14 DAY TRIAL // 
The saga of our lovely virtual little people called "Sims" really started with their houses. After already placing their foundations of the Maxis Empire with the SimCity series, the creators wanted to turn their attention to the details. Hence they had this great idea about being able to build your own virtual neighborhood house by house. There was just one thing missing - who or what was going to rate your buildings? This is how the Sims came under the spotlight. Now, the giggly creatures had so much potential that they became the real stars of the game and in 2000, instead of getting us just another architectural simulator came with a brand new concept - The Sims, the life simulator.
Along seven expansion packs (all gathered later in The Sims Complete Collection) the Sims lived forever young and managed to entertain us despite the fact that we could never know what made them tick and what they really aspired from their virtual life. The Sims were just fun for as long as you wanted, with no explicit goals whatsoever. In 2004 the virtual world was reshaped. They felt like giving you a clue of what their aspirations were and decided that the cycle of life and death was mandatory for them as well. They learned to grow old and have certain goals in life. They were called The Sims 2. It was a new beginning for them.
Storyline & Concept If the colleges in University were the perfect place to build up an experience for your future career and the downtown areas in Nightlife were the hotspots of SimVille, to be your own boss was the next thing on the Sims' wish list. Open for Business made that dream come true. The Sims must have missed their animal companions (first introduced in The Sims Unleashed) so they demanded Pets. But it couldn't end here for some overachieving characters like our favorite Sims.
The Sims 2: Seasons presents the four graces of the year: the blossom spring, the hot summer, the rainy fall and the icy winter. Of course you don't have to provide your little people with all of them, you can simply choose to be forever summer in your neighborhood or winter and spring or whatever other combination you can think of. Just like in real life, each season comes with a variety of specific activities. While spring time is the best moment of the year to start planting the garden of your dreams, summer will influence your Sims in a more subtle way - the hot weather will keep their mind more on the love matter. In autumn, the Sims that took care of their vegetable garden have a chance of stocking up, but they'll have to be quick about it before the heavy rains begin. Winter is the season to be jolly. Ice skating, snowmen, snow angels, snowball fights and the most innocent joy of snowing promise to make your Sims' delight. Of course there's also the fear of getting a cold, but that should settle with good night rest.
The fifth expansion to The Sims 2 introduces just like before a bunch of new cool stuff like a few new objects and the outwear (yes, a little cold can be cured with plenty of sleep, but if dressed accordingly the chances of getting sick dim a lot so why risk it?). Aside from a wide variety of clothes (not just outwear) don't expect too many other game objects though. After all, the expansion promised to introduce the seasons and it does that wonderfully.
Gameplay You'll be very pleased to know that The Sims 2: Seasons also includes features from the existing expansions making it the must have expansion pack of the series. You'll be able to enjoy the fury, Mrs. Crumplebottom along with the turn ons and turn offs available in Nightlife. University brings its support with the influence system and lifetime desires, while from Open for Business you get the talent badges (not the ones available there, but new ones). Just so you won't feel lonely during winter your house will be visited by an adorable penguin which you can pet (without going through all the trouble of taking care of any of his needs).
The job market has also extended. There are six new career paths. You can now dig in the rewards of Law, Education, Journalism, Music, Adventure and (my personal favorite and probably yours too) Gaming. While the Military and Medicine careers still pay the best simleons, these new ones are just as interesting and exciting posing catchy job challenges (that can once again give a boost to your career or doom it). Which is more there are two new profitable activities in store for you. One of them is fishing. Any body of water can be turned into a pond and you can simply experience a relaxing simlish chat with your friends and wait for the fish to get hooked. You can than enjoy some fried fish, sell it or even decorate your walls with it.
If fishing is not really your thing, you may want to try out the gardening. The more time you spend in tending to your plants you learn about a bunch of inside tricks. The Garden Club is always available to rate your little vegetable garden. You can also ask for advices. You can get your gardening talent badges in no time. All your care for the delicate plants (that you cannot hope to be all right just with the gardener tending them every three days, you'll need to get your hands dirty too) will eventually grow into a nice harvest that will refill your supply stocks. Since there's an abundance of goodies you can even experiment with different combinations to get potions that will fulfill their needs, maybe even get across the recipe for love potions.
Gardening is very rewarding, but it can also lead to a strange sickness that turns them into plantsims. After using pesticides for a prolonged period of time, your Sims' skin turns green but they also get some mysterious gardening skills. While this disease can be easily cured by purchasing the appropriate antidote it does have some advantages. I've already mentioned the enhanced farming abilities and the colorful look, but there's more. The aspirations of these Sims change completely. Only three things continue to motivate them now: sunshine (and greenhouse lights), water (to drink and to bathe in) and love.
Among the really exciting stuff that Seasons bring is a new luxurious pass time activity - skating. Of course you'll need a rink to be able to enjoy all that. The benefit is that roller skating as well as ice skating is not just an amusing activity. You'll also get to socialize with the rest of the Sims there and even improve your body condition. Just to be sure you'll always look your best (or really express yourself) you'll be able to chose different clothes and hair dues for each dressing style so your Sim doesn't need to waste any more time in the mirror each morning to get a suitable hair style.
Video Although the new neighborhood in SimsVille, Riverblossom Hills, is not that different compared to the rest of this ever growing virtual world, the weather effects sure make it feel different. I for one was amazed the first time I noticed it was snowing (along with my entire Sims family). While the different weather doesn't dramatically change the gameplay, it offers some very good opportunities to get out of the daily routine. So send your Sims out to make snowmen and snow angels or replace the water balloon fights with snowball fights and amuse yourself seeing how the snow stacks up at the door as they get back inside. Seeing an adult Sim hoping and splashing in the newly formed slough after a rainy day is definitely a thing you'll be laughing about for a few minutes. Have you ever wanted to be struck by a lightning and get out of it alive? Well some of your Sims will and the special effects on that won't let you down.
Sound It's still simlish chatting and great dance music. The expansion comes with some entertaining simlish versions of songs from New Age and Jam Bands genres. Put those high tech audio lines to good use and allow your Sims to dance the night around. The weather effects come with specific sounds too, so don't jump off your feet if a lightning strikes - it's bound to be followed by thunder.
Conclusion Bottom line is, if you don't already enjoy the idea behind The Sims series, this expansion won't change your mind about it. But if you're a fan, than you'd be very sorry if you miss out on the seasonal experience. While the weather influences somewhat your characters, it doesn't dramatically change gameplay, but it enriches the fun options. The gardening goes great and the snowy season is all about playfulness and happiness. Oh, just remember to build a roof so that you won't turn your entire house into a skating rink. The Sims 2: Seasons is by far the must have expansion pack of the series.
