B_Campbell's Full Review: The Sims™ Superstar for Windows
If you have The Sims and all the expansions through Vacation, your Sims can choose a variety of careers... medical, military, slacker, hacker. But, they can't experience the fame, fortune, lies, and tabloids that accompany a Sim to the top of the heap as an entertainer. That is, until you get The Sims Superstar.
Superstar is the fifth of seven expansion packs for The Sims, and breathes yet more life into the game. Since you can't play superstar without the original game, I'm going to omit the basic game mechanics - you can read my review of The Sims for that. What I will cover are the important changes that Superstar adds.
As with most of the other expansions, the title really says it all. Superstar lets you take your Sims through the trials and tribulations of a famous celebrity, staged publicity stunts and all. In fact, Superstar adds the first career path in which you actually control your Sim at the job. By hiring an agent your Sim starts on the path to stardom, and you are responsible for guiding their actions to fame or obscurity.
As with Vacation and Hot Date before it, Superstar adds a new locale to the Sims universe, Studio Town. Hiring an agent takes the place of finding a job for your Sim, and Studio town becomes their new workplace. Being a superstar is just as demanding as any other Sim job - neglect to make an appearance at Studio Town two days in a row and your Sim's fame fades so fast they'll need to find a new agent and start from scratch.
Becoming a superstar is far from easy. Not only are there skill requirements as in any other job, but the friend system for superstars is a bit different as well. Instead of how many people you know, it's specifically who you know. All other Sims now have a 'star quality' rating, with nobodies having 0 star quality and more famous Sims having up to 5. Each stage of progression will require additional star quality amongst your Sim's friends. So, befriending just any old Sim won't do; you need to hob-nob with the hoi polloi to get anywhere.
The task is made harder by the fact that your Sim needs to constantly visit Studio Town and that many of the mini-jobs they can take on are limited, especially at the beginning. As a superstar, your Sim earns money by using certain money-making objects - at first things like amateur play readings and karaoke stages. These don't award much money, and they must be done several times (as well as other requirements met) before your Sim can progress to the next level. Levels are determined by stars, there are five possible in total, and each half-star is one level. At 2&1/2 stars (halfway up the chain), A Sim can earn a maximum of about $100 each time they use the most profitable item available. If you're lucky, you can get them to do this 5 or 6 times at most in one visit, but usually more like 3 or 4, so you're not really making any more money than in other career tracks. Only until the truly high levels of fame are reached does being a Superstar pay off. But, the journey surely is fun.
Studio Town isn't just for stars; any old Sim can go there to visit! Just like the Downtown and Vacation areas, there are plenty of new things for your Sims to see and do. In fact, snobbing around Studio Town while still an average, non-star Sim is a greta way to prepare for a Superstar lifestyle.
Of course, there are also tons of new objects, wallpapers, floors, and other building items. Most of these have an entertainment theme, so they add an extremely fun element to the overall experience. Even if your Sims can't be superstars, in many ways they can still try to live like one!
As always, I recommend having all previous expansions installed before installing Superstar. This includes The Sims, Livin' Large, House Party, Hot Date, and Vacation. Keep in mind that The Sims Deluxe includes The Sims and Livin' Large; also, The Sims Double Deluxe includes The Sims, Livin' Large, and House Party. I would also suggest a slightly more powerful machine than I recommended in Vacation, mainly because there is a lot of activity in Studio Town which can slow things down a bit. A 900Mhz processor, 32MB video memory, and most importantly at least 256MB of RAM should do it. I would have 512MB RAM if possible, and especially if running Windows XP.
Superstar adds some of the best Sims action yet. Not only does it offer a new area and new objects as previous expansions have, but an entirely new mode of gameplay in becoming a Superstar. They also went all-out, where a game publisher could have easily simply ridden the wave of The Sims popularity and still have been guaranteed good sales. They really made an effort to make this expansion enjoyable and entertaining, even down to the obsessed fans that follow your superstar Sims around! A must-have for any Sims fan.
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