Publisher: Maxis, www.maxis.com
Ages: eight and up.
Parental Advisory: This is a fun but unusual strategy game that takes time to learn to play.
Violence
Rating: 
We need to talk about those little people in your life. You know, those "sims"
in Maxis' popular game "The Sims" who live their virtual lives for you on
your PC. Well, after those adventures in the Livin' Large expansion, those
raucous parties in the House Party add-on, and the social and romantic overtones
of the Hot Date expansion, your sims definitely deserve a break, which is
what they get in the latest add-on, The Sims Vacation Expansion Pack. While
Vacation is not the best of the four Sim add-ons-my vote goes to Hot Date-it
effectively expands the possibilities in the popular game and can renew your
interest.
If you haven't discovered Maxis' excellent The Sims, which was released two years ago, the title is an innovative one that lets you create, manage, and control the virtual lives of tiny computerized people who live in miniature homes. It's a first class strategy game that lets you create a household of miniature people, or "sims," and then conduct their virtual lives, which includes feeding them, sending them to work, and having them meet and interact with other computer-controlled sims in their neighborhoods. The game's clever premise and excellent execution that included good animated characters, entertaining music and sound effects, and detailed scenery, made for a compelling game experience that captured the hearts of gamers.
The Sims Vacation expansion offers rustic and luxurious accommodations at an island resort that sports three settings: snowy alpine, beach boardwalk, and forest campground. Activities in the vacation areas include volleyball, archery, fishing, snowboarding, hunting for treasure, and more. Interestingly, there are many group activities that work for dates, as well as parties and families. In all, the expansion brings some 125 new objects that include snowmen to build and destroy, tents, fishing piers, carnival games, half-pipes for snowboard tricks, and more.
When your Sims save enough simoleons and the entire family is home from school and work, you can simply pick up a phone and ask to go on a vacation. The price is 500 clams, which covers the cost of the shuttle and the island boat trip. Once on the island, your sims can vacation on a budget by living in a tent or igloo or reside in luxury accommodations. And once your sims are on the vacation island, the game plays much as it does when the sims are in their homes.
Kana, the Vacation Director, and a wacky resort staff are on-call day and night to see to the sims' every need. Interestingly, there's a troupe of performers who entertain the kids (it's much like a kids' club at Club Med). As it turns out, keeping the kids happy is important as unhappy children can shorten a vacation.
Another angle in the expansion, sims can buy, win, find, and collect souvenirs. Here the game offers buried treasure chests to locate and dig up, stuffed animals to win at carnival games, and lava idols and arrowheads to accumulate. In a sense, you can treat souvenirs as something of a goal and some are harder to find and get than others. Back home, souvenirs can contribute to your home's "room" value and entertain guests at parties, and give you another activity, "admiring souvenirs."
Graphically, while The Sims Vacation offers new outfits, faces and locales, the game itself looks much as it did in prior versions with little or no improvements. The animations are a hoot, and there are fun ones that depict sims building snowmen, snowboarding, and more. Soundwise, the game uses the same unintelligible "simlish" language, which is generally funny.
While The Sims Vacation adds new locales and activities, there are some problems that still carry over from the original game. Specifically, the game's camera sometimes lags behind the action, and it's still too easy for characters to get stuck in corners or near objects-the game's pathfinding continues to leave lots to be desired.
Previous expansion packs: The Sims, Livin' Large and House Party, added new household items to buy for sims' homes, which added interest to the original game. The Hot Date expansion, the most significant of the four expansion programs, added new social greetings and interactions, and interests, in addition to new items. While Vacation pales against the Hot Date innovations, it still succeeds.
In the end, a good expansion only has to add new options and horizons so it can rekindle your interest in the original game. And in this regard, The Sims Vacation succeeds. If you're a Sims fan, you won't want to miss this boat.
