The Sims 2: Pets
Review
Solid expansion to this very popular franchise
by jdarksun
reviewed on PC
Wait, jobs? (cntd.)
The biggest difference is Learned Behaviors. While you can't directly control Pets, indirect control is achieved through encouraging or discouraging various behaviors. While this concept isn't entirely new to The Sims 2 (you could encourage or discourage certain behaviors in developing Sims), its effect on gameplay is more pronounced with Pets. Examples of Learned Behaviors include being Housebroken, Eating Sims Food, Playfulness Towards Others, and Furniture Destruction. Scolding a Pet if it pees inside the house causes it to 'raise' its Housebroken Learned Behavior - so will praising it if it pees outside. Conversely, you can also train it to only pee inside. The same goes for all the other Learned Behaviors - eating Sims food vs. eating Pet food, being playful towards others vs. being aggressive / mean towards them, not destroying furniture vs. intentionally destroying furniture, getting on furniture vs. staying off furniture and more.
Adoption. Virtual -and- real-life
The timing of Pets coming out was particularly fortuitous for me, because I just adopted a puppy. She is a 10- or 11-month old mixed breed, and totally adorable while destroying my house. I have been training her in a very similar manner to the way I have my Sims train their Pets - and while the Sim's Pets learn faster, the resemblance between the two has been very noticeable. Generally speaking, I have found the behavior of Pets to be eerily similar to how my two real dogs behave.
But, thankfully, it is not identical. There are some strange bugs in The Sims 2: Pets. My first foray ended in tragedy, with Animal Control coming to take away my Sim's Pets... because they wouldn't eat. I've (intentionally) had a Sim's children taken away, but for some reason this family losing its Pets made me feel awful. I had two bowls of food out for the two dogs, and they were full - the Pets just wouldn't path to them. When they were getting desperate (and the game was warning me to take better care of them), I put out two additional bowls of food, and those were also ignored. Since then (in a house with one dog, one dog and one cat, and four cats), I haven't been able to replicate the issue, so I can't figure out exactly what went wrong. Additionally, one of my Sims has developed a permanent stink about him, and I just can't figure out why.
Outside of the realm of actual bugs, there are some behavior oddities in Pets. Because of the relatively short attention spans of Sims, it is somewhat difficult to force certain actions with Pets. If a Pet is engaged in another, somewhat long activity - such as eating or playing - it can be difficult to get their attention. The best strategy against this is to Command the Pet you are trying to interact with to 'Come Here', but that only works if the Pet knows that command. Between the short attention spans and occasional pathing issues, it can make Pet adoption a somewhat difficult process. Which I guess is true to life - I have certainly had troubles training my new puppy.
Rounding up
Pets alone aren't the only thing in the Pets expansion. There are new Pet-centric objects (catnip, food bowls, toys, scratching posts, beds, pet houses), the ability to have a Sim infect with Lycanthropy (like Vampirism from The Sims 2: Nightlife), and if you own The Sims 2: Open For Business, you can open up a Pet store with Pet display cases. Pet-focused community lots have been added and there are other miscellaneous tweaks and additions as well.
Roger Caras wrote, 'Dogs have given us their absolute all. We are the center of their universe. We are the focus of their love and faith and trust. They serve us in return for scraps. It is without a doubt the best deal man has ever made.' If you are a Sims 2 fan that can appreciate those words, give Pets a look - it adds an interesting new dynamic to the core Sims gameplay. Just be sure to watch where you place those food dishes!
8.0
fun score
No Pros and Cons at this time
