Simfantastic 2 - Seasons Exclusive

Your Sims live hand-on-hand with mother nature!

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Recently on Thursday, December 1, 2006 (A week ago) I went to a Sims event in Redwood City, California where there were other Sim fans who owned fansites. I was invited (Thanks to MaxoidMel) to this event to get an exclusive look of the 5th expansion pack for The Sims 2, The Sims 2 Seasons. I've got to say, all of you will be blown away when you hear what I need to say about the game. Take a look to discover all the possibilities in the game. Don't forget to check out the pictures that go with it! Lets start off with the basic aspects. -When viewing the images keep in mind they were taken by a digital camera, and they were cropped.

NEIGHBORHOOD

First of all The Sims 2 Seasons adds a new world for your Sims to live in. To start off the feel, there is a new base neighborhood, called Riverblossom Hills, with many pre-made lots for your Sims to move in with, and some pre-made families along with some of them. The neighborhood can have weather also depending on the season it is, so not only does your house have weather, but the neighborhood does also. To get seasons running there is a new button added to the UI in the top left corner of the screen, that allows you to choose which four seasons you would like for the neighborhood. When you click the button, a new "window" or "dialog box" comes up divided into 4 different sections. You are allowed to use as many of one season that you wish. For example you don't need to have just Fall, Winter, Spring, Summer, you can have Winter, Winter, Winter, Fall and etc. Those are the four seasons you can pick from. Your neighborhood will automatically have the main seasons in order if you don't change it manually.

(QUICK GREAT FACT! You may think that your house is the only one with weather actually on it. Example: Snow, but all the houses in the neighborhood will get that nice snow texture added onto it, so that you are not alone with your white home while all the others and bright colors.)

THE SEASONS

All of the new seasons are wonderful in this game, and the seasons are basically the name of the game. Each season has it's own different feature. Each different household may be a different season from the other households or even the neighborhood. What ever season it first is in the neighborhood, that's the season that it will be first at your house. So depending on what time you play each season and progress through the game, they may vary. You will be able to see what season a house is by either moving your mouse over it in the neighborhood to view a season icon next to it, or with a new UI by your main navigation. This new UI shows you the different seasons you've selected for the neighborhood and how much time you have left of the season or how much you have progressed already. For every season the environment will change a bit in color, lighting and text of the sky. For example when it is Fall the sky will have a red-ish tone, the lot will have a orange lighting effect, all the trees will have orange-link leaves, and etc.

(QUICK GREAT FACT! Now your Sims will be able to enjoy the outdoor activities since your Sim's motives will now decay slower!)

Fall

Fall is a beautiful season that I'll be starting with today. For this whirlwind of leaves time, you'll be sure to get a great taste of it. Everything around your house will change to a orange color, including neighboring houses. With that said, you'll experience the falling of leaves on all of your trees. They'll fall a lot if you aren't careful, but there is no need to worry about it. Your Sims will be able to rake the leaves and then play in them if they need some fun! Leaves will be spread out near the trees all over your lawn. Make sure your Sim has enough energy and allow other Sims to help you during your work. Overall this season is one you should look forward to.

Winter

Winter personally is my favorite season in real life and Sims! It looks absolutely wonderful in the game and is truly realistic. When it's Winter it snows. Snow is a new aspect that adds to the game. When it snows, a white texture is automatically generated and put onto an object so that even if you have a custom object, the snow will get onto it as well! So there is no worrying there! There are a couple stages of snow building up. First it starts off snowing, then next while it is still snowing some snow appears scattered on the ground, the roof, and the objects. Lastly the snow fills up the entire place with a lot of snow almost half the height of a fence, which is quite high for Sims! Some new interactions include making snow angels, building snowmen, having snowball fights, and more. You may need some objects to obtain new interactions like with the new skating ring. It is a beautiful scene to enjoy and a great interact able world for your Sims.

Winter is the coldest season, so in respect for your Sims there is a new clothing category that lets you choose what your Sim's "Outerwear" is for those snowy days. Also to make sure your Sims aren't so cold there is a new UI feature that shows a thermometer icon on your Sim's portrait in live mode. It has a meter level on if your Sim is cold or not. So you should pay attention to that, but don't spend all of your time studying it.

Need a new creature following up on your home? Well with the Seasons EP a penguin can come to your house randomly. With the classic "penguin" walk, this little critter is sure to mix up things at your house. It doesn't do too much and doesn't stay for hours, depending on how you treat it. At the moment you can only shoo or pet it.

To help you navigate through the snow, when the snow is at it's highest level your mouse will automatically have a new cursor that allows you to see under the snow in the area that you point to.

(QUICK GREAT FACT! If you have The Sims 2 Pets Expansion Pack installed on your computer your dogs can eat the snow! Sounds yummy!)

Spring

Spring is the season for rain and other common weathers. Spring is also known mostly for it's good time to grow flowers and crops because of the rain and the temperature. With The Sims 2 Seasons your Sims will be able to experience their own gardening right in their back yard. With new greenhouse features and the new gardening system, and many new plants and foods for your Sims to grow, you can live on growing! The better you take care of tending and nourishing your plants and foods, the better they will live. To help you along with all of the hard work, you can buy sprinklers that will automatically give your crops the water they need. Also in the spring and some other seasons, you can actually fish for fish in a lake if you have one!

In the Spring many different weather types can occur. The two that appear here are rain and hail. When it rains there is a good chance that there will be thunder and lightning. (Believe me, when I had headphones on when I was listening to the game, I was frightened by the sound and jumped! It's unexpected sometimes, so watch what you're doing.) Many things can happen when it rains. Your house will be filled with puddles. You can either clean them all up, wait for the rain to end and let them evaporate, or just make your Sims jump in them. It's your choice. Get your Sims out of the hot tub because they can get electrocuted.

When it hails keep those Sims in the house! The little hail stones bouncing off the ground may seem polite, but if you leave your Sim outside they will decay faster and try to protect themselves from the falling hail. Eventually it can cause death, then it's on your hands. The good thing is when they die they won't feel the hail anymore! Well that's if they die. I'm trusting you will treat them well.

(QUICK GREAT FACT! When it rains there is lightning! Out of the blue lighting may strike and even make some of your trees go on fire along with other items! The good thing for your Sims is that the tree will eventually go off of fire quickly.)

Summer

You are all probably familiar with the Summer season since that's how the original Sims 2 always was/is. Your Sims may get hot in this time of year. To cool off try these new things to cool your time. Instead of a Sim throwing one water balloon at another as a prank, you can now have water balloon fights which is pretty fun and neat to watch. Also try staying under the new umbrella for some shade. Along with that, other outdoor activities include playing catch and more.

With this EP there are a many new objects that sooth the Summer theme. From new Tiki and bamboo based and other Summer oriented pieces, you can decorate your environment fairly to go along with the season. All the new items are great and very realistic. Do you remember that great slide for the pools in The Sims Vacation? Well you guessed it! They are back in The Sims 2. You Sim can slide on it on their bellies and in all different ways! Place it over your pool and let the fun begin. Also for pools there is a new tool that allows you to make curved edged pools to give your pool a style like never before. To spoof it up more there are also new walls and floors that you can apply to your pool so that you don't have that old blue tile. Lastly with the pools there is a wonderful new look to the water. Instead of the flat water, it moves a bit and it is very noticeable at the end. The water is now reflect-able and gives a great snapshot moment or just a beautiful area for your Sims. I enjoyed it very much and hopefully you will too! It looks fantastic! You may know that there are also new pool interactions like Marco-Polo. (Or TimLe-tourneau, which is what they actually say in the pool!)

(QUICK GREAT FACT! You no longer need a ladder or diving board to get in the pool with fun. Now with the new slide you can have fun all the time, and it comes in many different colors to satisfy your needs!)

THE SEASONS RECAP

If you're in a hurry or rush here are some simple facts taken from above. All you basically need to know is that in The Sims 2 Seasons there are 4 different seasons, Fall, Winter, Spring, and Summer, and that the new Expansion Pack allows you and your Sims to experience weather like snow, rain, and hail. If you need a more detailed version you can still go back and read above.

NEW SIM FEATURES

Your game isn't the only thing getting new features with the environment, your Sims are too! Like before I've told you already about the new Outerwear category when you change your clothes. In Create-A-Sim this new icon will appear at the bottom of the other categories. Another wonderful feature that you'll enjoy involves hair. Before your Sim would have the same hair for formal, pj's, everyday, and etc. Now there is a new feature that lets you choose different hair styles for each clothing category so your Sim's entire outfit will change and you don't need to go to the mirror anymore. You can't however change the color in Create-A-Sim for a different category. There are new clothes that involve each season, but for outerwear you will only find clothes that will keep your Sims warm. Each clothing item has a different level that will either make your Sims warmer or cooler when they are outside. So it depends on what you pick to make your Sim satisfied.

MISCELLANEOUS NEW ASPECTS

If you aren't satisfied with the weather conditions at your home, or your Sim is just have a terrible day with too much weather, use the weather machine to help your way through. To spawn this "weather machine" you Sim will need to have at least 7,000 aspiration points. When you go to buy aspiration rewards you will see the new object just waiting to be bought. Place it anywhere on your lot and let the fun begin. When you click on it you will be able to change the current season (from the selection of the four main seasons you've chosen for that neighborhood, which may only be one if you used the same season for all 4 slots) change the weather, and even set a clear sky to get rid of all weather conditions. This can help you a lot when you need it, and is very useful with movie making. When you choose an option from the menu the machine will turn on sending a beam into the sky, which is why you may see a beam in some of the pictures taken. For every reward given to you from your aspiration there is always a low down from having low motives. For this object your Sim may use it incorrectly making the machine and your Sim going on fire. So be careful with this machine and try not to make anything worse with it.

Weather will always follow your Sims no matter where they go. There is a new television station on the TV which is called The Weather Channel. Once you have this channel activated/on there will be new pop-ups in the top right corner of your screen telling what the weather will be like for the day, and sometimes it will say random things since it is said by the Weather man. So if you aren't using the weather machine, this will tell you what to expect and what you need to do.

LAST MINUTE COMMENTS

Overall Seasons is a great expansion pack, and it's not even completely finished yet. There was not one thing that I didn't like at all. I was glad to have been able to see a look of this EP. This could be the best Expansion Pack yet, depending on how you feel about it. Every tiny detail in the game adds better game play which all Expansion Packs should have, and this one gives so much of it. Even if you don't like playing with Sims and you just like building and designing, this EP still gives you hundreds of new objects and other items that will surely fill your house. This was my first event and trip to California from The Sims Division, so like many others would be, I was very thankful and excited at the same time. So I want to say thank you to the entire Sims Division over in California and all the fans that gave me compliments at the event, and just all the fans in general. Thank you once again to MaxoidMel since she did a lot of work and was patient with setting-up my trip and for getting me to go there in the first place. Ok, enough of that chit chat. Hopefully you had as much fun viewing and reading this as I did writing it and playing the game.

This Expansion Pack will be here before you know it. There is NO delay from Pets being a month later, so this EP will come out as usual on February 27, 2007. Look for it on shelves soon and purchase it for a great experience. Below you can go to other sites who have gone to this event as well. (Well they are at least on the list I got on the fans!)

Article Written by Simfantastic 2 / Michael

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