Sims 2: Apartment Life Review - Same Sims, Different Name

If you ever wonder why your neighbors have a cat, if not cats, from now on you will see a reason for it. The everyday life in your apartment needs spells and magic, otherwise it's impossible to live. And we all know that when you cast spells and charms, it's always nice to have few meow-meow stuff around. Back on the topic, in Sims 2: Apartment Life you can see some white magic and also black magic. You can make potions and wear a wizard hat. You can also have your very own flying broom which is actually fun.

To develop properly the skills of your Sims, particularly magic, you will also have to go from time to time to a magical world with castles and high sorcerers to help you out...or spank you. I wouldn't imagine my Sims life without these additions, honestly.

The second new feature on which the game is actually named is the option to live in an apartment. This is where the mess starts. When you're renting an apartment, you have a host – a very nasty host that always spies on you and reminds you for the monthly rate whenever he wants to.

You have to pay every Monday. If the sum is too big, you can get a room-mate to help you out. This room-mate is not controlled by you, however. It's a computer NPC and it lives on its own. He can be everything, he can be the dirtiest guy on Sims Earth. Imagine an Oscar from Sesame Street living in your apartment! If you are lucky, you can have a really nice room-mate though.

If your new friends becomes insupportable, it's time to try the new “kick out roommate” option.

Or maybe you don't want someone to live with you at all? Then you have your neighbors, their kids, their parents, their parent's parents and everyone else who is still alive.

From the not-so-obvious features we can finally see spiral stairs. Another small addition is putting pictures wherever you want. You can also learn to dance and train different dance skills such as break dance, etc. Another feature is the reputation meter – quite useful if you live in an apartment and probably the only interesting one. It is always good to know when things went bad - don't be suprised when the neighbors start to hate you because you have too many cats that drop too much fur or bring bad luck.

Judging by my sarcastic opinion it should be clear to you that I wouldn't recommend this game to anyone. It is obvious that the 8th expansion cannot attract new players to the game. It could only prolong the agony of the existing ones. For the rest of us - everything is still the same, unless it changes in February 2009 when Sims 3 should be released.