EA Execs Live Large off Profits from The Sims Franchise
Written: Dec 30 '03 (Updated Dec 30 '03)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Adds new depth to The Sims and fixes a few bugs
Cons: Starts you on a road to ruin, purchasing all 7 expansions
The Bottom Line: Livin' Large expansion is kind of like staring at a green LED for six hours.
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| B_Campbell's Full Review: The Sims Livin' Large Expansion Pack For Windows |
What's better than The Sims?
How about more of The Sims?
Since it's fair to say that The Sims is one of the best games of all time, it's also fair to say that more is better. That's exactly what Livin' Large provides - more and better action to add on to The Sims.
Livin' Large is the first of several expansion packs for The Sims, designed to add new items and functionality to the game. It certainly delivers. Since the original game is required to play (Livin' Large cannot be played as a standalone), I'm not going to go into detail on the basics of the game, which you can instead read in my The Sims review. Because of that, this review will be fairly short, but there are a few important points to touch upon.
The basic game claims that a 133mhz processor and 32MB of RAM are minimum requirements. While I suggest even higher performance for the basic game, once you start adding on the expansions you'll need yet more juice. If you're planning on only using The Sims and Livin' Large, you could probably get away with a 500mhz processor and 128mb of RAM. If you're planning on installing all the expansions (there are six more), you will want a significantly more powerful machine; 1.2Ghz or faster processor, at least 256MB of RAM, and a 128-bit 32MB video card.
Livin' Large adds much to the basic Sims experience, but the most important is increased stability. Livin' Large includes a patch to The Sims that reduces the number of crashes and in-game errors, making the game much less frustrating and reducing the necessity of saving every half hour or so.
Beyond this, the expansion adds quite a bit to the gameplay as well. Most appreciated by myself is the ability to have more than one neighborhood. Since each neighborhood can hold only 10 lots, in the original game you could have only 10 families. Livin' Large expands this, allowing multiple neighborhoods with 10 lots each, allowing the creation of dozens of families. The only catch is that Sims can only react with other Sims in the same area; you can't have a Sim from neighborhood 2 visit the house of a Sim in neighborhood 1.
In addition, tons of new items and even a new interaction has been added. There are several new wallpaper and flooring choices, and new items from paintings to countertops to appliances. A more significant addition is the new interaction; the ability to use a phone to simply talk with another Sim. Instead of having to invite a Sim over to talk with them, your Sim can simply chat with them for a few minutes, making it much easier to maintain relationships.
Livin' Large expands the game yet further with several new career paths, giving you more option to develop your unique Sims. If you got tired of the same old stuff, try being a computer hacker or psychic phone friend.
Livin' Large is really a must-have for those with The Sims. However, if you don't have The Sims yet, a better alternative is to get The Sims Deluxe, including the original game and Livin' Large; or The Sims Double Deluxe, including those plus the next expansion, House Party. Whichever you choose, you're going to be in for hours upon hours of Simtainment.
Recommended:
Yes
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B_Campbell
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Member: Bennett Campbell
Location: In a Volkswagen somewhere in upstate NY
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