The Sims Unleashed Review

When you think about how pets are a part of so many people's lives, it's a bit surprising that your sims have had to live their lives free of the unconditional love of household animals.  The Sims Unleashed finally rectifies this oversight, making it possible for your sims to own pets, and it also adds a whole host of other new gameplay features as well.  In terms of sheer added gameplay, this is by far the biggest Sims expansion game yet.  And since it is an expansion game, you'll need to own either The Sims or The Sims Deluxe in order to play Unleashed.

While it is the pets that are certainly the stars of this new expansion pack, the first new addition you'll see is the expanded neighborhoods.  There are now 41 available lots in each neighborhood that can be zoned as residential or community lots.  The residential lots are the same as before, and are where homes are built and sim families live.  The new community lots are places where all sims can come together to shop, relax, and socialize.  To visit the community lots, you call a cab just as in Vacation or Hot Date.  The Old Town Shuttle will come and pick you up and you can then select your destination lot.  It is at these lots that you will find the pet stores where you can purchase your sim pets.

There are a variety of pets to choose from in Unleashed.  Cats and dogs are the stars of the show, and when you purchase them they actually become members of your sim family.  You adopt a pet by choosing between a dog or a cat, selecting the animal's sex (yes, you can be blessed with puppies or kittens should you buy a mixed sex pair), choosing your pet's appearance, and finally naming your new pet.  Your pet is then immediately added to your family, and their portrait appears right alongside of those of your family members.

Dogs and cats have their own needs, personality, and skills, just like your sims.  However, you can not take control of a pet and direct their actions.  They will take care of their needs as long as you provide them with the basics such as food dishes, toys, and somewhere to sleep.  Pet personalities are a mix of different attributes: quiet, friendly, playful, smart, and loyal.  You do not get to select the level of each attribute; they are set when you purchase the pet. 

Your pet's skills consist of hunting, tricks, and obedience for cats, and house breaking, tricks, and obedience for dogs.  You can increase your pet's skills through training, either by interacting with your pet directly or hiring a pet trainer.  Pet trainers are the easy way to go, but are expensive.  Each session with a pet trainer will result in the gain of one skill point in one of the skill areas - the area to which the point is applied is selected at random. 

Pets also have and maintain relationships with sims and other pets.  Interacting with pets will strengthen the relationship, and will take care of your sim's social needs as well.  In fact, with a couple of pets your sim can live alone and never speak to another sim and be perfectly happy - a crazy cat lady sim will do just fine even if shunned by her neighbors.  Pets will also help you to expand your social circle.  Bringing your pets to one of the community lots is a great way to meet new sims and gain new friends.

If you take good care of your pet and train it well, you will be rewarded with a happy and obedient companion.  They'll even help around the house by controlling pests, attacking burglars, or bringing in the paper.  You can also take your pet to one of the pet shows and compete for prizes.  Happy, well-trained pets will bring home an award for you to show off to your friends.  On the other hand, unhappy pets will have a tendency to misbehave and make messes, and neglected pets can die or be taken from you by Animal Control.

Those of you with Vacation will be happy to hear that your dogs and cats can be taken with you to Vacation Island.  If you're lucky, your dog may even dig up a little treasure while you're taking a walk on the beach.  Dogs and cats can not be taken Downtown if you own Hot Date, but the new community lots serve as a pet-friendly substitute.  Like downtown, community lots can have cafes, stores, and parks, so you will have many of the same environments available to share with your furry companion.  And yes, you can take a date to a location on a community lot.

Unleashed has done a good job of integrating dogs and cats into the game.  The social benefits put less pressure on you to keep your sim happy without adding too much extra work.  As long as you keep their dish full and play with them on occasion, pets do a good job of keeping themselves happy.  If you bring more than one pet home, they generally get along and help to provide each other with companionship when your sim is just too busy to do so.  There are also a lot of pet interactions that will keep animal lovers happily watching their pets run around their sim homes: dogs drink from toilets, cats watch birds and fish very intently and attack insects, and pets wrestle with each other, to name a few.  And what pet lover wouldn't melt the first time they see their sim pet perform a trick for them?

In addition to cats and dogs, Unleashed provides iguanas, parrots, fish, and turtles.  These pets do not become members of your family, and are tied to a corresponding object such as a tank, cage, or perch.  To keep these pets alive, you need to feed them and keep their area clean.  Each of these other pets comes with their own set of interactions, though they are more limited than those available with cats and dogs.  Of these additional pets, fish are the most boring, as all you can do with them is feed and watch them.  Parrots provide more entertainment, as your sim can gain charisma points as he or she teaches the parrot to speak.  No question about it, the dogs and cats are the stars of the show.

Unleashed also unleashes a whole host of animals into your neighborhood.  Throughout the day, stray cats and dogs will wander through your yard (and sometimes into your home), and you may even be paid a visit by skunks, raccoons, rabbits, or gophers.  These last two pests can have a detrimental effect on your sim's garden.

Speaking of gardens, your sims will now be able to grow their own vegetables.  Seeds can be purchased at a garden store and added to garden plots that you buy just like any other landscape feature.  Once seeds are planted, you need to water and weed the plots until the vegetables are ready to harvest.  You'll also need to keep the pests away so that they don't eat up your crops - a cat with good hunting skills is the best way to accomplish this.  When vegetables are harvested you can store them to use for meals or sell them at the market to make a little extra money.  Since gardens can provide both food and money, you could even become a full-time farmer if you wanted.  In practice, the gardens take work every day and aren't all that exciting.  It would be hard to imagine anyone who would want to spend all their game time working a vegetable patch, but you can do so if you want.