The Sims 2: Pets PC Review

This is possibly going to be the most pointless review ever. You see, fans of The Sims will most likely have already gone out and bought this title just because it adds a few more features to their favourite game… and of course Sims haters will still continue to bemoan the series listing a long line of faults in an effort to explain why they believe the game should not have gained the success it has achieved. Personally I am nowhere near being a huge fan of the Sims… I have The Sims 2 installed on my computer but only end up playing it once every month – or maybe even less. In all honesty I was very close to uninstalling the main game until I got the chance to review this expansion pack.

So after installation of this expansion pack and my interest in the game partially renewed I began to play again. To my surprise everything pretty much remains the same from my last attempt to play god with people’s lives… the pet aspect of the game does not stick out screaming at you and it is more or less just a few small changse that have been made. The changes are there though but are cleverly hidden and tied into the main game. You are now able to use the house phone to call up the pet adoption agency to have a pet delivered… if that does not interest you then instead you might choose to adopt a neighbourhood stray that has just found its way around the vicinity of your household or you could of course just buy one at a pet store. Also there is one final option and it is to start a whole new family and make a pet to have with you right from the get go… I however did not choose this as I wanted to find my pet after I had a family set up – of course the great thing about The Sims is that you can choose to do things your way.

In the game you can own loads of different breads of cats, dogs, womrats (which look like to guinea pigs to me), and birds. All pets in the game are very much like a human Sim. The big change between them and the Sims is that you cannot have direct control over an animal but you can try and teach them tricks – and turn them into “Genius Pets”. The pets also have motives like normal Sims but are different from human ones- with stuff like Scratching instead of Environment. All the Pets can grow up as well and also breed if they have a friend. Pets can also have careers which you can direct them on via the above named training… if you work hard enough you can even have one of your pets make so much money the human Sims can laze around at home all day – maybe in front of the TV… possibly playing video games!

New items have also made their way into the game and as you would expect, they are all in some way related to pets. The likes of chew bones, catnip, bowls, litter boxes, pet beds and cages are all on show. The game also give you the ability to build a structure so you can build the above named pet store in your neighbourhood in case you fall out of love with “Cuddles,” “Spot,” or “Rocky!” and need something new. All in all the game does not seem to have many new items and seems more focused on the pets themselves and integrating them into families.

As it is using the same graphical engine as the main game the Sims 2 Pets looks just as you would expect it to. The pets are the only really new extra to talk about in this review. All the animals are animated well… and they move realistic enough to get an “awwww” out of anyone watching over your shoulder. Depending on the animal they all seem to roll, dig, scratch and scrape as close to their real life counter parts as possible. I personally believe the animation is not as good as the likes of Nintendogs but it is still very close. Animals all bark, meow and chirp and are not forced to speak Simlish. The Sims though still speak their own weird language and have even learned a few new words such as Starf which I believe means sit. I guess EA really want to Cheeya Vedishya. You know, If I carry on at this I will be very, very Shooflee.

If you are a big time Sims fan you will probably already own this game – which makes me wonder why you are reading this review! If you are not a fan of the Sims then adding a whole pile of pets to the mix is not going make you desire the game in any way… so what our verdict?

Well if you are not a Sims fan then feel free take a step around what you believe to be a giant dog poop blocking you path and avoid this game. If you love The Sims then buy this game… but as I said you probably have already done that… see as I said “most pointless review ever!

Oh, and Hilary Duff is in this one too.

If you want it you most likely already have it – leave me alone now!

7.0 out of 10