sell it second hand because of EA's restrictive DRM. So all in all a complete and utter waste of money which has left me vowing never to buy another game with DRM.

SPORE - Please give me more!, 14 Nov 2008
One of the most hyped up games of the year has now been released, and I have finally resurfaced to tell you about it. Made by the creator of the SIMS, SPORE was never going to be a disappointment. There are some pretty obvious similarities, like the graphics, SPORE has the same simple futuristic 3D animations and idiot proof options tabs, and just like the SIMS I did feel a bit like God on a power trip. But this is where the similarities end, SIMS fans be warned. You are now in control of evolution. Life for you starts out as a single Spore in a tide pool; you must fight your way through life, evolving and reproducing until you can walk on land and create a future for your species in space. Travel through six evolutionary phases by making friends and killing your enemies, whilst all the time moulding your creatures for their survival. As exciting as this sounds, at times the game does become a little tedious and almost too easy; this may have been because I played it on `easy', but still, it is a shadow of what it could have been. Despite these flaws I did admittedly become quite addicted, and found letting my peculiar and ugly featured aliens go, extremely hard. Overall I would say it is definitely worth a bit of your gaming time, but do not expect the epic adventure we were all led to believe SPORE would be.

RUBBISH!!!, 13 Nov 2008
My friends convinced me to get this game. I thought that the demo creature creator was fun so i got it. But it was absolutely rubbish. On my pc it froze at tribal stage, so i installed it on my mac. In creature creator was black i couldn't see anything so i had to make something on my pc and then load it onto my mac. Really annoying. Then it really wasn't fun at all. Just annoying. Sireously do NOT but this game no matter what anyone says it RUBBISH!!!!

Don't hype it up too much., 08 Nov 2008
The reason so many people have rated this game 1 is because the expected so much and therefore were disapointed. Obviously Maxis cannot make a game that satisfies all people, so it is no reason to rubbish a game because it is not exactly what people wanted. I also think as a third reason people like to jump on the bandwagon of Spore not being good as all the PC magazines have rated it highly.

I personally find it very enjoyable. I did not have a level of expectation before I bought it, I had just seen my boyfriend play it and it looked really fun (which it is). I liked previous Maxis games (the Sims, Sims 2 etc) and this looked of the same style so I was right to think it would appeal. It is of course very different to other Maxis games, as it combines a number of different gaming styles into one game. For example, I had never played a strategy style game before Tribal Stage in Spore.

The most impressive aspect of Spore is the sheer size of the game, and how everyones game is different. It may seem that once Space stage is reached, the game is almost over. However, when you zoom out it is obvious to see the game has barely begun. The number of places to visit is virtually limitless, and each planet is different and has different potential.

What makes this game so original is the amount of content created by the player rather than the game designers. There are a number of different creators where you can design anything from a creature to an religious water vehicle. The possibilities for designing and building are unlimited, so many hours can be spent experimenting and building a masterpiece, which can then be uploaded and shared with the rest of the world!

Worth every penny £ $, 27 Oct 2008
Brill game worth every penny may slow up your game but worth the wait so much is added belladona cove is a amazing neighbour hood brillant would recomend this game to sims2 and non sims2 fans alike so worth everything.

STILL WAITING FOR IT TO ARRIVE, 25 Oct 2008
I ORDERED THIS ITEM IN SEPTEMBER & WITH IT NOW BEING OVER A MONTH I'M STILL WAITING FOR IT TO ARRIVE EVEN WITH 1ST CLASS POSTAGE - & NO REAL EXPLANATION FROM AMAZON - JUST AN AUTOMATED RESPONSE!

Better than it sounds, 25 Sep 2008
From the blurb on EA's site, I wasn't expecting great things from this expansion. It sounded as though you just get a new building type, but there's much more to it than that.
Sure, a large element is the apartments, but even those are better than I anticipated. If you've ever been stuck with a homeless family with low funds, or if your single guy is friendless, apartments provide the perfect solution. If your sim feels lonely, they only have to go and tap on someone's door (at a reasonable hour), and some apartments cost less than 1k a week.
There's also a hint of magic in the air, but I suspect that it takes more than the hour that I played to find that

Apartment life, 13 Sep 2008
I Think this is the best expansion pack yet,I love playing on the Sims and this really expanded the level of play!
The only downside is that it really slowes down the loading time even in the simplest of tasks inclueding make a family
but a few more min waiting is nothing compared to how mutch fun the game is

This game is definatly worth buying

One of the better expansions, 10 Sep 2008
As opposed to the waste-of-money, product-placement-up-the-arse "Stuff Packs", most of the Sims 2 Expansion Packs actually add useful functionality and gameplay elements to an already decent game, and this is one of the best ones. If I had to recommend just one expansion, it would probably be this one (or Seasons), as it adds exciting and new, yet realistic, gameplay.

Apartment living is easy to get into. Either pick one of the premade families in the new neighbourhood, Belladonna Cove, or make your own Sims and move them into apartments. If you're really adventurous you can build your own apartment buildings, but this is very difficult due to the complexity needed in apartments, and you have to use a cheat to zone the apartment correctly (I think the official website has a tutorial). Apartment building is only recommended for experienced builders.

I had no problems installing or running this. One tiny complaint is the load time on game startup; if you have all the expansions or lots of custom content, or both, be prepared to stare at a blank screen for 10+ minutes while the game starts up. I run the Sims 2 in a window for this exact reason - I can watch a video or browse the internet or something while the game is loading.

Overall I recommend this expansion pack. If you only have the base Sims 2 and want to add that little bit extra before the release of Sims 3, get this pack. It's the last pack that will come out and it adds (in my opinion) the most varied and useful gameplay elements. If you have all the previous packs, then why are you reading this review? You're going to buy it anyway :-)

Oh, and one final quibble: It's not an apartment. It's a FLAT. Bloody Americanisation strikes again.

Disappointingly Limited, 25 Sep 2008
Perhaps I was wrong to expect more from it, but it seemed like there just weren't enough new items in this pack to justify the cost. Colour options are quite limited, so you can't always get the shape of sofa you like, for example, to match the colours in the rest of the room, and a lot of the things that I've seen at Ikea and would want to have appeared in the game weren't included. I think they picked the most popular Ikea products, and though I find it funny that the sims can now have a bookshelf identical to mine, there's not much variety, and the designs chosen are mostly the simpler, boxy ones, rather than anything more daring. Although it's called 'Home stuff', you basically get items for a few styles of living room, study and bedroom - there's nothing for the bathroom or kitchen (so maxis can make more money from another stuff pack, I assume) and so you can't make your whole house in a matching style. The pack could easily have included more (like a kitchen set, or some of the ikea kids' stuff) that would have made the pack more worthwhile to me. The objects are cheap in-game, but not so good at satisfying motives, so the actual sims react badly when you buy them, and fortune sims want it replaced with more expensive stuff that would mess up your carefully planned ikea decor. On the plus side, it comes with two premade houses - good if you're feeling too lazy to furnish one, but nothing amazing - and there's plenty for if you want minimalism or a trendy office. However, I got this cheaply from a friend, and I'm glad that I didn't buy it new, because I think I would have been disappointed at the amount I paid for it. With the variety of user-made objects available online for free, you can easily get item sets more interesting than this without the price tag.

Not as great as you'd think, 19 Sep 2008
I thought the Ikea pack was a great idea. I love Ikea and I was hoping that a lot of the furniture I own would be available in this pack. I was so disappointed! It really is the least of all the stuff packs, there's barely anything in it and it's all just available in one colour. And it's not even particularly nice. I'd recommend the Family Fun Stuff or the H&M Stuff instead.

Fantastic game, 14 Sep 2008
This was the first expansion pack we bought, and it's amazing. THe furniture is so stylish, and you get 2 new houses that you can buy as many times as you like! Buy it for sure!

IKEA STUFF!, 10 Aug 2008
Let me guess...when you open the box half the bits are missing and you cannot understand the instructions!

Great "stuff" pack for The Sims2, 02 Aug 2008
If you researched on the Sims2 website before hand it shows you a list of most of the items in the add-on. The game has great items for around any Sims home, and are likely to nicely fill empty gaps.
-The pack also has the wardrobe I bought from Ikea in!

hopfully as good as other sims, 18 Nov 2008
Knowing Sims this new Sims 3 will be great have not been able to get it yet, out February here can't wait to see it I have all the collection

In a nutshell:
The PC and console worlds combine thanks to man's best friend and a mouse's greatest enemy. Create, pamper and train your favoured furry companions in the latest The Sims 2 expansion.

The lowdown:
After years of trying to create less complex, mini-game orientated spin-offs it seems EA are now keen to see the PC and console The Sims games converge. This new iteration is an expansion pack on the PC but a full price, stand alone game on the consoles. As the name subtly hints the main addition to the game this time round is a number of four-legged friends, plus fish and birds (although it's really cats and dogs that get most of the attention). You can also create your own personalised pet via a complex customisation tool that's just as versatile as the one for humans and on the PC version you can even send your four-legged friend to work!

Most exciting moment:
On the PC this is a perfectly welcome but very narrow expansion. However the full price console version is actually a considerable improvement on the original with an easier-to-use interface, better artificial intelligence and even reduced loading times.

Since you ask:
The next PC expansion pack is called In Season and seems to be roughly analogous to The Sims expansion On Holiday, in that it'll focus on exterior objects and locations. It's not yet clear whether there'll be a console version.

The bottom line:
Finally, The Sims is made to work on consoles!-HARRISON DENT

Balls, 19 Nov 2008
DRM or not, this game is boring. Boring at the start, moving on slightly to annoying. Well, at least there's a bit of variation!

It has all been said before - annoying DRM, gameplay too basic. Honestly, this game should've been marketed as a kid's game. As it was not, we'll assume EA/Will Wright prefer to insult their customers' intelligence.

Waste of money, 18 Nov 2008
I was really disappointed with this game. The game-play is very repetitive and whilst the creature creation mechanics are fun for a while, you quickly realise that the design of your creature has little impact on your species' success or failure.
It's nothing like the innovative game I thought it would be.

Worst of all, having played it through and decided I won't be playing it again, I can't sell it second hand because of EA's restrictive DRM. So all in all a complete and utter waste of money which has left me vowing never to buy another game with DRM.

SPORE - Please give me more!, 14 Nov 2008
One of the most hyped up games of the year has now been released, and I have finally resurfaced to tell you about it. Made by the creator of the SIMS, SPORE was never going to be a disappointment. There are some pretty obvious similarities, like the graphics, SPORE has the same simple futuristic 3D animations and idiot proof options tabs, and just like the SIMS I did feel a bit like God on a power trip. But this is where the similarities end, SIMS fans be warned. You are now in control of evolution. Life for you starts out as a single Spore in a tide pool; you must fight your way through life, evolving and reproducing until you can walk on land and create a future for your species in space. Travel through six evolutionary phases by making friends and killing your enemies, whilst all the time moulding your creatures for their survival. As exciting as this sounds, at times the game does become a little tedious and almost too easy; this may have been because I played it on `easy', but still, it is a shadow of what it could have been. Despite these flaws I did admittedly become quite addicted, and found letting my peculiar and ugly featured aliens go, extremely hard. Overall I would say it is definitely worth a bit of your gaming time, but do not expect the epic adventure we were all led to believe SPORE would be.

RUBBISH!!!, 13 Nov 2008
My friends convinced me to get this game. I thought that the demo creature creator was fun so i got it. But it was absolutely rubbish. On my pc it froze at tribal stage, so i installed it on my mac. In creature creator was black i couldn't see anything so i had to make something on my pc and then load it onto my mac. Really annoying. Then it really wasn't fun at all. Just annoying. Sireously do NOT but this game no matter what anyone says it RUBBISH!!!!

Don't hype it up too much., 08 Nov 2008
The reason so many people have rated this game 1 is because the expected so much and therefore were disapointed. Obviously Maxis cannot make a game that satisfies all people, so it is no reason to rubbish a game because it is not exactly what people wanted. I also think as a third reason people like to jump on the bandwagon of Spore not being good as all the PC magazines have rated it highly.

I personally find it very enjoyable. I did not have a level of expectation before I bought it, I had just seen my boyfriend play it and it looked really fun (which it is). I liked previous Maxis games (the Sims, Sims 2 etc) and this looked of the same style so I was right to think it would appeal. It is of course very different to other Maxis games, as it combines a number of different gaming styles into one game. For example, I had never played a strategy style game before Tribal Stage in Spore.

The most impressive aspect of Spore is the sheer size of the game, and how everyones game is different. It may seem that once Space stage is reached, the game is almost over. However, when you zoom out it is obvious to see the game has barely begun. The number of places to visit is virtually limitless, and each planet is different and has different potential.

What makes this game so original is the amount of content created by the player rather than the game designers. There are a number of different creators where you can design anything from a creature to an religious water vehicle. The possibilities for designing and building are unlimited, so many hours can be spent experimenting and building a masterpiece, which can then be uploaded and shared with the rest of the world!

Worth every penny £ $, 27 Oct 2008
Brill game worth every penny may slow up your game but worth the wait so much is added belladona cove is a amazing neighbour hood brillant would recomend this game to sims2 and non sims2 fans alike so worth everything.

STILL WAITING FOR IT TO ARRIVE, 25 Oct 2008
I ORDERED THIS ITEM IN SEPTEMBER & WITH IT NOW BEING OVER A MONTH I'M STILL WAITING FOR IT TO ARRIVE EVEN WITH 1ST CLASS POSTAGE - & NO REAL EXPLANATION FROM AMAZON - JUST AN AUTOMATED RESPONSE!

Better than it sounds, 25 Sep 2008
From the blurb on EA's site, I wasn't expecting great things from this expansion. It sounded as though you just get a new building type, but there's much more to it than that.
Sure, a large element is the apartments, but even those are better than I anticipated. If you've ever been stuck with a homeless family with low funds, or if your single guy is friendless, apartments provide the perfect solution. If your sim feels lonely, they only have to go and tap on someone's door (at a reasonable hour), and some apartments cost less than 1k a week.
There's also a hint of magic in the air, but I suspect that it takes more than the hour that I played to find that

Apartment life, 13 Sep 2008
I Think this is the best expansion pack yet,I love playing on the Sims and this really expanded the level of play!
The only downside is that it really slowes down the loading time even in the simplest of tasks inclueding make a family
but a few more min waiting is nothing compared to how mutch fun the game is

This game is definatly worth buying

One of the better expansions, 10 Sep 2008
As opposed to the waste-of-money, product-placement-up-the-arse "Stuff Packs", most of the Sims 2 Expansion Packs actually add useful functionality and gameplay elements to an already decent game, and this is one of the best ones. If I had to recommend just one expansion, it would probably be this one (or Seasons), as it adds exciting and new, yet realistic, gameplay.

Apartment living is easy to get into. Either pick one of the premade families in the new neighbourhood, Belladonna Cove, or make your own Sims and move them into apartments. If you're really adventurous you can build your own apartment buildings, but this is very difficult due to the complexity needed in apartments, and you have to use a cheat to zone the apartment correctly (I think the official website has a tutorial). Apartment building is only recommended for experienced builders.

I had no problems installing or running this. One tiny complaint is the load time on game startup; if you have all the expansions or lots of custom content, or both, be prepared to stare at a blank screen for 10+ minutes while the game starts up. I run the Sims 2 in a window for this exact reason - I can watch a video or browse the internet or something while the game is loading.

Overall I recommend this expansion pack. If you only have the base Sims 2 and want to add that little bit extra before the release of Sims 3, get this pack. It's the last pack that will come out and it adds (in my opinion) the most varied and useful gameplay elements. If you have all the previous packs, then why are you reading this review? You're going to buy it anyway :-)

Oh, and one final quibble: It's not an apartment. It's a FLAT. Bloody Americanisation strikes again.

Disappointingly Limited, 25 Sep 2008
Perhaps I was wrong to expect more from it, but it seemed like there just weren't enough new items in this pack to justify the cost. Colour options are quite limited, so you can't always get the shape of sofa you like, for example, to match the colours in the rest of the room, and a lot of the things that I've seen at Ikea and would want to have appeared in the game weren't included. I think they picked the most popular Ikea products, and though I find it funny that the sims can now have a bookshelf identical to mine, there's not much variety, and the designs chosen are mostly the simpler, boxy ones, rather than anything more daring. Although it's called 'Home stuff', you basically get items for a few styles of living room, study and bedroom - there's nothing for the bathroom or kitchen (so maxis can make more money from another stuff pack, I assume) and so you can't make your whole house in a matching style. The pack could easily have included more (like a kitchen set, or some of the ikea kids' stuff) that would have made the pack more worthwhile to me. The objects are cheap in-game, but not so good at satisfying motives, so the actual sims react badly when you buy them, and fortune sims want it replaced with more expensive stuff that would mess up your carefully planned ikea decor. On the plus side, it comes with two premade houses - good if you're feeling too lazy to furnish one, but nothing amazing - and there's plenty for if you want minimalism or a trendy office. However, I got this cheaply from a friend, and I'm glad that I didn't buy it new, because I think I would have been disappointed at the amount I paid for it. With the variety of user-made objects available online for free, you can easily get item sets more interesting than this without the price tag.

Not as great as you'd think, 19 Sep 2008
I thought the Ikea pack was a great idea. I love Ikea and I was hoping that a lot of the furniture I own would be available in this pack. I was so disappointed! It really is the least of all the stuff packs, there's barely anything in it and it's all just available in one colour. And it's not even particularly nice. I'd recommend the Family Fun Stuff or the H&M Stuff instead.

Fantastic game, 14 Sep 2008
This was the first expansion pack we bought, and it's amazing. THe furniture is so stylish, and you get 2 new houses that you can buy as many times as you like! Buy it for sure!

IKEA STUFF!, 10 Aug 2008
Let me guess...when you open the box half the bits are missing and you cannot understand the instructions!

Great "stuff" pack for The Sims2, 02 Aug 2008
If you researched on the Sims2 website before hand it shows you a list of most of the items in the add-on. The game has great items for around any Sims home, and are likely to nicely fill empty gaps.
-The pack also has the wardrobe I bought from Ikea in!

hopfully as good as other sims, 18 Nov 2008
Knowing Sims this new Sims 3 will be great have not been able to get it yet, out February here can't wait to see it I have all the collection

Well worth buying!, 11 Nov 2008
This is the best SIMS game going!! I love it, the dogs&cats are brilliant, u can get so many different types, and they look so real, its fab!! There isnt much changed about the game really but its just nice to have pets! Its defo worth buying, i have had so much fun with this game. I have had it for about 6 months and im still on in it everyday, never got bored of it. I advise u all to DEFO buy this game you will not be dissapointed, and the puppies are so sweet! :)

Really good, 05 Oct 2008
Really good. i love creating what animal i want, and looking after them, the only thing what not so good is that you can't contol the pets, but overal Brilliant game.

A Great Game, 13 Aug 2008
The Sims 2 Pets is an excellent game. You can create your very own cats and dogs to live with your sims - it's brilliant.

Sims 2 pets. one of the best add ons ever, 01 Apr 2008
when i bought the sims 2 pets i didn't think that it would be anyhere near as good asa the sims 2 unleashed. how wrong was I? it adds a completely new side to the sims as the flexibility with chosing pets is splendid. i had no idea over how many breeds you could choose and you can even create your own. you can also get loads of new doors, floors etc and there are loads of unlockables to gain throughout. you can also train your pets and give them coreerers of their own and even scold or praise them.
it can be a little difficult to get the hang of but after a while it is easy. i count it as money well spent. also, breeding your pets has never been so easy and the puppies and kittens are quite adorable. in my opinion it is well worth buying, way better than university.

Same sims, new friends, new adventures, 06 Mar 2008
I've always been a fan of the Sims games and I was really excited to get this game and get playing!
I love this game! It is so much fun, choosing or making your own furry friends.
The graphics are still of te same standard, which is about average for a game of this kind and the pets allow for new products to buy and new adventures with your new family members.
Your pets can have puppies or kittens, you can adopt or give your pets up for adoption if your household gets too big.
Overall, a highly enjoyable game, it comes highly recommended!
Happy gaming :)

Balls, 19 Nov 2008
DRM or not, this game is boring. Boring at the start, moving on slightly to annoying. Well, at least there's a bit of variation!

It has all been said before - annoying DRM, gameplay too basic. Honestly, this game should've been marketed as a kid's game. As it was not, we'll assume EA/Will Wright prefer to insult their customers' intelligence.

Waste of money, 18 Nov 2008
I was really disappointed with this game. The game-play is very repetitive and whilst the creature creation mechanics are fun for a while, you quickly realise that the design of your creature has little impact on your species' success or failure.
It's nothing like the innovative game I thought it would be.

Worst of all, having played it through and decided I won't be playing it again, I can't sell it second hand because of EA's restrictive DRM. So all in all a complete and utter waste of money which has left me vowing never to buy another game with DRM.

SPORE - Please give me more!, 14 Nov 2008
One of the most hyped up games of the year has now been released, and I have finally resurfaced to tell you about it. Made by the creator of the SIMS, SPORE was never going to be a disappointment. There are some pretty obvious similarities, like the graphics, SPORE has the same simple futuristic 3D animations and idiot proof options tabs, and just like the SIMS I did feel a bit like God on a power trip. But this is where the similarities end, SIMS fans be warned. You are now in control of evolution. Life for you starts out as a single Spore in a tide pool; you must fight your way through life, evolving and reproducing until you can walk on land and create a future for your species in space. Travel through six evolutionary phases by making friends and killing your enemies, whilst all the time moulding your creatures for their survival. As exciting as this sounds, at times the game does become a little tedious and almost too easy; this may have been because I played it on `easy', but still, it is a shadow of what it could have been. Despite these flaws I did admittedly become quite addicted, and found letting my peculiar and ugly featured aliens go, extremely hard. Overall I would say it is definitely worth a bit of your gaming time, but do not expect the epic adventure we were all led to believe SPORE would be.

RUBBISH!!!, 13 Nov 2008
My friends convinced me to get this game. I thought that the demo creature creator was fun so i got it. But it was absolutely rubbish. On my pc it froze at tribal stage, so i installed it on my mac. In creature creator was black i couldn't see anything so i had to make something on my pc and then load it onto my mac. Really annoying. Then it really wasn't fun at all. Just annoying. Sireously do NOT but this game no matter what anyone says it RUBBISH!!!!

Don't hype it up too much., 08 Nov 2008
The reason so many people have rated this game 1 is because the expected so much and therefore were disapointed. Obviously Maxis cannot make a game that satisfies all people, so it is no reason to rubbish a game because it is not exactly what people wanted. I also think as a third reason people like to jump on the bandwagon of Spore not being good as all the PC magazines have rated it highly.

I personally find it very enjoyable. I did not have a level of expectation before I bought it, I had just seen my boyfriend play it and it looked really fun (which it is). I liked previous Maxis games (the Sims, Sims 2 etc) and this looked of the same style so I was right to think it would appeal. It is of course very different to other Maxis games, as it combines a number of different gaming styles into one game. For example, I had never played a strategy style game before Tribal Stage in Spore.

The most impressive aspect of Spore is the sheer size of the game, and how everyones game is different. It may seem that once Space stage is reached, the game is almost over. However, when you zoom out it is obvious to see the game has barely begun. The number of places to visit is virtually limitless, and each planet is different and has different potential.

What makes this game so original is the amount of content created by the player rather than the game designers. There are a number of different creators where you can design anything from a creature to an religious water vehicle. The possibilities for designing and building are unlimited, so many hours can be spent experimenting and building a masterpiece, which can then be uploaded and shared with the rest of the world!

Worth every penny £ $, 27 Oct 2008
Brill game worth every penny may slow up your game but worth the wait so much is added belladona cove is a amazing neighbour hood brillant would recomend this game to sims2 and non sims2 fans alike so worth everything.

STILL WAITING FOR IT TO ARRIVE, 25 Oct 2008
I ORDERED THIS ITEM IN SEPTEMBER & WITH IT NOW BEING OVER A MONTH I'M STILL WAITING FOR IT TO ARRIVE EVEN WITH 1ST CLASS POSTAGE - & NO REAL EXPLANATION FROM AMAZON - JUST AN AUTOMATED RESPONSE!

Better than it sounds, 25 Sep 2008
From the blurb on EA's site, I wasn't expecting great things from this expansion. It sounded as though you just get a new building type, but there's much more to it than that.
Sure, a large element is the apartments, but even those are better than I anticipated. If you've ever been stuck with a homeless family with low funds, or if your single guy is friendless, apartments provide the perfect solution. If your sim feels lonely, they only have to go and tap on someone's door (at a reasonable hour), and some apartments cost less than 1k a week.
There's also a hint of magic in the air, but I suspect that it takes more than the hour that I played to find that

Apartment life, 13 Sep 2008
I Think this is the best expansion pack yet,I love playing on the Sims and this really expanded the level of play!
The only downside is that it really slowes down the loading time even in the simplest of tasks inclueding make a family
but a few more min waiting is nothing compared to how mutch fun the game is

This game is definatly worth buying

One of the better expansions, 10 Sep 2008
As opposed to the waste-of-money, product-placement-up-the-arse "Stuff Packs", most of the Sims 2 Expansion Packs actually add useful functionality and gameplay elements to an already decent game, and this is one of the best ones. If I had to recommend just one expansion, it would probably be this one (or Seasons), as it adds exciting and new, yet realistic, gameplay.

Apartment living is easy to get into. Either pick one of the premade families in the new neighbourhood, Belladonna Cove, or make your own Sims and move them into apartments. If you're really adventurous you can build your own apartment buildings, but this is very difficult due to the complexity needed in apartments, and you have to use a cheat to zone the apartment correctly (I think the official website has a tutorial). Apartment building is only recommended for experienced builders.

I had no problems installing or running this. One tiny complaint is the load time on game startup; if you have all the expansions or lots of custom content, or both, be prepared to stare at a blank screen for 10+ minutes while the game starts up. I run the Sims 2 in a window for this exact reason - I can watch a video or browse the internet or something while the game is loading.

Overall I recommend this expansion pack. If you only have the base Sims 2 and want to add that little bit extra before the release of Sims 3, get this pack. It's the last pack that will come out and it adds (in my opinion) the most varied and useful gameplay elements. If you have all the previous packs, then why are you reading this review? You're going to buy it anyway :-)

Oh, and one final quibble: It's not an apartment. It's a FLAT. Bloody Americanisation strikes again.

Disappointingly Limited, 25 Sep 2008
Perhaps I was wrong to expect more from it, but it seemed like there just weren't enough new items in this pack to justify the cost. Colour options are quite limited, so you can't always get the shape of sofa you like, for example, to match the colours in the rest of the room, and a lot of the things that I've seen at Ikea and would want to have appeared in the game weren't included. I think they picked the most popular Ikea products, and though I find it funny that the sims can now have a bookshelf identical to mine, there's not much variety, and the designs chosen are mostly the simpler, boxy ones, rather than anything more daring. Although it's called 'Home stuff', you basically get items for a few styles of living room, study and bedroom - there's nothing for the bathroom or kitchen (so maxis can make more money from another stuff pack, I assume) and so you can't make your whole house in a matching style. The pack could easily have included more (like a kitchen set, or some of the ikea kids' stuff) that would have made the pack more worthwhile to me. The objects are cheap in-game, but not so good at satisfying motives, so the actual sims react badly when you buy them, and fortune sims want it replaced with more expensive stuff that would mess up your carefully planned ikea decor. On the plus side, it comes with two premade houses - good if you're feeling too lazy to furnish one, but nothing amazing - and there's plenty for if you want minimalism or a trendy office. However, I got this cheaply from a friend, and I'm glad that I didn't buy it new, because I think I would have been disappointed at the amount I paid for it. With the variety of user-made objects available online for free, you can easily get item sets more interesting than this without the price tag.

Not as great as you'd think, 19 Sep 2008
I thought the Ikea pack was a great idea. I love Ikea and I was hoping that a lot of the furniture I own would be available in this pack. I was so disappointed! It really is the least of all the stuff packs, there's barely anything in it and it's all just available in one colour. And it's not even particularly nice. I'd recommend the Family Fun Stuff or the H&M Stuff instead.

Fantastic game, 14 Sep 2008
This was the first expansion pack we bought, and it's amazing. THe furniture is so stylish, and you get 2 new houses that you can buy as many times as you like! Buy it for sure!

IKEA STUFF!, 10 Aug 2008
Let me guess...when you open the box half the bits are missing and you cannot understand the instructions!

Great "stuff" pack for The Sims2, 02 Aug 2008
If you researched on the Sims2 website before hand it shows you a list of most of the items in the add-on. The game has great items for around any Sims home, and are likely to nicely fill empty gaps.
-The pack also has the wardrobe I bought from Ikea in!

hopfully as good as other sims, 18 Nov 2008
Knowing Sims this new Sims 3 will be great have not been able to get it yet, out February here can't wait to see it I have all the collection

Well worth buying!, 11 Nov 2008
This is the best SIMS game going!! I love it, the dogs&cats are brilliant, u can get so many different types, and they look so real, its fab!! There isnt much changed about the game really but its just nice to have pets! Its defo worth buying, i have had so much fun with this game. I have had it for about 6 months and im still on in it everyday, never got bored of it. I advise u all to DEFO buy this game you will not be dissapointed, and the puppies are so sweet! :)

Really good, 05 Oct 2008
Really good. i love creating what animal i want, and looking after them, the only thing what not so good is that you can't contol the pets, but overal Brilliant game.

A Great Game, 13 Aug 2008
The Sims 2 Pets is an excellent game. You can create your very own cats and dogs to live with your sims - it's brilliant.

Sims 2 pets. one of the best add ons ever, 01 Apr 2008
when i bought the sims 2 pets i didn't think that it would be anyhere near as good asa the sims 2 unleashed. how wrong was I? it adds a completely new side to the sims as the flexibility with chosing pets is splendid. i had no idea over how many breeds you could choose and you can even create your own. you can also get loads of new doors, floors etc and there are loads of unlockables to gain throughout. you can also train your pets and give them coreerers of their own and even scold or praise them.
it can be a little difficult to get the hang of but after a while it is easy. i count it as money well spent. also, breeding your pets has never been so easy and the puppies and kittens are quite adorable. in my opinion it is well worth buying, way better than university.

Same sims, new friends, new adventures, 06 Mar 2008
I've always been a fan of the Sims games and I was really excited to get this game and get playing!
I love this game! It is so much fun, choosing or making your own furry friends.
The graphics are still of te same standard, which is about average for a game of this kind and the pets allow for new products to buy and new adventures with your new family members.
Your pets can have puppies or kittens, you can adopt or give your pets up for adoption if your household gets too big.
Overall, a highly enjoyable game, it comes highly recommended!
Happy gaming :)

It's great with Open For Buisness, 01 Sep 2008
This game is great. Not brilliant. You get much better clothing than any other 'Stuff' packs, and if you have open for buisness you can create really jazzy buisnesses with all the H&M stuff. Overall 3/5. It lost 2 marks because it is so much better with Open For Buisness.

Good clothes, shame about the product placement, 28 Aug 2008
Apparently EA weren't satisfied with the millions of dollars they've already made from the Sims series, so they've resorted to very clever marketing to squeeze yet more money out of their customers.

This Stuff Pack, like all the others, contains no new gameplay elements and just adds some items to the game. This one adds, as you would expect, lots of fashionable clothing, hairstyles and pretty cool shop items, so it's good if you're really into clothes or if you want to build clothes shops (combined with the Open For Business expansion).

This is one of the better "Stuff" packs... IF you can ignore the shameless product placement and advertising. If, like most sensible people, you prefer not to be bombarded with product placement, there are hundreds of thousands (probably millions by now) of custom items available on the internet to download for The Sims 2, quite legally and for free. Better still, if you download only your own choices you won't be burdened with useless junk you'll never use padding out your hard drive.

Bottom line: The only time you should buy a Stuff Pack is if you can't, or won't, download better for free.

More than just clothes!!!, 07 Dec 2007
I really like The Sims and i love H&M so when i saw this game i had to buy it!! I thought it would be just clothes but its not. For those(like me) who only have the Sims 2 and not Unniversity or Nightlife then this game adds some of the features you get with them.
For example, when creating your sim, you can now add "turn-ons and turn-offs" which means that your sim will be more attracted to certain sims with certain features, (e.g. brown hair and make-up). In addition the sims now have chemistry which are reflected by their turn-ons.
You also get a glimpse of what the Sims will be like if you get Unniversity, Nightlife, or Open for Business which really encourages you to buy them.
Overall i think that this is a good expansion pack and if nothing else, the clothes are really nice!!!

FUN FUN FUN!!!, 28 Nov 2007
THIS GAME IS VERY FUN
IT HAS LOADS OF NEW FASHONABLE CLOTHS. THE ONLY THING LETTING IT DOWN IS THAT THERE IS ONLY NEW CLOTHES, I KNOW IT IS H+M BUT THERE IS NO NEW MAKEUP AND NO NEW HAIR STYLES. BUT ON THE WHOLE IT IS VERY GOOD GAME!
X X X

Ok, 24 Nov 2007
I really love the Sim they are the best games of all time! I have most of the expension packs and suff but this one is a really bad let down, for starters the clothes are not nice only a couple of them are suitable but there are no clothes for the babies and the chilren there are no new hairs and well if you don't have the sims 2 open for business there is no ponit of buying it because you can't even buy the store the stores are good i really like them this expension pack is the worst so far!

Balls, 19 Nov 2008
DRM or not, this game is boring. Boring at the start, moving on slightly to annoying. Well, at least there's a bit of variation!

It has all been said before - annoying DRM, gameplay too basic. Honestly, this game should've been marketed as a kid's game. As it was not, we'll assume EA/Will Wright prefer to insult their customers' intelligence.

Waste of money, 18 Nov 2008
I was really disappointed with this game. The game-play is very repetitive and whilst the creature creation mechanics are fun for a while, you quickly realise that the design of your creature has little impact on your species' success or failure.
It's nothing like the innovative game I thought it would be.

Worst of all, having played it through and decided I won't be playing it again, I can't sell it second hand because of EA's restrictive DRM. So all in all a complete and utter waste of money which has left me vowing never to buy another game with DRM.

SPORE - Please give me more!, 14 Nov 2008
One of the most hyped up games of the year has now been released, and I have finally resurfaced to tell you about it. Made by the creator of the SIMS, SPORE was never going to be a disappointment. There are some pretty obvious similarities, like the graphics, SPORE has the same simple futuristic 3D animations and idiot proof options tabs, and just like the SIMS I did feel a bit like God on a power trip. But this is where the similarities end, SIMS fans be warned. You are now in control of evolution. Life for you starts out as a single Spore in a tide pool; you must fight your way through life, evolving and reproducing until you can walk on land and create a future for your species in space. Travel through six evolutionary phases by making friends and killing your enemies, whilst all the time moulding your creatures for their survival. As exciting as this sounds, at times the game does become a little tedious and almost too easy; this may have been because I played it on `easy', but still, it is a shadow of what it could have been. Despite these flaws I did admittedly become quite addicted, and found letting my peculiar and ugly featured aliens go, extremely hard. Overall I would say it is definitely worth a bit of your gaming time, but do not expect the epic adventure we were all led to believe SPORE would be.

RUBBISH!!!, 13 Nov 2008
My friends convinced me to get this game. I thought that the demo creature creator was fun so i got it. But it was absolutely rubbish. On my pc it froze at tribal stage, so i installed it on my mac. In creature creator was black i couldn't see anything so i had to make something on my pc and then load it onto my mac. Really annoying. Then it really wasn't fun at all. Just annoying. Sireously do NOT but this game no matter what anyone says it RUBBISH!!!!

Don't hype it up too much., 08 Nov 2008
The reason so many people have rated this game 1 is because the expected so much and therefore were disapointed. Obviously Maxis cannot make a game that satisfies all people, so it is no reason to rubbish a game because it is not exactly what people wanted. I also think as a third reason people like to jump on the bandwagon of Spore not being good as all the PC magazines have rated it highly.

I personally find it very enjoyable. I did not have a level of expectation before I bought it, I had just seen my boyfriend play it and it looked really fun (which it is). I liked previous Maxis games (the Sims, Sims 2 etc) and this looked of the same style so I was right to think it would appeal. It is of course very different to other Maxis games, as it combines a number of different gaming styles into one game. For example, I had never played a strategy style game before Tribal Stage in Spore.

The most impressive aspect of Spore is the sheer size of the game, and how everyones game is different. It may seem that once Space stage is reached, the game is almost over. However, when you zoom out it is obvious to see the game has barely begun. The number of places to visit is virtually limitless, and each planet is different and has different potential.

What makes this game so original is the amount of content created by the player rather than the game designers. There are a number of different creators where you can design anything from a creature to an religious water vehicle. The possibilities for designing and building are unlimited, so many hours can be spent experimenting and building a masterpiece, which can then be uploaded and shared with the rest of the world!

Worth every penny £ $, 27 Oct 2008
Brill game worth every penny may slow up your game but worth the wait so much is added belladona cove is a amazing neighbour hood brillant would recomend this game to sims2 and non sims2 fans alike so worth everything.

STILL WAITING FOR IT TO ARRIVE, 25 Oct 2008
I ORDERED THIS ITEM IN SEPTEMBER & WITH IT NOW BEING OVER A MONTH I'M STILL WAITING FOR IT TO ARRIVE EVEN WITH 1ST CLASS POSTAGE - & NO REAL EXPLANATION FROM AMAZON - JUST AN AUTOMATED RESPONSE!

Better than it sounds, 25 Sep 2008
From the blurb on EA's site, I wasn't expecting great things from this expansion. It sounded as though you just get a new building type, but there's much more to it than that.
Sure, a large element is the apartments, but even those are better than I anticipated. If you've ever been stuck with a homeless family with low funds, or if your single guy is friendless, apartments provide the perfect solution. If your sim feels lonely, they only have to go and tap on someone's door (at a reasonable hour), and some apartments cost less than 1k a week.
There's also a hint of magic in the air, but I suspect that it takes more than the hour that I played to find that

Apartment life, 13 Sep 2008
I Think this is the best expansion pack yet,I love playing on the Sims and this really expanded the level of play!
The only downside is that it really slowes down the loading time even in the simplest of tasks inclueding make a family
but a few more min waiting is nothing compared to how mutch fun the game is

This game is definatly worth buying

One of the better expansions, 10 Sep 2008
As opposed to the waste-of-money, product-placement-up-the-arse "Stuff Packs", most of the Sims 2 Expansion Packs actually add useful functionality and gameplay elements to an already decent game, and this is one of the best ones. If I had to recommend just one expansion, it would probably be this one (or Seasons), as it adds exciting and new, yet realistic, gameplay.

Apartment living is easy to get into. Either pick one of the premade families in the new neighbourhood, Belladonna Cove, or make your own Sims and move them into apartments. If you're really adventurous you can build your own apartment buildings, but this is very difficult due to the complexity needed in apartments, and you have to use a cheat to zone the apartment correctly (I think the official website has a tutorial). Apartment building is only recommended for experienced builders.

I had no problems installing or running this. One tiny complaint is the load time on game startup; if you have all the expansions or lots of custom content, or both, be prepared to stare at a blank screen for 10+ minutes while the game starts up. I run the Sims 2 in a window for this exact reason - I can watch a video or browse the internet or something while the game is loading.

Overall I recommend this expansion pack. If you only have the base Sims 2 and want to add that little bit extra before the release of Sims 3, get this pack. It's the last pack that will come out and it adds (in my opinion) the most varied and useful gameplay elements. If you have all the previous packs, then why are you reading this review? You're going to buy it anyway :-)

Oh, and one final quibble: It's not an apartment. It's a FLAT. Bloody Americanisation strikes again.

Disappointingly Limited, 25 Sep 2008
Perhaps I was wrong to expect more from it, but it seemed like there just weren't enough new items in this pack to justify the cost. Colour options are quite limited, so you can't always get the shape of sofa you like, for example, to match the colours in the rest of the room, and a lot of the things that I've seen at Ikea and would want to have appeared in the game weren't included. I think they picked the most popular Ikea products, and though I find it funny that the sims can now have a bookshelf identical to mine, there's not much variety, and the designs chosen are mostly the simpler, boxy ones, rather than anything more daring. Although it's called 'Home stuff', you basically get items for a few styles of living room, study and bedroom - there's nothing for the bathroom or kitchen (so maxis can make more money from another stuff pack, I assume) and so you can't make your whole house in a matching style. The pack could easily have included more (like a kitchen set, or some of the ikea kids' stuff) that would have made the pack more worthwhile to me. The objects are cheap in-game, but not so good at satisfying motives, so the actual sims react badly when you buy them, and fortune sims want it replaced with more expensive stuff that would mess up your carefully planned ikea decor. On the plus side, it comes with two premade houses - good if you're feeling too lazy to furnish one, but nothing amazing - and there's plenty for if you want minimalism or a trendy office. However, I got this cheaply from a friend, and I'm glad that I didn't buy it new, because I think I would have been disappointed at the amount I paid for it. With the variety of user-made objects available online for free, you can easily get item sets more interesting than this without the price tag.

Not as great as you'd think, 19 Sep 2008
I thought the Ikea pack was a great idea. I love Ikea and I was hoping that a lot of the furniture I own would be available in this pack. I was so disappointed! It really is the least of all the stuff packs, there's barely anything in it and it's all just available in one colour. And it's not even particularly nice. I'd recommend the Family Fun Stuff or the H&M Stuff instead.

Fantastic game, 14 Sep 2008
This was the first expansion pack we bought, and it's amazing. THe furniture is so stylish, and you get 2 new houses that you can buy as many times as you like! Buy it for sure!

IKEA STUFF!, 10 Aug 2008
Let me guess...when you open the box half the bits are missing and you cannot understand the instructions!

Great "stuff" pack for The Sims2, 02 Aug 2008
If you researched on the Sims2 website before hand it shows you a list of most of the items in the add-on. The game has great items for around any Sims home, and are likely to nicely fill empty gaps.
-The pack also has the wardrobe I bought from Ikea in!

hopfully as good as other sims, 18 Nov 2008
Knowing Sims this new Sims 3 will be great have not been able to get it yet, out February here can't wait to see it I have all the collection

Well worth buying!, 11 Nov 2008
This is the best SIMS game going!! I love it, the dogs&cats are brilliant, u can get so many different types, and they look so real, its fab!! There isnt much changed about the game really but its just nice to have pets! Its defo worth buying, i have had so much fun with this game. I have had it for about 6 months and im still on in it everyday, never got bored of it. I advise u all to DEFO buy this game you will not be dissapointed, and the puppies are so sweet! :)

Really good, 05 Oct 2008
Really good. i love creating what animal i want, and looking after them, the only thing what not so good is that you can't contol the pets, but overal Brilliant game.

A Great Game, 13 Aug 2008
The Sims 2 Pets is an excellent game. You can create your very own cats and dogs to live with your sims - it's brilliant.

Sims 2 pets. one of the best add ons ever, 01 Apr 2008
when i bought the sims 2 pets i didn't think that it would be anyhere near as good asa the sims 2 unleashed. how wrong was I? it adds a completely new side to the sims as the flexibility with chosing pets is splendid. i had no idea over how many breeds you could choose and you can even create your own. you can also get loads of new doors, floors etc and there are loads of unlockables to gain throughout. you can also train your pets and give them coreerers of their own and even scold or praise them.
it can be a little difficult to get the hang of but after a while it is easy. i count it as money well spent. also, breeding your pets has never been so easy and the puppies and kittens are quite adorable. in my opinion it is well worth buying, way better than university.

Same sims, new friends, new adventures, 06 Mar 2008
I've always been a fan of the Sims games and I was really excited to get this game and get playing!
I love this game! It is so much fun, choosing or making your own furry friends.
The graphics are still of te same standard, which is about average for a game of this kind and the pets allow for new products to buy and new adventures with your new family members.
Your pets can have puppies or kittens, you can adopt or give your pets up for adoption if your household gets too big.
Overall, a highly enjoyable game, it comes highly recommended!
Happy gaming :)

It's great with Open For Buisness, 01 Sep 2008
This game is great. Not brilliant. You get much better clothing than any other 'Stuff' packs, and if you have open for buisness you can create really jazzy buisnesses with all the H&M stuff. Overall 3/5. It lost 2 marks because it is so much better with Open For Buisness.

Good clothes, shame about the product placement, 28 Aug 2008
Apparently EA weren't satisfied with the millions of dollars they've already made from the Sims series, so they've resorted to very clever marketing to squeeze yet more money out of their customers.

This Stuff Pack, like all the others, contains no new gameplay elements and just adds some items to the game. This one adds, as you would expect, lots of fashionable clothing, hairstyles and pretty cool shop items, so it's good if you're really into clothes or if you want to build clothes shops (combined with the Open For Business expansion).

This is one of the better "Stuff" packs... IF you can ignore the shameless product placement and advertising. If, like most sensible people, you prefer not to be bombarded with product placement, there are hundreds of thousands (probably millions by now) of custom items available on the internet to download for The Sims 2, quite legally and for free. Better still, if you download only your own choices you won't be burdened with useless junk you'll never use padding out your hard drive.

Bottom line: The only time you should buy a Stuff Pack is if you can't, or won't, download better for free.

More than just clothes!!!, 07 Dec 2007
I really like The Sims and i love H&M so when i saw this game i had to buy it!! I thought it would be just clothes but its not. For those(like me) who only have the Sims 2 and not Unniversity or Nightlife then this game adds some of the features you get with them.
For example, when creating your sim, you can now add "turn-ons and turn-offs" which means that your sim will be more attracted to certain sims with certain features, (e.g. brown hair and make-up). In addition the sims now have chemistry which are reflected by their turn-ons.
You also get a glimpse of what the Sims will be like if you get Unniversity, Nightlife, or Open for Business which really encourages you to buy them.
Overall i think that this is a good expansion pack and if nothing else, the clothes are really nice!!!

FUN FUN FUN!!!, 28 Nov 2007
THIS GAME IS VERY FUN
IT HAS LOADS OF NEW FASHONABLE CLOTHS. THE ONLY THING LETTING IT DOWN IS THAT THERE IS ONLY NEW CLOTHES, I KNOW IT IS H+M BUT THERE IS NO NEW MAKEUP AND NO NEW HAIR STYLES. BUT ON THE WHOLE IT IS VERY GOOD GAME!
X X X

Ok, 24 Nov 2007
I really love the Sim they are the best games of all time! I have most of the expension packs and suff but this one is a really bad let down, for starters the clothes are not nice only a couple of them are suitable but there are no clothes for the babies and the chilren there are no new hairs and well if you don't have the sims 2 open for business there is no ponit of buying it because you can't even buy the store the stores are good i really like them this expension pack is the worst so far!

The Best Single Expansion, 11 Sep 2008
If you've bought the other expansion packs, then you're probably going to buy this one anyway, so why bother reading the reviews? :-)

However, if you haven't bought them all and want to cherry-pick the expansions (or you only want one expansion or something), I'd say that this is the one you should get. The "weather" is very well-done and affects your Sims in realistic ways, and of course the weather brings lots of exciting things such as lightning strikes, snowmen, leaf piles and sunburn. You can control the cycle of the seasons for each neighbourhood (and sub-hood thereof), so you can have a perpetually sunny desert neighbourhood, or a snowy wonderland all year round.

The harvestable crops and trees are a much-needed addition to the game, and along with the Fishing introduced in this pack, you can finally have self-sufficient Sims without having to use hacked objects! I think this is the most useful thing in any Expansion, for the whole series, ever. All the houses I build now have a greenhouse, pond or both. If you Fish, the fish your Sims catch can be used to cook meals with, and these meals provide a HUGE bonus to the Hunger score. The hunger bar will fill up all the way with just half a plate, making the new food option "Put Away Leftovers" very useful indeed!

Of course, no Expansion would be complete without lots of new furniture, clothing and objects, and Seasons has those in spadeloads. There is a whole new category of clothing, Outerwear, without which your Sims will freeze in winter (they have a little "temperature gauge" now which tells you if they are too hot or too cold). There are several new furniture sets including the "Country" set, which goes very well with all the new farm-themed objects and items.

To summarise, this is my favourite expansion pack. If you only get one expansion, make it this one.

The best EP so far, 09 Jul 2008
I love Sims, always have, and was really pleased when I found that they were incorporating weather into it at last!

Weather was initially going to be in the base game, but due to a bug Maxis had to take it out. Upon learning this I found it a little annoying that you have to pay for a feature that should have been in the game in the first place, however, once you start playing you totally get over that because of all the other brilliant features this game holds.

You (obviously) have seasons. The effects are bit draining on your PC so before buying you should definitely make sure it can handle the game, but they are worth it because they are so good, and nicely realistic.

You also have season-appropriate activities, such as fishing, gardening, making snowmen, raking up leaves, and each season has a different bonus. In spring your sims fall in love, in summer they make friends, in fall they gain skills and in winter they spend time with the family. You also have the new creature sim: plantsims, which are my favourite creature sim by a long shot (and I have all the EPs and SPs).

The new items are great, and compliment the new features very well. You can buy a juicer to put your homegrown produce in (different juices can give special bonuses so it's good to experiment with those), get a hot chocolate maker for warming up any cold sims, plus too many more to mention. You can also put away leftover food into the fridge, which is very handy for Sims who want their kids to get decent food when they are out. The food in the fridge stays edible the entire time it's in there too, so you can make a meal, put it away and it will just stay there until eaten!

You also have a new outfit: outerwear - coats for when the weather turns chilly - and you can now pick a different hairstyle for each outfit (ie one for everyday, a hat for outerwear, hair up for athletic wear etc) which is a nice little touch.

The reason people love this EP so much is because it adds things to everyday gameplay. Many of the other EPs rely on visiting community lots, or doing something extra, such as buying a pet, however you will notice the features of this pack every sim day which is great if, like me, you have slow loading times and can't be bothered to visit other lots all that often.

If you love Sims you should definitely buy this EP, it adds too much for you to pass it up.

SUPER BEST EVER SIMS GAME!, 24 Jun 2008
This is a really good game- buy it or live in boredem!

I am 10 years old because the first sims game was ages 7+ so we thought- why are the others all 12?

This is an amazing game and if you like sims then don't think twice about this game. It's a definate MUST HAVE for sim lovers. First of all, be prepared with a fire alarm as storms and lightning can cause fires. Next, every sim loves a bit of gardening, don't they? The first bronze gardening badge is easy to get so make your sim garden a bit for a good reputation, although the others are harder they will make a better impresion on other sims. The snow is amazing. Your sims can go out and create snow angels and have snowball fights, and in summer they can play catch or have a water bomb fight. Yes, this game has seasons. You can set them so you have somewhere with just winter, and another place with just summer. It's incredible! You can also fish and grow your own fruit. You can too play polo in the pool. I think that came with this one anyway- I have so many sims! Anyhow, this is a serious MUST HAVE for sims lovers. I told you once and I'll tell you again, this game is super cool! Buy it or live your life in boredem!

Very great idea for sims... wanted snow for so long already, 22 Apr 2008
I have all the expansion and i think this one is the most worthy to buy. Its got all seasons which so much activities for each season. You can also change the seasons to whatever you like. Each season has some advantage... e.g. Autumn for faster skill earning points n winter for friendship~ I luv this more than anything... well, just as good as pet because I am an animal lover =) Totally recommand this to any sim lover!

Excellent just right proberly the best one yet!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!, 10 Apr 2008
This is just what the sims need. It dosent give wierd stupid things to do but gives you more realistic thing, small things like put away leftovers. It may not sound important but when you have 2 people in a family and only one can cook its annoying serving food for 6 and wasting 4 plates full. It also lives up to its name and better you can choose what and where the seasons are. All this has proberly made it THE BEST ONE YET........................

It's all about fun, personal development for your Sims in The Sims 2 FreeTime. Sims can follow their individual interests, whether it's immersing themselves in books, becoming an award-winning foodie, flying a remote-controlled helicopter or playing the violin. Gifted mechanics can repair and then drive their newly-renovated sports cars. Sims can rake in oodles of Simoelons with skilfully crafted pottery or by writing a mesmerising novel.

Cool careers bring happiness and fulfilment to your Sims and your storytelling opportunities expand. New cool career options await, including oceanography, architecture, and entertainment. Now by honing their talents, your Sims can unlock a secondary aspiration making them even more unique.