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Genre: Sim

Format: CD

Developer: Maxis

Original Publisher: Electronic Arts

Mac Publisher: Aspyr Media

Minimum System Requirements: 500MHz G3, Mac OS 9.2.2 or Mac OS X v10.1, 192MB RAM (additional 128MB for OS X), 1.3GB free disk space, 4MB of VRAM, Quicktime 4.1.2 or later, full version of The Sims

Review Computer: 800MHz iMac, 256MB RAM, GeForce 2 MX, Mac OS X v10.2.8

Network Feature: No

Price: $29.99

ESRB Rating: Teen

Availability: Now

Official Website: thesims.ea.com/us/about/makinmagic

The Sims is, as I've said before, the game that lets you be Aaron Spelling. You create little simulated people, direct their lives, and then start putting the screws to them because a normal life is boring. It's quite possibly the darkest game ever created, if only because it doesn't demand that you be evil. It just doesn't stop you from doing all the things to the Sims that you want.

There have been several expansions to the game that let you go on dates, become a superstar, or even have a pet. Gasp. They even had a multiplayer online version, but guess what? If you create a game that lets people be sadistic bastards, maybe letting them play with each other isn't a good idea. But I digress. Here, we have the latest expansion for the Sims, Bakin' Magic. 90 watt light bulb not included.

I'm sorry, that's actually Makin' Magic (MM), which introduces your Sims to the powers of the occult. Just what they needed! MM allows your Sims to learn how to cast magic spells, introduces several new items for them to buy, and also allows them access to the Magic Land, where, if they collect enough coins (a new monetary unit, as opposed to the standard Simoleon), they can purchase a house and move out of Simville and into the world of the mysterious and spooky, altogether ooky.

The game starts out simply enough, with a mysterious stranger dropping off a package outside your house. Happens all the time. Think nothing of it. In it, you'll find a number of items well suited to introducing you to the Dark Power, including a wand and a vial of toad sweat. And nothing says gaming fun like a stranger giving you toad sweat, eh? But this is all minor league stuff, of course. You'll also get your very own family spell book, a dark tome bound in the flesh of the infidels. Or it might be pleather. The spellbook will tell you what ingredients you'll need to cast spells, but won't tell you what the spells are until you put them in the crank-driven hopper (Ron Popeil, what happened to you?) and charge your wand. Then, you're free to wreck havoc on the denizens of Simville, turning them into toads, for starters.

But that's bush league crap. Before long, you'll want to travel to one of the areas of Magic town to buy new ingredients, increase your knowledge of the dark arts, and run into folks you normally don't see this side of Halloween or Pride. To get there, you can call the Magic Taxi, which costs 50 Simoleons and requires your whole family to be present at the time of departure. The reason given for this is "balancing." Huh. They can breach the mystic dimensions, but they can't develop an axel? There are other ways into Magic Town, including the Hole in the Ground, which is apparently the preferred method of travel in both Magic Town and New York City. Watch out for CHUDs!

Magic Town is a fun place to visit, and you may want to live there. You can! Magic Town includes several parcels of land that you can move into once you start collecting Magic Coins. Hurrah! Farewell to Simville and the soccer moms who make their kids wear safety helmets even when they're reading comic books! Nothin' like leaving the 'burbs for the big city. Sure, you'll have the undead coming up to your door regularly, but it's a small price to pay to get away from the neighborhood association coming up with color swatches to make sure that your mailbox is one of the approved shades of white.

So, you can learn spells and buy new stuff. Your Sims get a new area to explore, and some new actions to perform. Is it worth the money?

Well, that depends on how into the Sims you are. If the Sims is a game where you can make your own TV show, this would be the Bewitched mod. You can do all these amazing tricks, but still, your objective is the same: make friends, make money. I'd be far more excited by The Sims: Political Uprising, or The Sims: Non-Materialistic Spiritual Awakening. Turning people into toads is fun and all, but you still have to get to work on time. The Magic Town inhabitants look freaky, but really, it's just a vampire skin on your neighbor.

Ultimately, this expansion is the same as the rest. The Sims: Different Stuff To Do. The new skins are wacky, you can circumvent some of the "normal living" (like growing magic components on your own to avoid getting a job. Huh. Sounds like some people I knew in college), and you do new activities like put on a magic show or build an amusement park (if you live in Magic Town).

For hard-core Sims fanatics (and they are legion), here's another dimension to your favorite game. It also plays nice with other expansions like Unleashed, allowing you to do magic on your pets. For the rest of us, though, the good news is that this is the last Sims expansion: Maxis has begun work on The Sims 2.

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