You knew it had to happen! The first, and surely not the last, Sims 2 expansion has arrived, and it adds a whole new dynamic to the game. Sims 2 University introduces a whole new age group, young adults, to college! The young adult age group falls right between a sim's teen years and adulthood, and is only activated when a sim attends college. It is here that sims will study, party, meet people, join a secret society, fraternity, or sorority.

Despite the experience the expansion's title promises, attending college in the sims world is pretty boring and disappointing. Players will have a chance to let their current sims grow into the age group, or custom-build a college-bound sim. Unfortunately, the young adult age group can only be activated by going to college. A sim can instantly go to college the moment they become a teenager, which doesn't make much sense, but sets up an interesting set of choices for the player. Do players try to make the most out of the high school years by trying to build up some skills, or do they make them pack up their bags and ship them off to school right away? There is a choice of three colleges, but the differences are purely cosmetic. The gameplay is exactly the same no matter where you go. What Sims 2 University does well is that it integrates itself nicely with the main game by making the grades of a young sim worthwhile. If they do well in school when they're young, they can attend college on scholarship and possibly have enough money to rent a nice house instead of staying in a crowded dorm.

Dorms, however, are free to stay in and have their own benefits. While the rooms are small and cannot be remodeled, it is a great place to meet people should your sim be the social type. The new social interactions are great. There are options to have sims study together or simply hang out (where they sit and chat). They can play pranks on each other (though the pranks are pretty lame), get into pillow fights, or play kicky sack (hacky sack). Dorms are also fully furnished and include cooks to prepare daily meals for everyone. The trade-off is that people are constantly running around, often going into your room and messing with your things when you don't want them to. It's a nice inclusion to have the ability to lock your door, but sooner or later, players might tire of the environment and want to move out. The dorm life is completely unique to the university experience, and is the first place where you see many of the expansion's adaptation flaws.

It is clear that Maxis tried very hard adapt college life to the Sims 2 engine. College is all about getting away from the family and finding your own identity. However, this expansion is adapted to an engine that is dedicated to a family building model. The dorms count as households. So, while Maxis had the foresight to put a line cook in the cafeteria, they did not adapt other aspects of the game in the same manner. For example, if something breaks, your sim will have to either fix it either him or herself or call in for repair service... and pay for it out of their own pocket. Purchased furnishings are there for the whole dorm, not just for your individual sim, which does not mirror dorm life at all. However, this flaw may also work to the player's advantage at times, since the player is able to sell dorm furniture, including those in other people's rooms, to make some money.

Other options include joining a Greek house, where you'll be able to rush to join a fraternity. The gameplay doesn't change significantly, other than later on being able to boss a bunch of sims around into cleaning the house. Players will even have the option to create a fraternity of their own.

Aside from dorm life, sims are now able to play instruments like drums and guitars, and may even try to make some money off of tips. In other cases, they can tend bar or work in coffee houses to earn some extra cash. The new items and animations are great fun to watch, and very functional too. While a sim is performing with an instrument, they gain points in fun, creative skills, and earn money. The new music that has been included in the expansion, which the sims can play or listen to on the radio, are catchy and add new freshness to the game.