The Sims 2: Open for Business Review

Open For Business is the best expansion pack released for the Sims 2 to date, and arguably is the best of any expansion pack for any Sims game.

(Reviewed using a Pentium 4m, 1.6GHz, 1 GB RAM, 256MB ATI Radeon Mobility 9600, and two-channel sound.)

It is difficult to review an expansion pack, since so much of what's included in an expansion pack is terribly dependent on its source material.  Expansion packs must then be evaluated not solely on their gameplay merits or graphical merits, but how much they add to and change the original game.  Specifically to the Sims, the core gameplay hasn't been changed since the original Sims title came on the market nearly a decade ago.  Rather than mess with a successful formula, EA/Maxis has smartly decided to add, rather than change, the Sims.  Open for Business moves away from that somewhat, addressing one of the biggest holes in the original game.

To begin with, Open for Business isn't as shallow as University, and adds more to the game than Nightlife which were both good expansions in their own right.  Saying Open for Business adds more to the game is an understatement, as it is a management simulation baked into the Sims gameworld.  No longer do your sims merely disappear when it's time to go to work and arrive back home hours later: with Open for Business, you actually control your sims in various workplaces.  This isn't to say that the old career model in the Sims 2 doesn't exist any longer, indeed, you can carry on your career and open a business on the side, but you can use your business as your sole source of income. 

Running a business requires a ton of attention: Open for Business does not allow the player to merely run on autopilot.  Constant attention to supply-and-demand is required to successfully run a business that will supplant your sim-career.  In typical Maxis fashion, it is engrossing without being frustrating.  Growing your business becomes a real goal in and of itself in Open for Business.  Your performance as a business owner has humorous effects in the game world--see how just one bad haircut will devastate a sim-customer--and makes the entire experience worthwhile.  One of the secrets of the Sims' success is that is often has humorous details waiting just around the corner, unfolding at just the right time.  That same environment is delivered in spades in Open for Business.  The player keeps playing just to see what comes next--and the payoff rarely disappoints.

There are several new items--over one hundred in fact--that help populate the game world, but most of those are specifically for business use.  Even with the large number of items, the player is left wanting for more.  The gameplay and the item use are so much fun that even an infinite amount may seem to be too few.  This is more a testament to how engrossing Open for Business is than any real flaw.  Having fewer items that behave flawlessly is much better than having more items that don't.

Graphically the game is as colorful and well-animated as ever--and still scrolls as slow as ever.  The engine is showing its age a bit, especially since many other recent games handle a heavier graphical workload without the slowdowns.  The graphics and animations are still pretty to look at and outright funny.   The sound, however, is a better story.  Many bands have incorporated their real-world songs into Open for Business--but they perform their lyrics in Simlish.  This equivalent of humming-along-because-you-don't-know-the-words is done to an hilarious end in Open for Business--and almost makes the game worth it on its own merit. 

The replay value of Open for Business is immense.  It has taken an open-ended game made to be re-playable and incorporated a new set of goals and tasks to do to expand that replayability.  If the Sims was the gold standard in open-ended play, Open for Business has raised the bar.  Now, not only is the Sims infinitely re-playable, but now there is a reason to do so ad infinitum.

Expansion packs, especially those that are for a franchise as venerable as the Sims require a vast amount of work and creativity to not feel like a retread and to truly expand on gameplay without ruining the core.  Open for Business does this by closing a few gameplay holes when your Sim previously went to work, and incorporating a business scheme that gives more tangible goals than to gain another body- or charisma point.  While Open for Business adds new places and new objects, its true value is in adding another huge gameplay element to an already outstanding title.  As an expansion pack, it includes more new content and better gameplay than several other stand-alone games.