The Sims 2 University Expansion Pack Description:

The Sims 2 University Expansion Pack review:
4 stars (More fun!) - This is a good expansion pack for an already great game! Of course, there are new objects, new clothes a new age group (Young Adult) and new professions. These add a bit of variety to a game that already has loads of replayability. Sending the teens to college gives them an opportunity to build more skill points, giving them a better chance of reaching the top of a professional career track, something I found difficult with the pre-Universtity Sims 2. It also makes me a little nostaligic for my college days. Despite getting this expansion the day after it came out, I still haven't fully explored all of the new options mainly because I care too much about my Sims' gpa's. It is hard to keep them at a A+ level while leaving time to pursue the other aspects of college life. The option of using influence points to get other people to do the homework would certainly open up more time for social pursuits (as would being happy with a B or C average), though a more honorable method of keeping grades up while socializing would be nice. Filling the skills for teens before they go to University would help save time as well. Despite this, I still have a lot of fun with it and haven't grown tired of it yet.

Now for the gripes that kept me from giving it 5 stars. One minor gripe was that when I installed this expansion and then went into a previously existing household, all of the Sims in the household were standing at attention near where they were when I last saved, with almost full meters. At first, this doesn't sound bad, but having to remember what each Sim was doing when I saved was kind of difficult. Sometimes this doesn't matter, but what if the Sim was close to finishing another level in a skill and you don't remember which skill they were working on? It can take a little game time to get things back on track. The meters being full can throw off a Sims schedule as well depending upon what time of day you saved before installing University. Only limiting college to a certain age group was kind of sad too. Sims who had just became adults before the expansion pack was installed are simply out of luck. One final negative is something I also have an issue with in the original game. The lack of clothing choice when a Sim goes through an age transition is kind of lame. It would be nice if a window similar to what comes up when your Sim is shopping would pop up so that you can choose the initial clothing of the new age like you do when you first create the Sim. Just randomizing it leads to the need to spend more game time sending the Sim shopping which isn't too terrible a thing, but sometimes time is a luxury (hope that large sentence made sense). Also, a modest Sim might be horrified by what a randomizer might pick!

Overall, those negatives do not prevent the game from being enjoyable and the new features are a very welcome addition.
4 stars (Sims University) - My daughter enjoed it for a couple of days and will spend a couple hours each month in the coming year to play it more.
5 stars (Fun expansion pack!) - You can choose to send your sim off to college when they become a teenager or create a new sim in college town. Its a tough decision let me tell you. Well the Sim keeps his/her friend relationships and can choose to go back to the same house when they graduate at least. The only bummer is if you have a mate that doesn't go to college and you plan to marry them, you have to play both sides to keep the ages the same. You could play college town to death and his family back home do not age. SO you have to go back and forth alot to keep things even, if you want to anyways.



The only thing is that it is a commitment. You have to see the sim through college and it take a while. The biggest plus to sendiong them to college is that they gain options that regular sims don't have. Like more wants, and more career options. And of course that college degree you can hang on the wall. They also remember the college cheer and will do it with sims they went to college with. It is worth putting them through college, but it is like playing a whole separate game. You can spend just as much time in college town as you can in their home town.



It is also a good idea to start in college town when you are creating a new character. There are more options to creating a sim young adult there. And a good idea to create more than one sim in the same household, you can give them different family names and they can move into different houses after graduating. It is a good idea because you can work on more than one sim at a time. I usually put a couple together that I want to marry later. That way they can build relationships and finish school together.



It is really hard to decide where you want to divide yout play time!