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Genre: Sim

Format: DVD

Developer: EA Games

Mac Publisher: Aspyr Media

Minimum System Requirements: Mac OS X v10.3.9, 1.2GHz G4/G5 or Intel chipset, 256MB RAM, 2GB free disk space, ATI Radeon 9000 or NVidia GeForce FX5200 with 32MB VRAM, DVD drive, full version of The Sims 2

Review Computer: 800MHz iMac, 256MB RAM, NVIDIA GeForce2 MX video card; and 1.5GHz 17" PowerBook, 512MB RAM, ATI Mobility Radeon 9700 (AGP 4X) graphics processor with 64MB of DDR SDRAM

Network Feature: No

Processor Compatibility: Universal

Price: $34.95

ESRB Rating: T (crude humor, sexual themes, violence)

Availability: Now

Official Website: thesims2.ea.com/about/ep3_index.php

At its heart, The Sims has always been a game of Beat the Clock. You have to make a nutritious meal, eat, go to the bathroom, and seduce your neighbors before your Sim collapses, or before they have to take that inevitable trip into work. Whereupon the game essentially stops.

No more! With the arrival of The Sims 2: Open for Business (OfB), one of the most important aspects of your Sims' lives—their jobs—is taken out of the kludgy skill-based system used before (you get promotions based on how you act at home), and instead turned into an aspect of gameplay.

Sims who are starting their own business have two options: they can run a home-based business, or they can buy a lot and run it out of a store. This is, of course, after you buy a house, so your ability to open your own Kenny Roger's Chicken franchise may be limited at first.

But whether you open your own place or run a boutique out of your living room, the same rules apply. After acquiring your stock, you set the price in the new business menu, basically deciding how much above or below cost you'll sell the item. Open the store, ring 'em up, and send the customers home happy.

Of course, it's not that easy. This is a computer game, and that means that there are skill bars to fill. You'll have to deal with your customers (oh, the times I've wished I could get around that little problem in the real world), and if you can make them enjoy their shopping experience enough, they'll become regular customers. You'll also need to develop your skills with the cash register, or you'll spend an hour of in-game time trying to figure out what buttons to push while the buyers line up and get frustrated. Of course, if you're creating your own stock (like, say, an art gallery of your own work), you'll need to produce those while developing your skill. Paintings from a Sim with 10 creativity points sell for a lot more than those with level 1.

But for those who'd rather sell entertainment than goods, there's another option: you can charge people simply for spending time in your "store." You'll see these new devices in the clubs around Simville: they automatically deduct a small amount of money depending on how much time you you're there.

OfB also deals with the other interaction in business: employees. You can now hire Sims to work at your store, assigning them tasks through the "Job" pop up menu. In theory, when you hire a Sim, they lose any other job they may have had, so I thought it would be a clever ruse to hire my love interests, which would make them available for a liaison during the greater part of the day, avoiding the "I can't come over, I have to work" problem when your schedules don't match up. However this glitch still manages to pop up, although those Sims are available when you open your store. Thankfully, they haven't yet released The Sims: Sexual Harassment Lawsuit, so that's the only problem.

Open for Business fills a crucial hole in the Sims Universe, one in which the Sims would disappear for hours during a game that was built around controlling their lives. Now, instead of spending crucial gameplay time improving their skills and waiting for a promotion, you're in direct control of their financial life as well as their romantic side. It's not easy: getting your business off the ground is a far more involved (and sometimes frustrating process) than just making it to the carpool every day.

Strengths: Greatly expands the Sims world. Adds to gameplay time.
Weaknesses: Hard to make business successful.

Bill's been using Macs since the late 80s. When he's not making smartass remarks to amuse Kirk Hiner, he enjoys fighting for the user.