The Sims: Makin' Magic Review

Before you shout, "Oh my God, not again!" let me hasten to remind you that Will Wright's The Sims franchise has been topping every single sales chart ever since its first incarnation back in 2000. Along with Maxis' final add-on for the original, The Sims: Makin' Magic, the renowned series now sees a total of seven expansion packs. The previous add-on, The Sims: Superstar, gave players a chance to become movie-stars, music icons, top fashion models, and so on. In any case, your job was to work your way until you've developed into a bona fide celebrity of so-called Studio Town. Unlike any other Sims game, Makin' Magic spruces up the series with an interesting twist. Instead of a realistic humdrum life simulation presented, players can now experience a fantasy flavored setting, experimenting with various spells, over 175 new items (no, they haven't turned it into a classic RPG), new locations, and many other minor gameplay innovations.

The fundamentals of the game don't involve any overall improvements in terms of design and basic gameplay. If that's what you're hoping for, then keep looking forward to The Sims 2. In any case, it's safe to say average gamers will find the new aspect of magic quite an agreeable gameplay perk up. Makin' Magic allows you to turn average citizens into skillful wizards and witches. It also throws in a much welcomed option for emphasizing cooking, logic, and mechanical skills of your Sims. Magic is basically there to ease your life style and help you get around usual problems like satisfying the Sims' desire for social interaction, hunger, and fatigue (ah, if only). (Hey, this game should've been called The Sims: Bewitched! - 2Lions) Toying with this concept is somewhat amusing. Cooking meals? Spring-cleaning the house? Why go to all that trouble, when it can all be done in a matter of seconds by using the right chant? More powerful magic skills won't exactly be offered to you on a silver platter, so you'll have to sweat a bit before becoming an expert spell caster. The first thing you should be concerned about is obtaining proper magical ingredients and collecting MagiCoins (a colorful name for the game's new currency).

Another commendable addition to the gameplay is the inclusion of the so-called Magic Town, where players may set up their very own venues for performing impressive spells, interacting with Magic Town merchants, buying magic equipment, etc. These areas represent another improvement over previous expansion packs. This time you can even participate in wizard duels with the goal to acquire as many MagiCoins as possible. A large portion of the gameplay revolves around collecting items, preparing for duels, and practicing various spells. Bear in mind though, that being a wizard or a witch is a challenging chore. In order to cast each spell, the Sims are required to gather specific ingredients. The thing is, not all ingredients are obtainable via trading; you simply must complete several quests or puzzles to get your mitts on appropriate magical items (quests come in the form of wizard duels or similar challenges).

Every wizard duel forces you to beat the adversary by choosing diverse chants in the correct sequence. To be honest, most of the time, I got lucky. Anyhow, at this point the game was quite enjoyable. But some aspects, unfortunately, seem a bit incoherent with the traditional gameplay concept of the series. Up to now, players could enjoy playing with their cute virtual Sims, competing in almost every field of human endeavor. Each time the game was all about mimicking real life. Hardcore fans might not grow to appreciate the new fantasy elements that were fitted into the gameplay. More mature players, especially those who enjoyed the game's long-lasting lighthearted ambiance and occasional sexual connotation, probably won't find the new colorful and childish ambiance all that entertaining. It's also a bit uncertain how average gamers will react to the combination of magic and the classic everyday chores like bathing, socializing, and other personal needs of their Sims. So, what did you expect? Even fully trained wizards must find the time to satisfy their basic needs. Once you spend several hours with the game, the magic aspect can loose its spark when a wizard returns from a magic duel straight back to his daily duties. (And wets himself in the living room! Some wizard! - 2Lions) It can be annoying when your wizard or witch refuses to perform a magic trick because they wish to watch TV or doze off.

In spite of occasional gameplay snags, The Sims: Makin' Magic can be a lot of fun. I think you'll all agree that the notion of having common pets like a goldfish, dog, or a gerbil is quite dreary. Thankfully, the game breaks the monotony by offering you a chance to hatch a faithful pet dragon, which, apart from being a very efficient garbage disposal unit, can also devour other tiny creatures. Players who are patient and persistent enough may eventually move into Magic Town, where they are allowed to experiment with a vast assortment of new theme objects. This time around, the game let's you go beyond the usual tedious interior decoration. In addition to cramming the household with spooky items, you get the opportunity to create a genuine carnival atmosphere outside your home. For example, it's possible to lay out pieces of track, in order to set up your very own roller coaster ride.

When it comes to graphics, we didn't expect a lot of improvements. The new locations and the additional objects used for decoration still offer the same old 2D scenery. As you probably figured out by now, the developers remained focused on enhancing all the new features, as a last effort to spice up the old gameplay before The Sims 2 ensues. Still, there are some new details slotted here and there. An array of new textures was put in for walls and floors. Other improvements include new sets, such as the Mediterranean-themed kitchen where you can enjoy the first-ever Baker's oven to bake stuff like cakes, bread, and pies. (Honestly, who gives a flying ... Frisbee? - 2Lions) As you can see, not all innovative objects and sets are there to liven up the atmosphere. Some of them were also designed with practical purposes in mind; such as the new windows enriched with candles, which can also be used to illuminate the area. Disappointingly, there's not much that can be said about the audio. There are a few new effects to be heard throughout the gameplay, but otherwise it's all the same as before. To be honest, to a degree, the same is true about the visuals. Only hard-core Sims fanatics will notice any changes. To the rest of us mere mortals, this will look just like another Sims expansion.

On a final note, it's a shame that the expansion pack still suffers from chronic issues, such as intermittent glitches in the AI. What happens is that your Sims can sometimes completely neglect the instructions they were given. What's more, we encountered a few path finding problems during the game. Although these issues won't obstruct the gameplay too much, we were kind of hoping they would be dealt with after seven expansion packs. I'm sure you also won't be surprised to hear that the camera is still jerky, even on high end machines, which is another recurring problem that has plagued the series.

Ironically, I think the abovementioned drawbacks; or any kind of advice us game reviewers can give them; won't deter true Sims devotees from buying Makin' Magic. They'll still drive to Wal-Mart and shell out $29.95 for the game, regardless of what I write here. The new additions are fun and fairly innovative, but I doubt they'll be enough to hold the attention of even slightly jaded Sims players for long.