Review
The Sims 2: Pets Review (DS)
If you were to grab a preview of The Sims 2 Pets, you’d notice most talked about the various versions of The Sims 2 Pets and how on the DS it’s a totally separate game where you care for animals, and on other console formats it focuses a lot more on the pets themselves than in the PC version of the game. In all versions, you unlock colours and secrets for your pets which can then be shared as codes with other version owners of the game. So, what’s left to review? Some of the most vital gaming aspects, actually.
Firstly, the Sim franchise has been going for years and there are those who will argue that it’s getting a bit stale, now. After you’ve made all your favourite families and advanced them to the top level of their jobs, what else is there for you to do? The add on packs on the PC version of the game provide new challenges, objects and things to do; even new areas of town to explore such as the University etc.
But for some, that’s just not enough. To those of you who want a new gaming experience, The Sims 2 Pets probably hasn’t added enough to change your mind on this matter. I would seek out the DS version if that’s you, because in this case it is a totally different gaming experience to just playing normal Sims 2. So who is going to like the pets add on?
In short; animal lovers or anyone who finds cats and dogs cute. There’s no escaping it – the cute factor comes out in force. You really do find yourself caring about your animal, and they are so detailed and well animated. If you choose to make your own pets, you can design them to perfectly match your pets at home, or an animal you have in mind to design in the game. Adopting may be a more ‘hairy’ prospect though, and we advise strongly to check the character of the pet you’re adopting, as well as his or her appearance. If you want easy to please animals, ensure you don’t adopt an animal that is very finicky or very lazy/dopy. This may cause your household problems if your other pets are well behaved and easy to live with.
Having played the PC version to death, we’d also advise strongly not to have too many pets in any given household, unless your plan is chaos, mayhem and laughs. If the person playing is a minor, they may find it distressing when pet services come to take away their starving or frozen kitty. Bear in mind adults; if it’s a kid playing, try to limit the number of pets per house they’re minding. This will make it less likely that an animal they spent ages designing or training will be taken away and cause distress. In terms of game play, pets do take up a lot more of your time on top of your Sims just as children do, but a non fussy animal is generally not hard to add to your home.
Controlling the game is easy for any Sim veteran; very little has changed since you don’t directly command your pets anyway. Adding this to the game won’t alter how you control it, which is a nice piece of continuity of use.
Reinforced behaviour is tricky to catch on to and you’ll find that you’ve got to be quick. If your Sim is busy making dinner and you notice that now would be a great time to praise kitty for not scratching the sofa, don’t bother. By the time the Sim is ready to talk to kitty, kitty will have moved on and you’ll burn or waste the food. Every house should have more than one Sim anyway (unless you enjoy making the game very hard), so try to use a Sim who isn’t doing anything at that moment to scold, train, love or praise the animal.
The major difference for old skool Sims players here is that unlike in The Sims Unleashed (the first pets Sims game), you cannot directly influence your animal or see what it wants to do next in quite the same way. The animal is part of your household but is not controllable like a Sim; you have to get it to do things through a human Sim. You can also interact identically with animals which are not part of your household, such as stray cats. Warning though; greet them and they’ll begin eating your food and coming into the house.
Your animals can go out to work as well as you, and you can hire trainers at home to teach them tricks. I recommend both, as this adds to the game play.
The Sim 2 Pets adds great depth and can have you easily playing for hours, much like the main Sims 2 game can and does. No animal will ever come to physical harm on screen, so it’s very much kid safe, so long as the kid isn’t upset about pets being taken away if they don’t keep the animal fed, etc. As with other Sims 2 add ons, swallowing too much will end up in tears (for you and the animals!) and adding pets in moderation is the best way to play it if you’re actually looking to do well.
Comparing this to other add on packs may seem unfair since Pets is the biggest update so far and has its own console games released. However unfair it is, we’re going to do it right here and say in short this is the best add on so far, by a long shot. It adds more to the game and is undeniably cute, cuddly, fun and wild at times. Forking out for this as an add-on for the PC version is definitely worth it, unless you really can’t stand animals. If you don’t own Sims 2, let this tempt you to give it a try and get the Pets pack as well, because we think you’ll adore it. If you’re looking for a new twist in game play and are bored with the traditional Sims format, try the DS version of the Pets add on; it’s very fresh, very fun and makes great use of the DS touch screen. Now I’m off to feed the cat …
Top Game Moment: Teaching my cute cat to talk (meow at me on command) and praising him afterwards.
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| Fussy pets will want more than yours average animal |
I know this looks like a turd, but it's food actually |
Firstly, the Sim franchise has been going for years and there are those who will argue that it’s getting a bit stale, now. After you’ve made all your favourite families and advanced them to the top level of their jobs, what else is there for you to do? The add on packs on the PC version of the game provide new challenges, objects and things to do; even new areas of town to explore such as the University etc.
But for some, that’s just not enough. To those of you who want a new gaming experience, The Sims 2 Pets probably hasn’t added enough to change your mind on this matter. I would seek out the DS version if that’s you, because in this case it is a totally different gaming experience to just playing normal Sims 2. So who is going to like the pets add on?
In short; animal lovers or anyone who finds cats and dogs cute. There’s no escaping it – the cute factor comes out in force. You really do find yourself caring about your animal, and they are so detailed and well animated. If you choose to make your own pets, you can design them to perfectly match your pets at home, or an animal you have in mind to design in the game. Adopting may be a more ‘hairy’ prospect though, and we advise strongly to check the character of the pet you’re adopting, as well as his or her appearance. If you want easy to please animals, ensure you don’t adopt an animal that is very finicky or very lazy/dopy. This may cause your household problems if your other pets are well behaved and easy to live with.
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| Pet training is important, well trained pets are far more fun! |
You still controll the lives of your Sims, as before |
Having played the PC version to death, we’d also advise strongly not to have too many pets in any given household, unless your plan is chaos, mayhem and laughs. If the person playing is a minor, they may find it distressing when pet services come to take away their starving or frozen kitty. Bear in mind adults; if it’s a kid playing, try to limit the number of pets per house they’re minding. This will make it less likely that an animal they spent ages designing or training will be taken away and cause distress. In terms of game play, pets do take up a lot more of your time on top of your Sims just as children do, but a non fussy animal is generally not hard to add to your home.
Controlling the game is easy for any Sim veteran; very little has changed since you don’t directly command your pets anyway. Adding this to the game won’t alter how you control it, which is a nice piece of continuity of use.
Reinforced behaviour is tricky to catch on to and you’ll find that you’ve got to be quick. If your Sim is busy making dinner and you notice that now would be a great time to praise kitty for not scratching the sofa, don’t bother. By the time the Sim is ready to talk to kitty, kitty will have moved on and you’ll burn or waste the food. Every house should have more than one Sim anyway (unless you enjoy making the game very hard), so try to use a Sim who isn’t doing anything at that moment to scold, train, love or praise the animal.
The major difference for old skool Sims players here is that unlike in The Sims Unleashed (the first pets Sims game), you cannot directly influence your animal or see what it wants to do next in quite the same way. The animal is part of your household but is not controllable like a Sim; you have to get it to do things through a human Sim. You can also interact identically with animals which are not part of your household, such as stray cats. Warning though; greet them and they’ll begin eating your food and coming into the house.
Your animals can go out to work as well as you, and you can hire trainers at home to teach them tricks. I recommend both, as this adds to the game play.
The Sim 2 Pets adds great depth and can have you easily playing for hours, much like the main Sims 2 game can and does. No animal will ever come to physical harm on screen, so it’s very much kid safe, so long as the kid isn’t upset about pets being taken away if they don’t keep the animal fed, etc. As with other Sims 2 add ons, swallowing too much will end up in tears (for you and the animals!) and adding pets in moderation is the best way to play it if you’re actually looking to do well.
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| You can accesorise your pets as much as your Sims! |
Look at me, I can walk like human! |
Comparing this to other add on packs may seem unfair since Pets is the biggest update so far and has its own console games released. However unfair it is, we’re going to do it right here and say in short this is the best add on so far, by a long shot. It adds more to the game and is undeniably cute, cuddly, fun and wild at times. Forking out for this as an add-on for the PC version is definitely worth it, unless you really can’t stand animals. If you don’t own Sims 2, let this tempt you to give it a try and get the Pets pack as well, because we think you’ll adore it. If you’re looking for a new twist in game play and are bored with the traditional Sims format, try the DS version of the Pets add on; it’s very fresh, very fun and makes great use of the DS touch screen. Now I’m off to feed the cat …
Top Game Moment: Teaching my cute cat to talk (meow at me on command) and praising him afterwards.
Videos
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The Sims 2: Pets Trailer
00:52 | 2,807 views | 0 comments
