Mansion & Garden stuff is full of bugs, and we're not talking ladybirds. (The Sims 2: Mansion & Garden Stuff (PC))

Member Name: TheViolinist

Product:	The Sims 2: Mansion & Garden Stuff (PC)
Date:	07/07/09 (104 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: The box is pretty. The items are of a good quality and the pack has potential.

Disadvantages: The game inside the box isn't worth installing due to risks of potentially game-breaking bugs.

All stuff packs are far smaller than actual Expansion Packs and contain much less content; however, they do fill a niche that is left out in the actual expansions.

These packs are quite expensive so it is all down to consumer choice; whether or not the niche that is being filled is important to you or not.


-The Facts-


-Specs

The stuff pack requires at the very least:

OS: Windows Vista, XP, Me, 2000, or 98

Installed: The Sims 2 for Windows

CPU: 1.0 GHz or faster

RAM: 256 MB or more

Disc Drive: 8x or faster CD/DVD drive

Hard Drive: At least 350 MB of free space

Sound: DirectX 9.0 compatible

Video: DirectX 9.0 compatible
Video card must have 32 MB or more memory and one of these T&L capable chipsets:

ATI Radeon 8500 or greater;
NVIDIA GeForce2 GTS or greater


-The Order

Although not necessary, all eps and stuff packs should be installed in the order of the date they are released. This is because each pack contains a patch for the previous game.


- Buying and Building

Mansion and Garden stuff provides approximately 60 items with which you can decorate your houses and gardens - from regal styled furnishings to beautiful and exotic plants. Helpfully, the website. TheSims2.com, provides snapshots most of the items included in the pack which is very useful in deciding whether or not the stuff pack is suited to your tastes.


- Extras

Surprisingly, a number of new animations were also included such as sims shading their eyes from the sun when they exit their house, and the ability to relax and smell the roses. While these autonomous interactions are a novelty at first, they can quickly become irritating. Many players have opted to using third-party patches to remove the animations altogether.



-My Opinion-


-Specs

As mentioned in my H&M review, the specs listed on the box can be deceiving. Meeting the minimum specs alone will not allow for decent game play, if at all. In my experience, the Sims 2 requires a computer that is as powerful as possible. It is common Sims 2 community knowledge to take the specs they give you and multiply them to provide the 'real' minimum specs. Below is a more accurate estimation of the specifications you will need:

OS: Windows Vista, XP, Me, 2000, or 98

Installed: The Sims 2 for Windows

CPU: 2.0 GHz or faster

RAM: 1 GB or more

Disc Drive: 8x or faster CD/DVD drive

Hard Drive: At least 1.5GB of free space

Sound: DirectX 9.0 compatible

Video: DirectX 9.0 compatible
Video card must have 32 MB or more memory and one of these T&L capable chipsets:

ATI Radeon 8500 or greater;
NVIDIA GeForce2 GTS or greater;

The more stuff packs and EPs that you have installed, the more powerful your computer will need to be in order to run them properly.


-The Order

Personally, I insist that my games are all installed in the order that they were released. This ensures that the patches are linear and should help to avoid bug problems. While this isn't entirely necessary, I would advise doing the same if possible.


- Buying & Building

I have to say that I particularly liked the look of the new build items including double curving staircases, Moroccan and art-deco themed windows and doors, and the long awaited ceiling fans.
I particularly liked the solar panels, and while they don't quite seem to fit with the theme of the pack, they are functional in that they realistically allow sims to cut the cost of their bills by producing their own electricity. With enough solar panels, sims can even earn money by selling their own electricity.


- The big 'But...'

Mansion and Garden stuff is full of bugs, and I'm not talking about ladybirds and grasshoppers. This pack reintroduced the most notorious bug known to The Sims 2 community, the dreaded jump bug (Google it). This is widely considered to be a game-breaking bug which causes animations to fail for certain actions. That isn't the only bug that players have experienced, but one need only visit the 'stuff packs' section of the Sims 2.com message board to discover the multitude of the problems that come with this product.

Because of this, many players including myself have been led to uninstalling the pack and ensuring that it never sees the light of day again, or at least not until a miracle patch is released, which seems about as likely as the return of Jesus at this point.

Reportedly, EA have been advising consumers to find third-party fixes for the products that EA have created, and THEY are responsible for. This is not acceptable behavior for a company dealing with faulty product complaints.
Regardless of whether or not a third party fix for the problems exists somewhere out there on the world wide web, it is not the responsibility of fans to solve EA's problems - particularly when their many loyal fans have essentially handed them a license to print money.

Because of these problems, EA forfeit two stars from what would have been a four star review.

Since release of this title, EA's attention has turned to printing money from the incredulous popularity of The Sims 3; as such, Mansion and Garden stuff has not been patched, and it seems unlikely that it ever will be. If the state of affairs changes, I will be happy to amend my review.


- Conclusion

I find Mansion & Garden stuff to have a fair bit of potential. The content is of a good quality, and until the discovery of the numerous bugs I have to say that I enjoyed using the new items to decorate my sims' homes. I can only hope that a patch does arrive so that I will get the chance to enjoy the game to its fullest.

Summary: Good...I just wish that they would patch it.