Developer: EA/Maxis Publisher: EA
Reviewed by Delirium on 4/3/02

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First Impressions:

Before I discuss the game in detail, I wish to inform you that there is a patch for this expansion pack available at the main site for the game. It will repair several of the problems I discuss here. I find it disappointing, to say the least, that there are so many of those problems that I must bring up patching at the beginning of a review.

Graphics:

The new animations are the primary addition to the game's graphics. As always, the Sims' world is made up of two-dimensional sprites, among which they live as three-dimensional entities. (Fortunately, they don't seem to be long on philosophy, so the discrepancy doesn't bother them much.)

Sim animations fall into two categories: those associated with the use of an object, such as sitting in a chair or taking food from a refrigerator, and those independent of objects, like standing and having a conversation with each other, scratching themselves, or waving at the powers that be (you) and demanding something. Since there are new objects, there are indeed new actions associated with them. For instance, they can sit on a couch, cuddle and kiss, and perhaps steal a base or two - all within Teen rating limits, of course. The actions independent of objects, though, are fascinating and hilarious. They can size up each other's physical attributes (Check Out), display interest (Primp, Flex), kiss in any of several ways, or do less romantic things such as blow raspberries at each other or have slap-flailing "sissyfights".

As in all the expansion packs, there are some notable individual bugs, such as the "cuddle couch freeze", an object-related problem in which a Sim freezes in position with his arm around someone, then remains in that position even when his date gets up and walks away. A bigger problem is the gradual delay in scene changes and Sim movements until the game eventually freezes. It is a memory-related issue, as are so many of the troubles with the game in general.

One interesting glitch is the one that the online Sims gaming community has dubbed the "fit-to-skinny" bug. When Sims with the "Fit" body type change into a swimsuit, more often than not that suit will be adorning a "Skinny" body type. NPCs often take a dip as well -- and *their* associated bugs often result in sex and skin-shade changes for all but their heads!

Some of the graphics issues are remedied with the patch; it seems we must tolerate the others.

Sound/Music:

Sound is comparable to that of the regular game. The Sims have a few more phrases to say to each other; otherwise, it's the same old Simmish, and objects make sounds appropriate to their functions.

However, sound is a big issue in Hot Date. It was choppy, and got worse as game play continued. The Sims is a memory hog, and Hot Date excessively so. There is a lot going on downtown, from music to conversations to background noise:for example, there are two beach lots, and one can hear the sound of the surf there. The game must keep track of all of that, changing the volume and direction as you move through the area so as to suggest your distance from the sound sources, while performing the other routines necessary to control all the characters present on the lot. It's too much for a lot of systems to handle.

I'm speaking as one whose system exceeded the recommended configuration at the time I installed: an AMD Athlon 1.10 GHz processor, 128 MB RAM, 8x CD/DVD-ROM. For a recommended configuration, it should have run sound much better than it did. The sound improved considerably after I added another 128 MB of RAM. Yet, according to Maxis's recommendations, I shouldn't have had to do so. Furthermore, the game still staggers and crashes on my machine; it just takes longer now to reach that point. Excessive memory load is inherent in The Sims, and I'm used to it by now, but it has never before been so prevalent.

Like the graphics, the sound has its peculiar bugs. Sometimes the Sims become mute. Other times, the women speak with men's voices, and vice versa. These occurrences, however, are transitory. In my experience, both the graphics and sound troubles occur more often downtown than they do in the neighborhood, so it would seem that the newest features create the most problems. I do not know how people with less memory than my current 256MB are doing, sound-wise, after the patch. My own sound no longer stutters and lags, though the occasional vocal sex-changes remain. Is Maxis sending us some kind of strange message about gender?

Gameplay:

The most radical change is the new set of relationship dynamics. Experienced players know that Sim relationships are measured with a bar ranging from -100 to +100, with 0 being a point of complete neutrality. It's always been fairly easy, formulaic in fact, to raise a relationship score. A tried-and-true method is: talk until 30, compliment until 60, hug until 100. After I got them to 100, I'd have them hug a bit more, make sure they weren't hungry and didn't have to go to the bathroom, give a gift or two, and then propose marriage or cohabitation. Ta-dah: one new couple.

Those days are gone.

Relationship scores now have two yardsticks: the daily score and the lifetime score. They have different rates of change, and are affected by different factors. Now, a Sim and her mate can have disagreements (complete with nagging!), and the daily score will plunge, but the lifetime score remains fairly high, so if the Sims are sure to make up and stay nice, the daily score will rise to meet the lifetime score until all is well again.

On the other hand, you can meet a sexy new Townie, hit it off well, and have a daily score of 80 or so in one date, especially if you buy them something. Sims are crass materialists, and never more so than in this game, where they have restaurants to visit to treat dates to expensive meals, and stores in which to buy each other flowers, clothing and jewelry. Now, though, the lifetime score must be heeded: a date who barely knows you is unlikely to take well to a passionate overture or an invitation home! So, while bribery always helps, you've got to put some time into a relationship. This adds some realism (well, relative realism) to a game which was becoming far too predictable.

Other people from your neighborhood are also walking about, and their relationships are changing even as you play out those of your currently controlled Sim. You can come back to the neighborhood to find that you've lost a friend or two because their time is on a slightly different track than your own, or because they saw you downtown with some floozy! The jealousy between Sims has been incredibly heightened in Hot Date. The slightest thing can alter dynamics among people in chain reactions, including the interactions with the Townies. It's not all immediately apparent to the player, but these factors are being compiled and calculated behind the scenes. This, of course, is one of the things that makes the game eat memory at a fast clip, augmenting the graphics and sound problems. Fortunately, it's also a wonderful challenge, frustrating and engrossing.

Individual Sims have always had their own set of interests, which affect their relationships with other people. Until now, we could only determine those interests by watching their conversational balloons and noting whether a subject was enjoyed or disliked. Now, the levels of interest for each subject can be viewed in ten-point format, like the personality or skill points. There are several new interests in HD, so look for new symbols in those balloons. Sims can even read up on a subject by buying a magazine, raising their interest level, and impressing that person they dated last week with whom they had nothing to talk about.

Hot Date does, however, have this problematic relationship issue: it is now necessary to fall in love and get married in order to join a household. There is no longer the option to ask a non-romantic friend to move in. It used to be that an opposite-sex merger was a marriage, while a same-sex merger resulted in a roommate situation. Maxis has been surprisingly liberal about it, however; for instance, as long as two people in the household are in love with each other, there are random telephoned offers to allow them to adopt a child, regardless of gender. But now it's *all* based upon love and marriage. Coupled with the increased jealousy levels, this makes the game a bit too difficult in some ways. The household situations become delicate, to say the least.

Ah, the engineering issues! Take, for instance, the Sims' longtime talent for getting into "traffic jam" movement conflicts, which are pathing problems and patterns that leave them standing around shrugging at each other, rather than disentangling themselves from buildups of people at doorways. Hot Date has taken the little pixel-bundles to new heights of cluelessness. They go to swim in a pool, walk out onto a diving board, then inexplicably turn around and get back off the board. This conflicts with the Sim waiting to take the next dive, and they stare helplessly at each other for Sim-hours. The waiters and waitresses in the restaurants lead their patrons to the table, then stand in the way of one of the Sims getting into his seat, which could be fixed by the waitress getting out of the way - except that once the patrons have begun to sit down, the waitress cannot move until both of them are seated. And the bathrooms - you thought they got stuck in bathrooms before? Now there's an NPC janitor who is singularly obsessed with cleaning a toilet as soon as possible after it is used, and stands watch outside it, regardless of the fact that she's keeping the Sim from being able to exit the stall.

There are lots of little conflicts like this that should have been ironed out in beta. Too many of them are solvable only by exiting the downtown area without saving, which destroys any progress the Sim has made in social relationships while there. Having to exit abruptly was not so much of a problem in the game before now, because relationships were not so dependent upon every small encounter. But now it changes a lot of things, wasting the effort the player has put into the game.

Again, the patch repairs most of these things, but why are so many of them even there?

Enjoyment:

Despite the bugs, Hot Date is still the most fun I've had with The Sims since the day I brought the original game home and played it for ten straight hours. At the core, it's the same game, but it was also like having a new one. Shortly after purchasing Hot Date, I had to leave town for a weekend, and all I could think about was getting back home to my computer! I'm glad that it's become more challenging, and I think it's more fun.

Multiplayer:

N/A

Overall Impression:

Maxis has eventually put out fixes and additions for each new Sims expansion pack, but from what I have read and heard among the community, most people would much rather have waited for a less buggy game than have gotten it as a holiday gift with its current flaws, if those were the two choices. A new release, especially one this complicated, is bound to have bugs, and that's why there are patches. This is the third expansion pack released, and the fourth CD altogether. By now, shouldn't they at least have adjusted their testing methods?

I expect a few negative issues with any game. However, what most dampens my enthusiasm for Hot Date is the preponderance of problems that could have been avoided with some forethought and patience on the part of the programmers. I might have given up on this expansion, at least until problems were addressed and fixes were offered, except that I have to face it: this thing is innovative. Maxis has broken ground with The Sims, and this expansion has the greatest number of possibilities yet for the very-much-involved player community.

You do not have to download and install the patch to play the game, though I highly recommend it. Some people have reported that they've had no significant problems without it. It may depend on one's method of play. I myself seemed to have fewer problems than most people. However, I reiterate that I am an experienced player, and I have a computer system which considerably exceeds the stated minimum requirements.

Marketing Efforts Towards Women:

Maxis does not appear to market directly to women; the things that make The Sims work in the market are word of mouth, and the strength and mutual support of the player community. I find no easily detectable sexism in the game. Men and women behave in essentially the same ways. The only difference that comes to mind at the moment is that the women in The Sims complain when the toilet seat's up.