The Sims is Crap, huh it is the best? (The Sims - Hot Date (Expansion Pack) (PC))

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Product:	The Sims - Hot Date (Expansion Pack) (PC)
Date:	22/09/02 (4 review reads)
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Advantages: Everthing

Disadvantages: nothing

People that don't "get" The Sims—that's you, Mr. So-Called Hardcore Gamer—miss out on what is the funniest pure role-playing experience in existence. While there probably isn't anything quite as pathetic as finding love for your little Sims, the Hot Date expansion also frees them from their homebound lives and focuses on the game's greatest strength; its surreal Sim-to-Sim interaction. (Best guess for the next expansion: the workplace. How about The Sims Get a Job?)

While Livin' Large was a glorified content patch and House Party focused on making your home a more fun place, Hot Date adds an entirely new zone, the Downtown Area. You grab a cab from your house and, once there, you have an untold number of opportunities to meet more Sims (there are usually dozens walking around… that hottie Bella Goth is always ready to party) and engage in that most weird element of Sims-ing, interpersonal relationships.

It sounds stupid, and in many ways it is, but it's pulled off with so much style and flair it's impossible not to be seduced by its charms. Simlish, the brilliant nonsensical language used by the Sims, has more sounds and voices that do an even better job of delivering inflection, and Maxis has expanded the dialogue options. A new Interests attribute helps you connect with others, and is increased through various items you can purchase both for the home and while downtown (that magazine rack holds all the answers).

Interestingly enough, you're given completely free reign to create the downtown of your own design—nothing costs any of your precious simoleans. It's set up in lots much like the regular neighborhood, and all but one are populated with existing structures. You can bulldoze existing structures and create your own restaurants and shops, making them as weird and/or wonderful as you'd like. (When visiting with your Sim, however, you do need to spend money on
food, gifts for your partners and friends, and on various other oddities.)

The Sims is so full of fantastic details—the new "social" animations, in particular, are hysterically funny—it has more legs than people think. With the ever-expanding numbers of buildings and objects found at www.thesims.com, you'll never be at a loss for new stuff to check out. Gamers used to learning a game system run out of gas after a few days, but for everyone else, the sheer joy of dabbling, experimenting, or (it has to be said) torturing your Sims, never grows old. It may be pathetic, but it's pathetically brilliant.

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