Open for business opens up a whole new aspect of playing The Sims 2

I've been a big fan of The Sims 2 for the past two years. Yep, sad to say, but although I bought every single expansion pack that came out for the original Sims, that game has been shelved in favor of the newer incarnation with its better graphics and more realistic family trees. And as any Sims fan knows, expansion pack is part and parcel of The Sims experience. Like any good fan, I have bought all of the expansion packs, including Open For Business, which is the third of the four available expansions. And with Open For Business, I was able to open up a whole new world for my Sims.

The purpose of The Sims 2: Open For Business, which came out earlier this year, is to allow your Sims to own their own businesses. To be honest, when I first heard about it, I wasn't too excited about the premise of this expansion pack. I was perfectly content to send my Sims to their goofy jobs and be completely ignorant of what they were doing during their working hours. But the prospect of getting new stuff for my Sims' houses, new outfits, and new hairstyles was enough to get me to buy the damn thing. So I shelled out $29.99 and eagerly awaited my game's arrival.

Like all expansion packs, The Sims 2: Open For Business requires that you already have either the DVD or CD version of The Sims 2 installed on your computer. If you don't have that game installed, the expansion pack will not work. The Sims 2: Open For Business comes with just one CD-ROM. Installing The Sims 2: Open For Business was easy for me, since I have a fairly new computer. If you don't have a relatively new machine, here are the system requirements according to Maxis/EA Games...

System Requirements:

Windows XP, ME, 98, or 2000 operating system.

1000 MHz (1 GHz) or faster processor.

256 MB or more RAM.

At least 1.5 GB of additional hard drive space.

Supported T&L-capable video card with at least 32 MB of video RAM.

Additionally, here's a list of supported video cards. If you've ever played The Sims 2, I'm sure you already know how important a good video card is!

Supported Video Cards:

ATI Radeon series 8500 or better (7x00 models no longer supported), All-In-Wonder 8500, 9000, 9200, 9500, 9600, 9700, 9800, X300, X600, X700, X800, and X850.

NVIDIA GeForce 2, 2 GTS, 3, 3 Ti, 4, 4 Ti, 4200, 4600, and 4800.

NVIDIA GeForce MX 420, 440, and 460.

NVIDIA GeForce FX 5200, 55500, 5600, 5700, 5800, 5900, and 5950.

NVIDIA GeForce PCX 5300, and 5900.

NVIDIA GeForce 6200, 6600, and 6800.

NVIDIA Quadro, Quadro2, and Quadro4.

Intel Extreme Graphics 82865, 82915, and higher.

NOTE: If you have a non-T&L capable video card, such as Intel Extreme Graphics, then you need at least a 2.4 GHz processor. You might also find that you need to update the drivers for your sound or video cards. If that's the case, you can go to http://www.thesims2.ea.com for tips.

Using The Expansion Pack

The Sims 2: Open For Business is all about turning talents into cash. So, instead of just having "skills", like creativity, logic, cooking, or mechanical, your Sims can also develop "talents", like robot building, flower arranging, hairstyling, or cashiering. This is one aspect of the game that I think is a little screwy. The way I see it, creativity and logic are more like talents and flower arranging and hairstyling are skills. But hey, I didn't design this game!

Developing Talents

In order to develop "talents", your Sims can buy items like a flower arranging station, a salon chair, a toy building station, or a robot building station. Naturally, their first attempts at arranging flowers or building toys or robots will be humble. To explain this concept, I'll use robot building as an example. Say you want your Sim to be a master robot builder. You buy the robot building station and have your Sim start making robots. The first robots your Sims will make will be toys that are prone to breaking. After making a few robots, you Sim's talent in robot making will enhance; he or she will earn a "bronze talent badge" in robot building and will be able to make more complex robots. With more practice, that bronze badge will turn silver and that Sim will be able to make robots that can do simple chores. Keep practicing, and eventually the Sim will get a gold talent badge and he or she can create Servo, which is basically a robot Sim who can be sold for thousands of Simoleans or incorporated into your Sim's household!

Making A Business

It's pretty easy to get your Sims in business and if you're creative, you can come up with a lot of ideas for businesses. If you want to keep it simple, you can have your Sims buy a ticket machine that they can put on their lot. The Sim uses the phone or a computer to buy a business license and simply sets that ticket machine on their lawn. From that point on, your Sims can charge people to visit their lot!

Do your Sims want a more substantial home business? Build a store on their lot, put up shelves and a cash register, stock and price merchandise, hang an open/closed sign on the door and hire some employees. Your Sim is the boss from the minute he or she makes the first Simolean, which can be displayed in a handsome frame on the wall or a counter. If your Sim has plenty of money, he or she can purchase a business in the business district. If you have The Sims 2: Nightlife expansion pack, your Sim can also buy a business in the nightlife neighborhood. They can buy a business that's already established or build one from scratch. Even kids can get in on the act with their own lemonade stands!

Your Sims can sell anything that's available in the game. Want to open a florist? Develop your Sim's talents in flower arranging. Put the bouquets and plants on shelves, set the prices, hire some employees, and wait for the cash to come rolling in. Want to open a bakery? Build up cooking skills and bake tasty treats like layer cakes, cheesecakes, or pies. There are also some cute cheats included in this expansion pack. Got a pregnant Sim? Have her eat some cheesecake and she'll have twins, even if there's only room for one more Sim on the lot! Your business can really be about almost anything you want it to be, as long as it involves selling something tangible.

125 New Items

The Sims 2: Open For Business has lots of new items for your Sims to play with. There are business related items like cash registers, signs, special shelves, and talent building stations. There's also an elevator in the building mode, as well as awnings, and new walls and floors. This expansion pack also includes lots of clothes, mostly those that look like uniforms. Your Sims can set their own uniform policy in their business establishments. There are also a few new hairstyles, and to make things more interesting, your Sims also have virtual backpacks which allow them to purchase items and actually take them home. Of course, sometimes your Sims will buy five of the same item, which can get pretty tricky if it's something like a photobooth or pineapple keg. I also love the new music available on the stereos/jukeboxes. And I especially like the new wave selections, since some old 80s songs that I well remember are included, sung in Sim language, of course.

How Do I Like It

I actually like this expansion pack a lot more than I thought I would. I just bought the latest eagerly awaited expansion pack, The Sims 2: Pets. I was really excited about that one, but as it turns out, it's not as mindblowing as Open For Business is. My Sims have opened a few of their own businesses and that's been fun, but I mostly enjoy playing with the new items. I find that running businesses makes it hard for my Sims to focus on their daily lives. They end up neglecting their families and social lives and that ain't cool. On the other hand, it's kind of fun to watch the business succeed or fail. And although I'm not very good at building cool looking buildings with nice interior designs, it can be fun to come up with new and creative business concepts.

Should You Buy It?

Honestly, I think The Sims 2: Open For Business is a worthwhile purchase for The Sims 2. In my opinion, it's better than The Sims 2: University and on par with The Sims 2: Nightlife. The jury is still out on The Sims 2: Pets, which at this point, is proving to be kind of buggy.

For more information, check out www.thesims2.ea.com