They already own businesses; go off to university, have a thrilling nightlife, and now the Sims get to own furry little pets too.  These cats, dogs, birds, hamsters and whatever else will enrich your Sims’ life with love, playtime and occasionally, pee on the floor. Get your little Sim families ready for Sims 2 Pets, because there are a lot of litter boxes to change. 

Cat Condos and Chew Toys

Now onto their sixth expansion, Electronic Arts is finally giving gamers the chance to play with, love and teach commands to an array of little pets.  This version promises not be a repeat of the downloadable killer guinea pig fiasco from the original The Sims.  These pets will love you instead of biting your Sims infecting them with lethal diseases.     The main menu looks the same as previous installments except now there are options to either move pets into your existing households or create a new family with pets.  Creating a cat or dog is much like creating a Sim.  The Create-A-Pet feature lets you choose sex, age, personality and breed of your pet.  On top of that you can design the hell out of your animal right down to the color of his back left paw and the size of his ears.  Since there are so many breeds available, it’s easy to re-create a real life pet or finally have that black, bug-eyed pug you always wanted.   On the flip side you can also make a fat, hideous poodle beast that not even a momma-pooch would love.

Whatever type of animal you make they will look great dropped into your pad.  The animals’ motions are animated smoothly whether they are playing fetch or just chewing on a bone, although I have no idea why sometimes my cats like to scratch the metal trash can. All of the new pet animations are made more real by the sounds each and every animal makes.  I do not recommend creating a crazy cat lady with six cats however; the amount of meowing is enough to drive away any hope of neighborhood friends.  Maxis certainly knows how to make Sim fans purr with even more adorable Simlish, because there are not many cuter things then watching your Sim try to speak to your pet with a little barking and meowing.

You won’t be able to hold in the smiles when you see how freaking adorable it is to watch your Sim really enjoy their new pet.  The pets themselves are not controlled directly, but clicking on them with your Sim will bring up new options such as the ability to scold or praise them, play, love or teach them commands such as Speak, Come Here or Play Dead.  Like their human counterparts, pets need to learn new skills in order to get further in their job class. Pick up the newspaper and find your little furry free-loaders a job.

Like Owner Like Pet

Just like their owners, pets have need bars to fill, including a new one called Scratch (or Chew for the pups). Sims have responsibilities to take the animals for a  walk, wash them in the tub (hygiene), fill their dish, change the litter box and still find the time to play a game of finger-wiggle with the puppy (their term, not mine).  Luckily yours Sims can get the fleabags out of the house for a while by sending them off to work to work in Show Business, Security or Service.  A carpool comes to pick them up at a certain time, and drop them off after they have made their day’s wage, sans alarm clock.  This gives you an incentive to build up the pets command list.  A pet with a job affords you a welcome breather for a few hours everyday.  It takes an effort to keep these furry guys need bars full and don’t think they will stay indefinitely. My cat Paul packed up his hobo bag and ran away. 

There are a few different ways to get pets including calling the adoption agency or breeding.   You need to have a male and female pet and purchase a breeding house. With this you can make a litter of babies which will share the genetics and personalities of their parent pets.  Just like having a baby Sim, it takes extra effort to keep the little ones happy, and they don’t walk up stairs very well.  Have fun expanding your family and crossing different breeds, but watch out for the wolves.
 
Woo-Hoo

Sims 2 Pets is also offering a video game first coming this October. Downloadable Hilary Duff!  From the games’ release until the end of the year, players can download and control a fully customizable version of Hilary Duff along with her beloved Chihuahua Lola.  If re-creating the Duff family doesn’t make you want to pony up the cash for the expansion, how about your Sims singing along to The Pussycat Dolls and the Flaming Lips?  A few high profile groups have jumped on the Sims bandwagon, and recording their songs in ‘Simlish’ for the expansion.

Regardless of the over-the-top pop star integration, Sims 2 Pets is a welcome addition to the Sims neighborhood.  Like any new pet, sometimes it will drive you crazy when it pees on the floor, but the moment it does something adorable and curls up on the end of the bed you will love it all over again.

Article by: Jess Reed

Video produced by: Tim Jennings