It is common for the people at Maxis/Electronic Arts to put up zillions of expansion packs with new items to put in the houses and - if you own the expansion pack Open For Business - stores so that fans of the game will keep buying and buying. Because I find the range of household items available in The Sims 2 very limited, I believe this expansion pack when it claims to offer 60 new items and pony up money for it.

Ugh, all I can say now is if you are thinking of doing the same, please don't unless your Sims are in need of kiddie costumes and furniture for kiddie rooms. The majority of the 60 new items and new costumes are for kiddie Sims rather than adult Sims. The other items for the household are mostly decorative in nature (a few new paintings, a few new sofas and coffee tables, and some ugly rugs under a new category in decorative items, and some signs for stores) with no special interactivity with the Sims. Also, these new items, especially the rugs, are really hideous - the only halfway normal looking rug in an ugly green shade has a description about how smelly it is - and they can never be aligned properly with the furniture (the rug always end up with one edge a few inches off instead of in the same alignment with the sofa and the table). Also, "60 new items" is tad deceptive since in this case a new coffee table in six different colors is counted as six items!

There seems to be a new aspect of the simulation gameplay: chemistry, which is indicated with a lightning bolt at the lower left-hand corner of the portrait of the Sims that my Sim is supposed to have better chemistry with. However, I don't find my Sim having an easier time getting into the pants of those Sims that he is supposed to have better chemistry with.

On the bright side, Casa Cowell has now a brand new sea-themed den of debauchery (blue-colored bed in a blue-painted room decorated with a fish rug, two stupid fishy ornaments on the wall along with a ship wheel and some oars) that my Sim version of Ryan Seacrest recently used to WooHoo adulterously with my Sim version of Taylor Hicks while my Sim version of Simon Cowell, Ryan's life partner, is away at work. But whether that pointless moment of sleaze is worth $19.99, I strongly have my doubts. I understand that there are various fan-made sites out there that allow people to download mods and patches that enable them to integrate fan-made items into their The Sims 2 games for free or for a small fee. I haven't tried these mods out but I have a hunch that they offer a better value for time and money than this pointless expansion pack.

Rating: 05

This game at Amazon.com

This game at Amazon UK

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