Reviews
The Sims 2 University Expansion Pack
Here’s your chance to act like Van Wilder
Y
ou can play the first Sims 2 expansion pack— The Sims 2 University—
any way you like: You can relive your own college experience, or you
can create the experience you wish you had.
You can ditch class and lounge around your dorm blowing bubbles out
of a bong until you get kicked out of school. Or you can study like a mad-
man, make the Dean’s list, and graduate with honors. How well you do in
school ultimately affects your career options once you graduate—or drop
out, if you’re a bubble blower.
Because the University expansion pack integrates the college experience
into the core gameplay of The Sims 2, you can now raise sims in The Sims 2,
and send them off to college. Or you can just create a sim and start at col-
lege. Unlike real college, it’s ridiculously easy to get good grades and make
the Dean’s list. Just do your assignments, write a term paper, keep a positive
mood, and you’ll skate by. (Maybe college is easier now than it was in the last
century, when we were there.)
You never actually see a classroom in the game; instead, you jump from
lot to lot (from your dorm to the student lounge, for example). The problem is
the game never gives you a good reason to ever leave the dorms. You’ll suffer
through several loading screens if you do, and by the time you arrive at your
destination, you have only a few minutes to play before you need to head back
to the dorm to eat, sleep, or void your bowels.
One of the most interesting new features is that sims can now apply peer
pressure to other sims. This is useful for getting people to do your homework
assignments or prank your enemies. Frank the Tank aficionados can also
streak the quad, if that’s your fancy.
This expansion offers a ton of new gameplay elements and it’s a lot of
fun; even after playing for
hours, we felt like we had only
scratched the surface. And
that’s the problem: The game
never offers you much incen-
tive to wander off the path of
least resistance and explore its
vast world.
—JOSH NOREMCH Products Throttle Quadrant
Once again, CH pushes the realism (and geek)
envelope for flight sims
I
t won’t do a thing to soften the “GEEK!” label slapped on hardcore
flight-sim junkies, but the Throttle Quadrant will make every stick-
jockey’s favorite hobby immensely more pleasurable.
So what if new flight sims are few and far between these days? Every
Flight Simulator, LOMAC, and Pacific Fighters pilot will be stoked at the
prospect of adding six control axes to his desktop, each of which comes
with two detents and 12 buttons (for engine idle and/or brake settings).
The Quadrant integrates smoothly into the typical CH flight-control setup,
which consists of the USB Fighterstick, Pro Pedals, and Pro Throttle (which the
Quad can either work with or replace). Plug in all four devices and you’ll have no
fewer than 350 programmable button functions—enough to keep the hardest of
the hardcore busy, happily mapping out a new profile for their sim of choice (or
you can just download one from http://www.ch-hanger.com ). In theory, the Quadrant
should work with hardware from other vendors, but it hasn’t been tested.
Exhibiting the same rugged-but-bulky, no-frills construction of other CH
gear, the Quadrant is a cinch to set up. The additional six levers provide an
incredible degree of precision for controlling thrust and fuel mixtures, render-
ing feats such as formation flying much easier and more gratifying. If you’re
flying a four-engine plane, such as a B-17 or a 707, each lever can be used to
control a single engine; alternatively, you can use the levers for such things as
incremental flap or gear controls for a single-engine plane. Finally, the front-
mounted switches are excellent for engine start/stop, tail-hook release, canopy
open/close, and so on.
The only thing we really don’t like about the Quadrant is that physical detents
are only included at the bottom range of lever motion, not at the top. These would
have been useful for afterburner and war emergency power settings. Although
you can add that functional-
ity via CH’s included Program
Manager utility, it’s really no
substitute for a detent.
When it comes to sims,
anything that makes the
experience more realistic is
usually worth the price and
programming to acquire. The
Quadrant is no exception.
—STEVE KLETTLots of new animations, fun gameplay, and
hilarious interactions.COLLEGETHE REAL WORLD
Going anywhere takes forever; piss-poor frame rates.
$35, http://www.eagames.com, ESRB rating: TMA XIMUMPCVERDICT 7
Rugged design, easy setup, and brings incredible
precision to flight-sim control options.AFTERBURNERIDLE
No physical detents at the top of levers’ range of
motion; bulky formfactor.
$200, http://www.chproducts.comMA XIMUMPCVERDICT 8
MAY 2005 MA XIMUMPC
CH fans: Think you’ve
already got every gaming
peripheral you need?
Think again!Ah... dorm life. One tip: Sell all of your dorm-mates’
furniture and use the money to buy a Jacuzzi.