Wednesday 10 December 2003

Pic of the day: Putting the "o-man" back in necromancy. Err. Anyway, screenshot from this game.

The Sims: Makin' Magic

Makin' Magic is the seventh and last expansion pack for the Sims. As well it should be, for the Sims2 is is expected to be released in 53 days. Admittedly Makin' Magic has been around for a few weeks too, and Sims2 is not likely to be available here in Norway until May.

Makin’ Magic is also the largest of the expansion packs. I was amazed to find a whopping 3 CDs in the box, but the third turned out to be a promotional for Maxis and the next game, Sims2. There were screenshots, video from the game, and video interviews with Maxis staff. In addition to the next game, there were also tidbits from the history of The Sims. But even without this CD, the game takes well over 1 gigabyte of hard disk space. Not a problem if you just bought a new computer, but insane by the standards of the original. The memory and processor requirements are also up a bit from the original. There is no way I could get this thing to run on the portable with Win98 and 32MB RAM where I first started to play The Sims.

That said, the graphics are the same as ever, only much more of them. The new 3D engine comes first in Sims2, which will feature arbitrary angles and zooms. MM is still sprite-based, with 4 different angles and 3 zooms. That said, there are more animations than ever, and the spell effects can be pretty nifty, especially in the magic duels. But I get ahead of myself.

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Makin’ Magic contains elements similar to several of the earlier expansion packs, but if I have to define it I would say it is a lifestyle expansion like Superstar. In Superstar, for the first time, you got some Sims that were more equal than others (the stars). In MM, you have another and more secret society within the society: The magic Sims. Whoever holds a magic wand is considered a magic Sim. But magic is also partly a family thing: The spells you have researched are available to the whole family, and the magic ambiance that builds up will effect the lot where your family lives. Since it is forbidden to perform magic outside Magic Town while non-mages watch, it can be very challenging to have only one magic Sim in the family. You should probably take your muggles to Magic Town, seek out the Mystery Man, and buy a magic wand for them too, even if they don’t intend to use it. (Of course, having little Harry evade the adults whenever he wants to cast a spell can be half the fun, for some players.)

Oh yes, Magic town. With Hot Date came the first external neighborhood, DownTown, where you could go to dance, dine and date. Then came Vacation Island, also an insular neighborhood. But with Unleashed came Old Town, which was a combined living and commercial area. You could even rezone from commercial to residential and the other way around. In Studio Town you were back to a self-contained commercial area again. Magic Town is like a compromise of these. You have a few residential lots, but they are separate from the original Sim Lane and Old Town. You cannot start in Sim Town, you have to be a high level magician to move in there. You then get a lot with a naturally higher magic ambiance and some other benefits. But at the same time, you say goodbye to good old Sim Lane.

Magic ambiance? Well, you see... as your Sims use magic, a magic residue lingers in the environment and causes unusual objects to appear in your garden. I haven’t had the opportunity to interact with these yet, but I understand that the crystals in particular are sought after for their magical properties. With the right crystals, Sims can teleport across the lot if they are in a hurry, or instantly put out fires (particularly useful if you have a pet dragon).

Pet dragon? Yes, you can buy a dragon egg (and some chew toys for later use) and hatch your own little dragon. You don’t need to have one, and probably should think twice if you don’t have the fire extinguisher spell ... besides, it kind of gives away that you are a magic user, don’t you think? But they eat trash (and flowers, admittedly) and you can get a couple nice ingredients from them. If you keep them fed and happy, they won’t set fire to the furniture very often ...

Ingredients? They are necessary for most types of magic. You can mix some of them in one apparatus to charge your magic wand. Others go into another machine to create charms, small magic objects that cast spells. Charms use your mechanical skill, and wand spells use your cooking skills, so it is probably a good idea to have a “high level” character already before you add this expansion. I started a new family, of course, so I haven’t come very far yet! I may have to come back on many of the details. But the first spell you learn is toadification, which temporarily transforms someone into a toad. Not very useful, and you should not do it while non-magical Sims watch. Which kind of negates much of the fun.

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The high level spells are almost like cheat codes. You can transform a pet into a human (permanently). You can transform an enemy into a friend (permanently, until you tick them off again). You can transform a friend into a love interest. You can make one person – or everyone on the lot – very happy. You can make yourself, or the pink flamingo, really good-looking (temporarily). If you are a kid, you can transform yourself into an adult (permanently). Sadly for all involved, there is no spell to make an adult into a kid... Not to say a pet!

But don’t think this is a walk in the park. In order to cast spells, you need ingredients. Even for the simple spells, most require ingredients that you need to buy with magic coin. You cannot exchange your good old § into magic coin. You have to earn them in Magic Town. You can make a few ingredients at home (a beehive will give wax and honey, and a magic spinning wheel will give thread for instance) and you may sell or exchange some of them for others. But you can also earn magic coins by performing magic tricks at the stages in Magic Town, or duel against other magic users (there are plenty of NPCs). Even if you lose, you get a small amount. (I still haven’t found out how to win the duel, as the interface is kind of non-intuitive.) The stage shows are pretty easy once you get your skills up.

Even when you have amassed magic coins, you cannot buy the rare ingredients for the high level spells. You have to quest for them, by talking to certain NPCs and perform tasks. The task can be simply to locate and buy an item the NPC needs, or it could be a magic feat you need to perform, or you may need to best the NPC at some competition. Nor will this give you a limitless supply ... you have to quest again when you need to recharge your magic. (How many charges you get out of the ingredients depends on your cooking and mechanical skills ... cooking for wand, mechanical for charms. So work on your skills first, pursue a magic career later, OK?)

What I'm trying to say is: Yes, high level magic is insanely powerful, like a cheat code. But with a cheat code you don't need to spend days of real time working your Sims' skills up and researching spells, then spend another half an hour dueling and questing for ingredients while your Sim demand rest breaks. I guess at the end it is worth it, when you transform your kitten into a beautiful girl and live happily ever after. But don't expect it to happen the first week, not if you have a job or school in real life.

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Kids have an easier time of it. They can gather their ingredients locally, although two of these depend on having a dragon. Perhaps you should download the magic cupboard from the Sims website, it lets you share ingredients with the whole family. This way, mom or dad could buy dragon scales and dragon tears instead of watching the little reptile burn down their home...

With Makin' Magic you also get a cheaper robot, in the form of a bone maid. You may still want to just banish all the dirty dishes with a spell, if you're in a hurry. But the point here is, you can buy the skeleton cupboard like any other piece of furniture, so basically you have a Servo at §4000, that's 11000 off list price! Perhaps that's not reason enough to buy Makin' Magic, but it comes close if you already have Unleashed. The time squeeze with this expansion is astounding (in part due to deliberate, unrealistic programming such as everyone turning at least a full circle around before taking their dishes.) I have recommended to not get Unleashed, and I still think you shouldn't install it unless you really really want the pets. But with a cheap skeletal maid, at least you don't need to clean up the dog pee every morning before going to work.

There are some other benefits for non-magic Sims too, such as the ability to grow new plants (gardening also came with Unleashed), make nectar and bake bread and cakes with a baker's oven. Magic Town can also be somewhat entertaining even if you don't believe in magic: It has quite a number of attractions, including roller coasters. Even so, Makin' Magic is really just that. It changes the game drastically, if you commit yourself and your Sims to the arts and crafts. For better or worse? If you or your kids liked Harry Potter, you could do worse than getting this one.