The Sims 2 (console)

The Sims 2 is the fourth title in The Sims console series. The Sims 2 was released for the PlayStation 2, Xbox, Nintendo GameCube, Nintendo DS, Game Boy Advance, PSP, and mobile phones in the fourth quarter of 2005. The home console versions (which are the formal three) include a story and gameplay similar to previous versions of the game, while handheld games (the DS, PSP, and GBA) contain their own storylines.

This game lets the player control the Sims directly rather than through point and click movement, which had mixed reactions from fans. The game also carries many things over from The Sims 2 on PC, such as wants, but does not carry over the aging and pregnancy aspect.

Several aesthetic improvements were made, such as meal customisation.

Bands such as Paramore provided Simlish versions of their songs for the game.

Create A Sim
In Create A Sim, players can generate and customize the Sims with ample amount of customization options. The game also offers exclusive features and tools that aren't available in the PC version.


 * Gender/Randomization: The player start off by picking the Sim's gender, then generating random appearance if desired. When a Sim is being generated, the hanged picture portraits (arranged in a family tree) behind the Sim will reel, with the resulted generation depicting the images of relatives the genes have been passed down. Once settle, the player can click "Accept Sim" to proceed customizing the Sim in detail.
 * Body: Skin tone, body type, hair, hair accessories, facial hair and their color, make-up (only female) and even tattoos are changed through this category. Body parts (torso, arms and legs) can be morphed individually from one another with a slider. Head can also be restructured with the use of slider for lips, nose, eyes, and head shape.
 * Fashion: this category includes hats, glasses, tops (divided into undershirt, overshirts and jackets), bottoms (pants & skirts for woman, and shoes (separately picked)), and various jewelry accessories. Every type of top can be put on one another on top, and can be further customized by changing the style of tip sleeves and torso. Certain pants can also be switch between styles, turning them into shorter pants or shorts.
 * Aspiration: In this category, the player can choose an aspiration for their Sim.
 * Personality: In this category, the player can choose a personality for their Sim.
 * Name: In this category, the player can give their Sim a full name.

Gameplay
Upon beginning the game, the player is greeted with the Main Menu screen. In it the player must pick one of the modes to play in, before starting a new game or continuing with the existing save. Starting a new one will issue a prompt disclaimer of the old game being overwritten if executed. The game can be played either alone or with another player (if the second joypad is connected). Selecting the latter allow the players to jump in playing with preoccupied family, have them be evicted to make room for their Sims, or by moving into one of the vacant houses.

The game progresses much like the other console Sims games: the Sim is given a number of objectives to complete while advancing in their career, and they move from house to house as objectives are completed and the player advances in the story. While the objective in previous console games like Bustin' Out were more career-oriented, the objectives in The Sims 2 not only focus on advancing in a career, but the goals to be completed can also be more aspirational, like buying better stuff, improving a skill, or beating a bully Sim at foosball.

Unlike other games, the player controls the Sims directly with the analogue stick, rather than moving them using the point and click to queue up actions. This gives The Sims 2 gameplay significantly more interactivity and enables the player to control their Sims similarly to an adventure or role-playing game. The option to play using traditional Sims controls is still there, but the third-person control option allows for greater immersion currently exclusive to The Sims 2 console series.

When a Sim enters a conversation with another Sim, the camera zooms in on their conversation and the player chooses their actions from a menu. The background and the Sims themselves differ depending on your Sim's relationship with the other Sim. For instance, if Sims are in love the background will be pink and they will move closer to each other.

The player can also pick different food choices and mix them, depending on the combination and the Sim's Cooking skill. Doing so may give a higher boost to the hunger meter or even make them sick if the combination or the Cooking skill are bad enough.

Death
Death in the console version of The Sims 2 is rather different from death in The Sims 2 for other platforms. When a Sim dies, they are not lost forever, rather, they remain on the lot as ghosts and can haunt the other residents of the lot, using interactions like "puke" and "possess". They can be brought back to life at any point by bribing the Grim Reaper or defeating him in a fiddle contest.

There is a method of death that no other Sims game has. When a Sim is resurrected via the Grim Reaper, they can go to their grave and dance on it. When they dance on their grave they will automatically be set on fire and die.

Locations
There are 12 different locations that Sims may travel to across Pleasantview, Strangetown, and Melbourne throughout the course of the game. In order to unlock a new location, the player must complete Golden Wants (basically, a Want that is a mission). In the 2-player mode, only player 1 has Golden Wants.

As a Sim advances through the game, new locations will become available. There are eight main and four small locations in Story Mode, and four others in Free Play Mode.

Characters
There are a variety of different characters in different lots. Some are NPCs* and some are playable. Characters have their own personalities, aspirations, goals and fears. Don Lothario, Dina Caliente, Nina Caliente, Patrizio Monty, Isabella Monty, and Goopy GilsCarbo all appear as characters in certain locations. Bob Newbie and Betty Newbie also appear as characters in Freeplay Mode.

* While some characters are initially "NPCs", it is actually possible to "unlock" them as playable characters. This can be done by becoming either a best friend or lover to the "NPC" sim, and then (respectively) choosing either the "Ask to move in" or "propose" social interaction. If the character accepts, they will follow the player's created Sim to different lots as a sort of companion, and the player can switch between them at any point. There are also two Townies that can appear in Freeplay mode if all other families are deleted. It seems they are used as placeholders to make sure the player still has some visitors. They look like female clones and cannot be married or moved into the home.

Story Mode

 * Ossie Madison
 * Felicity Usher
 * Farah Moonbiscuit
 * Torin Namaste
 * Timmy Tool
 * Isabella Monty
 * Patrizio Monty
 * Don Treadwell
 * Betty Buttercup
 * Nelson Longfellow
 * Hector Fromagero
 * Sheila Deadbones
 * Billy Specter


 * Red S. Hirt
 * Helga Mandrake
 * Candi Cupp
 * Goopi Gilscarbo
 * Larry Liu
 * Chantal Leer
 * XY-XY Smith
 * XHT-F Smith
 * Jonas Bragg
 * Noel Howard
 * Gilda Geld
 * Wooster Piggins
 * Jessica Jones


 * Jasmine Yves
 * Willy Weir
 * Rico Banana
 * Patricia Pitts
 * Jessie Rose
 * Turk Johnson
 * Phil Phantasm
 * Dina Caliente
 * Nina Caliente
 * Don Lothario
 * Toothless Joe
 * Mary Gray
 * John Gray

Freeplay Mode

 * Winston Freebers
 * Clarice Freebers
 * Cindy Freebers
 * Horatio Freebers
 * Bob Newbie
 * Betty Newbie
 * Edna Edison


 * Courtney Edison
 * Jenn Edison
 * Daisy Edison
 * Jeffery Pinkerton
 * Bill Pinkerton
 * Lance Pinkerton
 * Gunter Pinkerton

Townies

 * Paul Holder
 * Jeb Tortsen

Soundtrack
The game features music performed by artists such as Paramore, Ryan Ferguson and Trivium. They were all recorded in Simlish. The Humble Brothers donated heavily to the game. Below is a list of some of the songs featured in the game:
 * Paramore - Pressure
 * Trivium - Like Light To The Flies
 * MxPx - Late Again
 * Reggie and the Full Effect - Take Me Home Please
 * Ryan Ferguson - Suddenly
 * The Humble Brothers - Upside
 * The Humble Brothers - Clearblue
 * Kitty Shack ft. The Humble Brothers - Chameleon
 * Kitty Shack - Another World
 * Fischerspooner - Just Let Go (Tommie Sunshine Remix) (Instrumental)

Nintendo DS
The Nintendo DS version of The Sims 2 begins with the player's car breaking down in Strangetown. Upon arrival, an anonymous donor grants the player the deed to a hotel which can be operated and customized at the player's discretion.

Your job is to bring life back into Strangetown by encouraging people to come to your hotel. You do this by upgrading it and satisfying your guests. There are several ways in which you can make Strangetown a nice place to warm up in, but it is up to you to find it by making other Sims happy, putting goons in jail, vanquishing aliens, shutting down robots, and doing missions for others.

Game Boy Advance
The Game Boy Advance version of The Sims 2 takes place in Strangetown, and shares a similar GUI to its predecessors (The Sims Bustin' Out and The Urbz: Sims in the City). Players are guided through a goal-oriented game based on the reality television concept in which partitions of the game are divided into "episodes".

The player's Sim is working for Daddy Bigbucks. His most recent scheme to make money happens to be a TV show, with the player being the main character. The player has to complete aspects of the plot in different missions, and gain bonus points at the end of each mission for talking to people badly, nicely, etc., and in the end they even offer the player to choose the people in the town or the player's Sim.

PSP
The game begins with the player's character driving through the Strangetown desert, presumably 'Road to Nowhere' in their car, when suddenly a PlumBob flies towards the player and damages the car and causes them to lose control. Fortunately, the player finds a gas station. The player takes their car into the garage. At that point the player takes control. The player is introduced to a vehicle mechanic named Oscar, who after a brief tutorial in teaching the player how to talk to NPC Sims, informs the player their car will only take a short while to fix.

The player is then free to roam around the gas station, and after being introduced to some more NPCs, including Bella Goth, who claims to be abducted by aliens, completing tasks and being taught the basic objective of the game which is 'Secret Hunting' for the store clerk. The player then exits the shop only to find the garage around the back has completely disappeared along with Oscar and their car, with only the foundation of the garage remaining.

The player informs Police Deputy Duncan about the situation who replies that he can do nothing about it and suggests the player find a place to stay. After having bought Bella's house for pocket change and getting donuts for Deputy Duncan, the player finally gets a lift into Strangetown's Paradise Place, only to find more tasks and mysteries.

It is finally known that the Green Diamond appearing throughout the game is a mind-controlling device controlled by an "outside force" (the player). The main antagonist also realize that the protagonist is really controlled by another outside force, just like playing a game. It is unknown if the Green Diamond's role applies to the other Sims games. But it may be possible since when the player changes the active Sim, the other one has free will.

This Sims game features such as traveling to places, getting secrets, and meeting characters from The Sims 2 for PC such as Loki Beaker, General Buzz Grunt, Circe Beaker, Pascal Curious, Lazlo Curious, Bella Goth, and others.

Locations:
 * Service Station
 * Paradise Place
 * Deadtree
 * Division 47
 * The Monument

There are also several changes from the PC version:
 * Sims can no longer have babies nor age, though some Sims have the appearance of an elder.
 * Sims cannot have jobs, but they can complete missions and play mini-games to earn some money for a living.

Trivia

 * There is a hot air balloon.
 * Don Lothario lives in the same house as Nina and Dina.
 * There is an underwater mansion called "Bio Dome".
 * When using the metal detector, Sims may come across a copy of The Urbz: Sims in the City. They will throw it on the ground in disgust.
 * In the Decorative section in the Buy mode, there is a painting titled "Jayded" that features a girl with purple hair who looks very much like the girl on the cover of The Urbz: Sims in the City, Jayde.
 * At the end of the game there is a video with bloopers from the intro. It can be seen here.
 * In Debug Mode when 'Max Everyone' is used under Relationships with the Cheats Gnome - a Sim named Pat Newbie, Paul Holder and Jeb Tortsen will be added to the player's relationships, but they will have no thumbnail and can't be found in-game. The exception to this is if all neighbors in Freeplay are deleted, the player can throw a party which will make Paul and Jeb visit them.
 * In Debug Mode CAS, there's an unused character named Ghost. He has the appearance of an elder and wears a black suit. Ghost can be seen here.
 * Sims who have died once will not get another urn/tombstone unless their previous one was deleted.
 * While not possible to sell objects in story locations, it is still possible to sell their floors, wallpaper, and walls / fences to get some extra simoleons.
 * Sims with high creativity skill will have a 100% success rate when using the "Draw Portrait" social. The social gives 5 relationship points, making it the most efficient ways to make friends. However it will only be available until they are friends.
 * Normally, ghosts interacting with sims will not affect their relationship. However, if the sim the ghost is interacting with has a relationship point bonus: the interaction will give those points each time. This gives a little boost to relationships.
 * Sims who died on another lot will be alive when visiting other lots but ghosts on their home lot.
 * Sims stargazing with a telescope can be abducted by aliens. If an abducted sim has work before they are returned, the game will inform you that their carpool will be there in an hour. However, the vehicle will not show up and the sim will not be punished for missing work.
 * Despite what the game tells you, it is possible to go way past the fire code with the only drawback being a single fire on a random object on the lot. This can easily be solved by having a fire alarm in every room of the house including the exterior. However, if the player buys too many items they will eventually reach the very limit, which the game will send a notification stopping the player from buying anything else when they select any object in the catalog.
 * Dishes, books, trash piles, and ash piles affect the fire code.
 * On the main menu, it is possible to spot every story mode location on the map.
 * When spying through a telescope, you may receive a notification telling you that something is glowing at Jonas' place. This is a reference to Alien Crash Site, as there is a crashed UFO next to a trailer owned by Jonas Bragg.
 * It is possible to have two custom sims made for story mode by starting a new game with the two players option, returning to story mode in single player will keep both sims and it is possible to control them both. However, only the first sim that was made will have gold wants.
 * If the player stops controlling their sim while in Direct Control mode, eventually the sim will start doing things autonomously. This stops when the player starts controlling the sim again.
 * There is a poster of Will Wright in the buy catalog. This same poster can be seen in the background of CAS in the University Expansion for the PC version. However, it is not in the catalog in the PC version.

Glitches

 * There is a glitch where a Sim can take the shape of another. For example, if you have Felicity Usher as your partner living on a lot, enter the Social mode and kick her out. Go to another location where you had Felicity and make sure you have Ossie Madison as your current partner. Then, talk to "Felicity" and look on the thumbnail picture and notice that it has Ossie instead of Felicity. You can also notice that "Felicity" walks, and talks similar to a male Sim.
 * There is also another known glitch where a Sim can have the phone stuck in their hands. To do this, cancel the action "Call..." while the Sim is picking up the phone. This may sound fun at first, but then the telephone will be stuck forever in their hands and there is no way you can make your Sim's hands normal again. This can also happen with a pot of food or the dust pan.
 * There is a rare glitch where the surfing board gets stuck in the Sim's legs.
 * When a Sim goes to work when in their work clothes and you switch to the Sim that is going to work, the action "Go to work" is cancelled and the Sim changes back to his/her clothes. This occurs if you are using Direct Control. This glitch is also present in The Sims 2: Pets.
 * Sims will sometimes block the door when they dance using a DJ Stand. This can prevent Sims from coming in or out of a room. This is also present in The Urbz: Sims in the City, The Sims 2: Pets, and The Sims 2 Castaway.
 * Yet another glitch is if you enter the carpool for work instantly after it arrives, it will come back after it drives off and will stay there for the remainder of the hour.
 * One of the decorative houses in The Orbit Room has a flickering window.
 * Sims can stack dishes, normally you will reach a limit and the game will tell you that your sim is carrying too much. But, if you drop the pile and pick it up again while holding another dish, it will add it to the pile. This means it is possible to have an infinite amount of dishes in one spot.
 * If the radio is playing for a while, the audio will eventually cut out. It is still completely functional though as sims will still dance, and move along to the beat when nearby. To fix this, simply change the radio station or turn it off and back on again.
 * If ultra speed is enabled due to your sim being at work, your sim will not return home on time, instead they will arrive 30 minutes to an hour later than they should have. It is possible to semi fight this by pausing when they are supposed to be home.
 * At Tranquility Falls and 87 Yamoto Crest, looking at the road at certain angles makes the texture warp.
 * An alien with makeup on will have human eyes.
 * If you switch to another sim while a want or fear is rerolling, the effect will be visible on the other sims wants and fears. This is only visual though, no wants or fears on the sim you switched to have been affected.
 * If the stereo is on, going into a menu and then back out will have the menu music playing on the radio for a minute before it switches to another song.