8 /10 1 Votes
Engine Pixomatic Engine Initial release date 28 February 2006 Developer Maxis | 8/10 GameSpot Mode(s) Single-player Series The Sims | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Genre(s) Life simulation game
God game Platforms Microsoft Windows, Macintosh operating systems Designers Hunter Howe, Robin Hunicke, Charles London, Amy Kalson Publishers Electronic Arts, Aspyr Media, ak tronic Software & Services GmbH Similar The Sims games, Maxis games, Life simulation games | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
The Sims 2: Open for Business is the third expansion pack for The Sims 2, released on March 3, 2006, which allows Sims to run a home or community lot based business. Aspyr released a port of the game for Mac OS X on September 4, 2006. Although it is not a direct reimagining of Open for Business, The Sims 3: Ambitions introduces a related theme of following playable sims to work and creating salable items using numerous skills.
Contents
- Gameplay
- Running businesses
- Around the house
- Servos
- Architecture
- Talent Badges
- Development
- Reception
- References
Gameplay
The main change to the core game introduced by Open for Business is a new neighborhood type — the Shopping District, the default one being named Bluewater Village (which is also the name of a British shopping center). A number of Sims live here, such as a toymaking family, a woman who owns a home-based flower shop, a family bakery, and a rich tycoon who owns a nightclub and an electronics shop.
Community lots are more flexible now, removing many of the gameplay restrictions that were present on them in the original game. Players can now save the game while their Sims are visiting community lots. Reloading their household automatically takes the player to the community lot where the Sims are located.
Like the previous expansions, new Wants and Fears and interactions were added, including a new Lifetime Want and several new interactions for children. Some changes to items from the base game are also present. For example, you can lock a door to just non-employees.
There are new objects in this expansion. While furniture styles and the build-mode selection have been expanded, the biggest difference is the addition of business-oriented items such as shelves, elevators, and crafting centers that Sims can use to create things to sell.
Several features from Nightlife and University, such as influence levels, turn ons and turn offs, are available to players without those expansion packs.
Running businesses
The concept of running a business is the game's main new feature. This is a new direction for The Sims 2, as it now includes elements of a business simulation game. The game allows the player to control various aspects of running a business including picking which products to sell, hiring and firing employees, crafting goods, and restocking shelves. The game also rewards the player for meeting several predetermined goals; also, a mystery shopper may visit the business and critique it.
Around the house
Open for Business adds new functionality to a Sim's productivity around the house. Sims are able to craft new items, including toys, flower arrangements and robots. Additional items include those aimed specifically at enhancing the business setting like an old-style Cash register, Beauty salon chairs, child-oriented toys, and Mission Style furniture. Also added is the Servo, a household robot, which can perform basic tasks and function like a Sim in regards to Social interaction. Some new items, called "Bots" in general, aim to increase productivity on a lower scale than Servo's operation, usually performing one task, such as cleaning the floor, watering plants, bringing food or stunning burglars. Servos also appeared in the original game's expansion pack The Sims: Livin' Large as it's known in North America and Australia and The Sims: Livin' It Up as it is known in Europe.
Servos
A robot that Sims can build if they have a gold robotics badge. Servos can be activated as either a female or male, then become playable Sims for the player to control. A Servo will copy the traits, aspiration and the turn-on/offs of the Sim that activates it, and usually have maximized skills. You can also use cheats to get it. Hold CTRL+C+Shift and type "boolProp testingCheatsEnabled true". Then, click on a Sim while holding down the shift key then click "Spawn" and choose "New Servo". It should appear right next to your Sim. Then you can determine whether you want it to be male or female. Servos have only four needs; power, fun, social, and environment. Power can be restored by recharging during the day (solar based recharging), or sleeping in a bed if the sun isn't out. A program Servos perform is to do chores automatically, and will clean, cook, or repair for the normal Sims around the house. Being robotic, Servos do not age, so will not die from age. If a Servo is neglected from its needs too much, it will end up destroying itself.
Architecture
Open For Business adds more functionality to Build Mode. New elevators both open a new possibility for public interactions and create a risk for fatality by plummeting. Arched Columns (Two columns with an arc shape joining them) are available in the Build Mode catalogue. Domed, conical and octagonal roofs in different sizes are now available. Players may also add awnings.
Talent Badges
"Open for Business" adds a new "talent badge" system. A Sim must repeatedly perform an action to raise that badge's level. The talent badges include:
Development
A new musical genre titled new wave is included, along with its own speaker. Major bands from the '80s each contributed one of their major hits re-recorded in Simlish. In particular, the game features:
Also, a new station known as Shopping has been included, which features the "Buy Mode" music from The Sims.
Reception
Open for Business was received 78% and an 79% averages from aggregate sites GameRankings and Metacritic respectively. Eurogamer gave the game 7 out of 10 saying that the game is "confusing at first".