The Sims 2: Pets
The Sims 2: Pets, développé par Maxis et publié par Electronic Arts, a été lancé le 20 octobre 2006 sur Nintendo DS. Fonctionnant avec un moteur propriétaire, le jeu se rattache aux genres aventure, simulation, stratégie et jeu de rôle. Les joueurs sont invités à créer de nouveaux compagnons pour leurs Sims afin de les aimer durant toute leur vie. Il devient possible d'adopter des chiens, des chats et des cochons d'Inde, ou de choisir parmi plus de 22 races canines et 15 races félines telles que les Retrievers, Beagles, Pugs, Schnoodles, Main Coons, Siamese, Dalmatiens et Persans. La personnalisation de l'apparence s'étend à la forme du corps, la couleur, la fourrure, le nez et les oreilles, tandis que la personnalité peut être définie comme lâche, douée, paresseuse, intelligente, amicale, idiote ou hyperactive. Les Sims peuvent enseigner des tours à leurs animaux, se rendre au parc central de la ville pour croiser d'autres Sims et leurs bêtes, et acheter des objets dans les boutiques locales, ce qui participe à la croissance du centre-ville. Le titre offre également la possibilité de créer des Sims ressemblant au joueur ou à ses proches et de diriger leur existence.
Concernant l'accueil, la presse a salué certains aspects de l'expérience : Gamer 2.0 a écrit « Ultimately, there’s something completely satisfying and entertaining in creating a real-life house in a Sims world and finding out what truly does happen when … », et Gaming Age a jugé « For an expansion pack, there is plenty to do and see and it adds a completely new level of variety to your Sims' already busy life. ». De leur côté, certains joueurs sur Metacritic ont exprimé des avis plus réservés, comme en témoignent les citations « It’s basically just sims 2, it feels as though pets are there mainly for aesthetics » et « ta longe de ser um jogo daora, mas como the sims ele é o melhorzinho, é um jogo minimamente bom ».
Médias
Avis des critiques et joueurs
Critiques de la Presse (Metacritic)
« Ultimately, there’s something completely satisfying and entertaining in creating a real-life house in a Sims world and finding out what truly does happen when pets stop being polite and start getting real. »
« For an expansion pack, there is plenty to do and see and it adds a completely new level of variety to your Sims' already busy life. »
« As for the rest of the game, the structure is still the same as before, but for Sims fans, the pet aspect will add plenty of new entertainment to make this worth picking up. [Nov. 2006, p.114] »
« Whatever EA says, this feels like an expansion pack. It's a welcome one though, and it'll make your little Sim home all the more complete. [Nov 2006, p.82] »
« Rarely does an expansion (or companion, in the case of the PS2 and GameCube) see content integrated so well into an existing game. After a few minutes playing Pets, you'll feel as if the animals have always been a part of your gaming life. »
« The addition of pets is a logical transition in The Sims franchise that ends up working very well with the core game. Aside from this, the game manages to improve the AI to be more spontaneous and more closely resemble the PC version of the game. »
« Improves upon its console predecessors in every way imaginable. The formula is definitely getting old, though, so long time fans will have limited interest. As far as newcomers go, there's plenty to see and do. »
« It’s cool, entertaining, and strangely addictive. »
Avis des Joueurs (Metacritic)
« It’s basically just sims 2, it feels as though pets are there mainly for aesthetics »
« ta longe de ser um jogo daora, mas como the sims ele é o melhorzinho, é um jogo minimamente bom »
« Sims 2 Pets is a good game, with lots of fun stuff to do, however, most of the fun stuff doesn't feel like it revolves around pets. You cannot control the pets, do much in the way of shaping their personality, and, they just don't feel like a big part of the game. It would also have been nice if they could have included a few more types of pets besides cats and dogs, like birds, rodents, or perhaps horses. It could also use more locations, since there is pretty much only 1. your house, and 2. the park. »
« This game gets old easily unless you're a pet lover in reality. As a non-pet-lover, it's difficult to know what to do with your pets, even more difficult when it is you and your pets combined. Pet lovers will love this game though. »
