Note: This is a critique of both The Sims and the House Party expansion pak combined.

Addictive, original, socially-oriented, and well-made are just a few adjectives to describe this breakthrough game.

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1) The game is basically a computerized version of doll house, which is a game that many people in the western world played when they were kids, so there's some familiarity that can attract people.

2) The game is the first that I have ever seen with this much focus on being socially oriented: You can create sims with their own unique personalities, the statics are of a social nature (neat, outgoing, active, etc.), when many of the objective are reached the player is rewarded with an emotional response, you can socially interact with other sims, and so on. The game's socially oriented nature makes it lend itself nicely to a female audience.

3) The game's originality also lends itself nicely to the hardcore audience.

4) The game play is very addictive. Whenever I play, I am constantly dealing out commands, telling the sims to go there, do this, interact that way, and so on. There is also a steady stream of gratifications. I'm always one step away from making a new friend, getting another promotion, getting more money, being able to buy new furature, etc.

5) The game is basically what you do in real life, but it's pretend so you get to live out any fantasies you might have with your sims. It allows players to express themselves

6) As in all sim games, you cannot loose. You never die, never loose to much, and never get a game over. The player spends almost all of her time making progress, rather than getting frustrated.

7) Contrary to popular belief, this game does NOT require any eye-hand coordination.

8) There's lots of different kinds of funature, wallpaper, landscaping plants, and there's just a really big palette of stuff that you can use to create your own fantasy house, and fantasy lifestyle. The House Party expansion gives you even more options.

9) The talking in gibberish made a lot of sense. If the sims were talking in english, then they would be saying the same repeditive phrases over and over, and it would get very annoying. The gibberish also makes sense because it's really most important that the player understand the emotions that the sims are feeling, rather than what they're saying.

10) There are some strategic elements to the game play: you have to strategically place your funiture so that it's easily accessible, strategically make friends, strategically make it so you'll be in a good mood to go to work, strategically plan a make-believe story, and so on.

11) Quite possibly the most sophisticated AI the games industry has ever seen.

12) The House Party expansion give player the opportunity to create make believe party situations with their sims.

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1)The AI is so sophisticated, they won't go to work because they're too busy eating, doing dishes, sleeping, and other things that are obviously more important than going to work. Even the most active of all sims won't go to work until she has finished her delicious breakfast. They also fall asleep on the floor by themselves, don't greet guests when they come to the door after they have personally invited them, they won't build relationships by themselves, they will spend 2 hours standing in one spot because their pathfinding is busy figuring it out, and sometimes they will walk out the back door of the house, circumnavigate the house, and then get into the car to go to work.

2) I thought that the House Party expansion would fix the problem with sims building relationships too slowly, but to my dismay it didn't. It was a HUGE disappointment.

3) System requirement a little high.

4) Building relationships is a very tedious task. It's also the part of the game that requires the most maintenance. Maybe that is the way it is in real life too, but real life isn't always the most fun.