| The Sims 2: Seasons | |
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| Developer(s) | Maxis |
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| Release | 1 March 2007 |
The Sims 2: Seasons is an expansion pack for the 2004 life simulation video game The Sims 2, developed by Maxis and published by Electronic Arts. The fifth expansion pack for the game, it was released 1 March 2007. Seasons introduces weather and seasons to the game, as well as new gameplay features such as gardening, fishing, and supernatural human-plant hybrids known as PlantSims.
Seasons adds a defined seasonal cycle and various weather effects to the game. This cycle affects sims' moods, relationships, skills, and needs, as well as the environment and objects. The introduction of gardening and fishing allows sims to grow plants, catch fish, and use them for cooking, selling, or decorating, adding new in-game income streams and expanding the range of talents a sim can develop. Seasons is also the first expansion pack to introduce a new in-game neighbourhood, Riverblossom Hills, which is themed as a countryside town; it has six occupied houses and several pre-made families and characters.
Though The Sims 2 was originally intended to include simulated weather during its development, unresolvable bugs resulted in these plan being shelved. Development for Seasons began in May 2006; it was reportedly a complex expansion to create. The soundtrack for Seasons featured real-world artists, particularly the British singer-songwriter Lily Allen, who became the first musician to release a music video made using the game's machinima functions.
Upon release, Seasons was a critical and commercial success. It was praised for its complex and intricate changes to The Sims 2's gameplay, juxtaposed with the more visible alterations of previous expansion packs. Seasons has served as a major influence on later entries in the series; both The Sims 3 and The Sims 4 have had weather-focused expansion packs, which have been compared both favourably and unfavourably to the Sims 2 rendition.