The Sims 2 Pets

I have a small confession to make: the closest I have gotten to playing The Sims 2 is drowning an unsuspecting Sim in the swimming pool by removing the ladder. Lord knows why he just couldn’t climb out, but hey, I’m not one to judge.

My girlfriend, on the other hand, is a Sims fanatic. I’m not just talking about downloading some new skins off the exchange and getting every expansion pack; this girl not only creates her own soap operas using the game, but she goes out of her way to read those of others, even those that can’t seem to spell 'forgotten'.

So if there was ever anyone perfectly apt to test the new Sims 2 expansion pack, it’s her. So I trotted over to her house with the game, and after watching her squeal in glee, I sat down and asked questions and took notes as she explored everything the pack has to offer.

The first thing that Sims 2 fans should be aware of is that this pack brings very little to the table in terms of new clothing or items. There are no new clothes or haircuts for human characters, and there are very few item sets outside of the rather amusing cosmonaut set. So you shouldn’t purchase this game expecting new content for creating Sims.

The focus of the expansion is, rather obviously, adding pets to the game. It’s not a new concept, as the original Sims had the Unleashed expansion, but it’s one that adds a completely new dimension to the game. Unlike previous expansion packs like Open for Business, Pets drastically alters the game by having the pets in the foreground.

Yes, the pets are optional, but why would you purchase the expansion and not take advantage of what it’s offering? Because the pets don’t function as additional characters, you don’t control them. The pets require a lot of attention. Like a real pet, they need to be trained and cared for, especially the dogs. Ignoring a pet will soon lead to the destruction of household property.

This means that the game’s difficulty is increased, simply because managing pets while still trying to maintain a normal, healthy Sim-life can be difficult. This is definitely an expansion for people who are expert players, rather than novices. You can ease the burden slightly by sending your pets off to jobs while having your Sims cater to their own needs during the day; but if you’re playing the Sims 2 as a virtual doll’s house, rather than just “to win”, you should be aware that looking after pets is difficult.

While the pets aren’t characters you can control, you can create certain pets as members of a family. I had a go at trying to make a dog, but I was disappointed at how limited the system was. Creating a human Sim gives you a fair deal of leeway, but creating a dog was far stricter.

You can pick from a selection of breeds, but there aren’t too many. You can also choose to create a custom dog, but options were limited. For example, you could decide how big the dog’s feet would be, but you couldn’t choose how long its legs would be. This made it very difficult for me to create the West Highland Terrier I wanted, and I ended up with a mutt. And while I still loved him all the same, it’s disappointing to see that you are limited by more than just your imagination.

Ultimately, The Sims 2 Pets is an expansion for people who have exhausted the regular human gameplay and want to add a new dimension to the main game. It’s also, rather obviously, for animal lovers, although they should be aware that cats and dogs require plenty of attention and managing everything can prove taxing. However, if you’re just looking for new items and clothing, you might be better off with one of the cheaper item packs.