Here’s a funny story for you.

If you’ve spent any time at all on this blog, you know I get addicted to PC games pretty easy. Well, any game for that matter, which is why we don’t own multiple game consoles. The computer sucks up enough of my time.

Anyway, a few years ago I was talked into the buying THE computer game - The Sims. I loved it, played it all the time. Until we lost the disk that is. Every once in awhile I would see the box and pout a little, wanting to play it again. But never did actually replace it. Just sorta put it out of my mind.

Well the other day I found the disk. Rather strange actually, since it was wedged between my desk and the wall where lots of stuff falls, and I’m just sure we looked there before. But there it was, on the top of other stuff, like it had just fallen back there yesterday. WEIRD! Ironically enough I also found the missing remote, and I was actually looking for something else (isn’t that always the case? Whenever I look for one thing, I find the last thing I was looking for….).

So I was pretty excited, and popped the disk in. Only it didn’t work, and I couldn’t even reinstall it. Tried on the other computer too, and it still didn’t work. MAJOR BUMMER! I fought with the “game computer” for awhile, but to no avail. It was a loss cause really - the disk is just too old and who knows where it’s been the last two years.

Alright so now I’m REALLY wanting to play The Sims. BAD. So of course, I buy a new one. Actually, mine was the original and there’s now Sims 2 out, so I see that as justifiable for buying a new copy.

Since I just couldn’t wait any longer, I bought the instant download copy of The Sims 2 Double Deluxe off EA’s main site. However, if you are more patient, then you can probably get a MUCH better deal and a hard copy elsewhere. I would check for The Sims 2 at Amazon. There’s tons of options for different versions here, but make sure you buy the main copy (The Sims 2, The Sims Deluxe, or The Sims Double Deluxe) before you buy the expansion packs. There’s PLENTY to do without the expansion packs and extras, so it may be wise to try out the cheaper, less flashy versions first before you upgrade or add on anything.

Now, as for the game itself………it’s awesome! As mentioned before, it’s been a few years since I played the original Sims games, but I still know this version is LOTS better. They’ve added quite a bit to do, and the game play is slightly different. Plus if you have any expansion packs at all there’s other stuff to do within the game.

The load time is a bit slow on our computer, but it’s also almost 3 years old. With a newer computer I’m sure it would load faster. The actual game play isn’t that bad though, it’s just in between “moves” that’s a bit slow (like when you leave the house of the Sim you are playing, it takes a bit to load and get somewhere else, but when they are doing things in the house it’s pretty smooth - at least on my computer it does).

I’ll warn you though, this game is extremely addictive. After downloading it all day Friday (”instant” download took 8 hours), I played it all weekend. You can bounce from family to family in your choice of neighborhood, and so far I’ve only played two families - one that was already set up and one that I created. There’s just so much to do this game can go on forever.

Highly recommended!