The Sims 2: FreeTime Preview February 7,2008 - The world’s most popular life simulation, The Sims, is dropping its latest expansion pack this February. FreeTime will allow players using their free time to game valuable for their digital avatar by letting their Sims take a break and perform some leisurely activities that don’t involve going downtown or inviting some virtual neighbors over to relax in the hot tub and chat. This expansion will offer an enormous variety of new skills and activities for Sims to perform, excel at, and earn some simoleans while they’re at it.

In total, 10 new categories of activities are offered with the FreeTime expansion, from athletics and gaming to crafting and cooking. Players can challenge other Sims to a soccer shoot-out or toss around the pigskin, and soon they’ll find that their Sim may be one of the lucky ones with a natural talent for sports. Most other new hobbies include similar group facets. For example, players can build cars and train sets together, perform an instrument at a party, go bird-watching together, or just kick back and enjoy a couple videogames. EA will spare no expense in making sure this seventh expansion is as immersive as the last, so it is incorporating other brand names from its franchises into the gaming mode of The Sims. Of course the full versions of Spore, Command and Conquer, and FIFA aren’t included to play, but your Sims will sure have fun playing them.

FreeTime incorporates a whole new feature to the Sims franchise which is that of aspirations. Lifetime aspirations include high-reaching goals that may take a long time to attain. One Sim may aspire to have a family while another wishes to achieve great knowledge. Regardless of their aspirations, FreeTime will reward players as they work towards achieving them, with huge yet-unknown bonuses waiting at the end. One mentioned bonus, not necessarily a lifetime aspiration bonus, is that you’ll be able to drive your restored car off the lot after you’ve tuned it up from the hunk of metal it once was. Another bonus to excelling at a hobby is the granting of access to secret lots where users of similar hobbies can meet and get to know each other better. Secondary aspirations are less-important aspirations and will be easier to reach. Plus, as players work towards these aspirations, it may have an effect on one of the new jobs included in FreeTime, which include oceanographer, entertainer, and architect, among others.

But jobs aren’t the only way to make money in FreeTime. Sewing, painting, and pottery are just a few of the artistic pursuits one can strive for. While at first your Sim may be a clumsy newbie, soon they will deftly weave their hands and dextrously flex their fingers to sew custom clothing with a variety of designs and fabrics, and sell them to people of all demographics. If a Sim is enthused enough about a hobby, they’ll “get into the zone” where the rest of the world fades away as the Sim hones their craft at an elevated mindset.

Drop all these new features into a pot, stir them up with all the new outfits, objects, and the new Desiderata Valley neighborhood, and The Sims 2: FreeTime has a recipe to almost be a new game in and of itself. Customers will still need the full version of The Sims 2 to play, but the expansion will only cost half a new game –$30, and besides, can you put a price on watching your Sim toddlers draw a picture that you can hang on the wall? We didn’t think so.

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