If you were obsessed with the original Sims, then you probably already own a copy of The Sims 2. Luckily, the game is very good, and aims to both please people who are familiar with the series and draw in new players. Just like before, the player guides Sims through their lives, getting them jobs and increasing their proficiency across a number of different skills and attributes. Increasing skills through reading books or practice (as is the case with cooking and cleaning) will make the Sims eligible for promotion. Random events, which occur while your Sims are at work, might require some quick decision making that can either make or break your Sim's career.

However, the big draw to The Sims 2 is its technological improvements. Players can choose to play some pre-made families in pre-made towns, or decide to build their own family from the ground up. The Sim building engine is fantastic for creating different faces, and many will enjoy creating Sims out of real family members. The family can be moved into one of the pre-existing towns where they can interact with the different inhabitants, or the player can try to build a community from scratch. There is even an option to import a city from SimCity 4 for your Sims to inhabit. The graphics look as great as ever, but strangely missing are options to determine the height of a Sim. There are also only two body classes, fat and slim, with no options for anything in between. So, all Sims that are about the same age are generally the same height and build. Luckily, their looks are mutable depending on whether or not they work out, and you can see their stomachs grow or shrink.

Perhaps the biggest draw to the new Sims is the fact that your Sims can now grow old and die. This transforms some of the open-endedness found in the original game to one that is significantly more goal oriented. It becomes necessary for the player to make sure his or her Sims have successful lives, bring in money, and have romantic relationships that will eventually lead to offspring. Taking too long could mean that their Sims grow too old to go on and potentially end the family line, and for all intents and purposes, the game. This type of gameplay might not appeal to everyone, but works very nicely to impress those who weren't as interested in the directionless nature of the first title.

The Sims are also much smarter! Ok, maybe not that much smarter, but at least you don't have to direct them to go to the bathroom as often. Players will still need to direct them, though, since much of the time they will forget about a perfectly usable bathroom that's upstairs and prefer to lament over the occupied downstairs bathroom. They also stop and complain that they can't get around when another Sim is blocking them in a narrow hallway. While the Sims are now more autonomous than ever, they still require a significant amount of guidance. That is why the player is there, to balance out their lives through fulfilling their wants and their needs. Yes, there is a clear distinction here. Needs focus on things like making sure they take showers, are well fed, and entertained. Wants are a different matter. Wants are activities that the Sim wishes to do that will shape their personality.

A taskbar at the bottom of the screen shows a Sim's particular wants at the moment. They can range from wanting to meet a new person to wanting to start romantic relations with someone... in some cases, more than one person at a time. Points are rewarded in accordance to the difficulty of fulfilling each want, which can be later used to purchase bonus items. The bonus items add significantly to the game, whether it be a money tree or a water cooler of youth! Having more wants fulfilled will also increase their moods, making them better and more successful Sims. Keeping Sims in a platinum mood also slows down the aging process and keeps Sims youthful. More importantly, shaping personalities through fulfilling wants will lead to building a memory for that particular Sim. They will gain fears, and will receive a significant blow to their self-esteem should those fears be realized. This also shapes their daily interactions with each other and encourages interaction with other Sims living locally. Family members can even choose to move out and visit / be visited by other family members.

Some of the wants can be very outlandish. One in particular is being saved from death, where the grim reaper comes down to claim a Sim. At that point, a Sim that is intimately close to the departing Sim needs to beg with the reaper to spare the life of the loved one. Unfortunately, when this happened to us, we didn't get any kind of warning that this life altering event was occurring. Our pregnant Sim was dying, and her brother (who was three feet away) was too busy cooking to notice. We could not wake the husband up in time to save her, so she passed away where she lay, and an unmovable urn took her place. Oddly enough, after mourning over the urn for a minute or two, the husband proceeded to walk over to the radio and have some fun dancing around the house, proving that one should always remember that The Sims is a game, not a true life simulator.

However, working on building your Sims' bodies and personalities leads up to one very impressive addition to the game: the ability to pass those traits on to offspring. It is truly amazing to see a child born with characteristics taken from both parents. Players will be able to view a family tree to see how those genetics have progressed and how the family has changed from generation to generation. What doesn't change are the environments. No matter how many generations go by, the best TV will always be the flatscreen display, and they will always be playing SSX 3. The fashion choices don't change either. This, no doubt, makes room for a myriad of expansions that were so successful with the first title.

The Sims 2 guarantees hours of entertainment. Even people who weren't interested in the original title might have some interest in giving its sequel a try.