The Sims 2: Pets
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| The Sims 2: Pets | |
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| Developer(s) | EA Games[1][2] EA Mobile (N-Gage version)[3] |
| Publisher(s) | EA Games (PC) Aspyr Media (Mac) |
| Designer(s) | Hunter Howe Charles London Mike Darga Lakshmi Jalapayan |
| Series | The Sims |
| Engine | Custom |
| Platform(s) | GBA, GameCube, Nintendo DS, PlayStation 2, PSP, Windows, Mac OS X, Wii, N-Gage[3] |
| Release date | Windows NA October 18, 2006 EU October 20, 2006 BR October 20, 2006 AU October 26, 2006 Mac OS X |
| Genre(s) | Life simulation game God game |
| Mode(s) | Single player |
| Rating(s) | ESRB: T PEGI: 12+ OFLC: M GBA/DS Ratings: ESRB: E PEGI: 7+ OFLC: G |
| Media | Cartridge, CD, DVD, MiniDVD, UMD |
| System requirements | Mac OS X[4]
Windows[5] |
| Input methods | Windows/Mac |
The Sims 2: Pets is the fourth expansion pack in The Sims 2 series of games, as well as a stand-alone game for several consoles. It is published by Electronic Arts. Pets was officially announced on July 26, 2006 and released on October 18, 2006 in North America and via digital download, as well as on October 20, 2006 to the rest of the world, except for Australia/New Zealand, where it was released on October 26, 2006.[6] Aspyr released a port of the game for Mac OS X on November 7, 2006[7]. It was released for the Wii on June 13, 2007[8]. In Australia, one Australian dollar per game sold, from at least 50,000 copies of the game, will be donated to the RSPCA.[9] Unlike the other expansions, this game does not have a new neighborhood. Instead, new lots (with Sims living in them) are available for placement in the existing neighborhoods. The Sims 2: Pets has sold over 6 million copies.[10]
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[edit] Gameplay
[edit] Pets
Sims can own cats, dogs, "womrats" (creatures similar to guinea pigs, whose name is a portmanteau of wombat and rat), and birds. Pets features 72 pre-made breeds of dogs and thirty pre-made breeds of cats. Pets can be acquired in six ways: over the phone, in "Create-A-Pet", in a pet shop, found as a stray dog/alley cat, buying a bird or womrats in Buy Mode under Miscallaneous and choosing Pets, or by having a controlled Sim give or sell a pet to another Sim. Create-A-Pet is similar to "Create-a-Sim", where one builds human Sim characters. In Create-a-Pet, players may customize a cat or dog by choosing patterns and colors of coat, body shape, facial structure, and personality, which determines playfulness, neatness, loyalty, aggressiveness, and intelligence.
Pets have motives like their Sim counterparts. Sims and pets are similar except for the absence of the "Environment" motive, which "Scratching" replaces in cats and "Chewing" in dogs. Sims may also train their pets to do various tricks.
Pets can follow one of three career paths: Security, Showbiz and Services. When pets get promoted, various pet-related "unlockables" are made available along with a code so players can share these items with others.
Pets have three life stages: Puppy/Kitten (which lasts five days), Adult (which lasts 25 days for cats & small dogs; 21 days for large dogs), and Elder (which lasts 5–10 days). The length of a pet's elder hood is selected at random, however there is an aspiration reward object which will extend the pet's life by a few days with each use.
Pets are able to breed, and doing so will produce a litter. The maximum number of pets in a household is 6. A litter consists of 1-4 puppies or kittens. The number of puppies or kittens is dependent on the number of Sims and pets currently in the house. Players can play with up to eight Sims or six pets at one time, although one can only have a total of 10 Sims and pets in a household altogether[11].
Pets, unlike Sims, cannot be directly controlled without the use of the a cheat code. A player can view the pet's action queue when it decides to take an autonomous action, but can not tell a pet to do something else. In addition, pet actions can not be canceled. Instead of direct control, a Sim must interact with a pet to increase the likelihood that it will perform or avoid various actions. It is up to a Sim to direct a pet's "learned behaviors" through either positive or negative reinforcement. For example, if a dog decides to urinate outside, a Sim can opt to praise the behavior in order to increase the likelihood that the pet will repeat that action. A pet's ability to learn certain behaviors is influenced by its overall personality. This also applies to tricks, such as rolling over, sitting up, coming when called, etc., which pets do not perform autonomously.
[edit] Werewolves
Werewolves are a type of supernatural creature which the Sim can interact with or even be transformed into. Sims exist as Werewolves only during night hours. During these hours, the werewolf's energy will go up, but their hunger will decrease more quickly as well. A Werewolf can teach a pet faster than humans and can fight against burglars. They might occasionally howl at the moon, howl at player's command, or howl to summon wolves. When a werewolf howls every sim's bladder on the lot goes down halfway. To become a werewolf, players should have many trees, weeds, and untrimmed hedges on their lot to attract wolves, and must build up a relationship with any wolf with glowing eyes (the werewolf pack leader). The pack leader will eventually "nibble" the Sim it was interacting with, causing it to become a werewolf. Once a Sim has become a werewolf they may "savage" another Sim to turn them into a werewolf. Werewolves are not featured on the Nintendo DS, Playstation 2, GameCube or Wii versions.
[edit] Other features
Sims are able to run pet shops if they have the Open for Business expansion pack. Among the new items with this pack is a modern phone, Atomic Age themed furniture, and items made exclusively for pets. Various stray animals populate the Sim neighborhoods, including wolves, and will occasionally wander onto lots.
"Build" mode features a new tool called the "Sledgehammer," capable of deleting multiple items at once. Players can also create diagonal roofs, rotate floor tiles, and drag out diagonal rooms and octagonal rooms.
There is an "encyclopedia of game tips" button located in the Options menu where one can view all game tips. Also, Sims with high creativity skill points can paint art from the player's image collection.
[edit] Music
There are many new songs that appear in the original Pop radio station from the base game in this game that have been converted in Simlish:
- "Don't Cha" by the Pussycat Dolls
- "Chemicals React" by Aly & AJ
- "I Play Chicken with the Train" by Cowboy Troy
- "Girl Next Door" by Saving Jane
- "Free Radicals" by The Flaming Lips
- "Boyhunter" by Skye Sweetnam
- "The Compromise" by The Format
- "Turn Out the Light" by The New Amsterdams
- "Black Shoes" by The Films
Locales other than US English contain more songs:
- Danish: West End Girls - "Booglurbia"
- Dutch: Krezip - "Can't You be Mine"
- Finnish: Roni - "Never Coming Back"
- French: Kisha - "Sowieso"
- German: Kisha - "Sowieso", Krezip - "Can't You be Mine"
- Italian: Finley - "Run Away"
- Japanese: West End Girls - "Booglurbia"
- Korean: West End Girls - "Booglurbia"
- Norwegian: Lene Marlin - "What If"
- Russian: The Smokebreakers - "Baby Let's Dance"
- Spanish: La Oreja de Van Gogh - "Dulce Locura"
- Swedish: Lene Marlin - "What If", West End Girls - "Booglurbia"
- UK English: Finley - "Run Away", West End Girls - "Booglurbia"
These songs are not played in other locales (including US English), but they can be extracted from the game resources.[citation needed]
[edit] Around the world
- Brazil: The Sims 2: Bichos de Estimação
- France: Les Sims 2: Animaux et Cie (In English, The Sims 2: Pets and Company)
- Germany: Die Sims 2: Haustiere
- Hungary: The Sims 2: Házi kedvenc
- Polish: The Sims 2: Zwierzaki
- Russia: The Sims 2: Питомцы
- Spain: Los Sims 2: Mascotas
- Sweden: The Sims 2: Djurliv (In English, The Sims 2: Pets life)
- Thai: เดอะซิมส์ 2: ตัวโปรดจอมป่วน
- Dutch: De Sims 2: Huisdieren
- Finnish: The Sims 2: Lemmikkielämää
- Portuguese: Os Sims 2: Animais de Estimação
[edit] References
- ^ IGN: The Sims 2: Pets
- ^ The Sims 2: Pets for PC - The Sims 2: Pets PC Game - The Sims 2: Pets Computer Game
- ^ a b N-Gage Game Showroom - The Sims 2 Pets. Nokia. Retrieved on 2008-05-09.
- ^ Mac OS X system requirements. Aspyr Media. Retrieved on May 4, 2007.
- ^ Windows system requirements. EA Games. Retrieved on November 27, 2006.
- ^ EA Announces The Sims 2 Pets!. TheSims2.com (2006-07-27).
- ^ Aspyr Media, Inc. Ships The Sims 2 Pets For PowerPC- And Intel-Based Macintosh. aspyr.com (2006-11-07).
- ^ The Sims 2 Pets official info, screens
- ^ The Sims 2 Pets. RSPCA Australia.
- ^ Newsmaker: Keeping up with the Simses
- ^ Chat Transcript. TheSims2.com (2006-10-05).
[edit] External links
- Official Sims 2: Pets Website (PC Version)
- Official Sims 2: Pets Website (Macintosh Version)
- Sims 2: Pets Reviews at Metacritic.com
- Pets Training Paper
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