The Sims Livin' Large Expansion Pack

New characters (including a gladiator and Xena-like warriors), and, more impressively, new decorations are the reasons to buy this game. The furnishings are mostly grouped by theme, with the medieval dungeon option the most authoritative of the bunch. (Little Cassandra Goth has been longing to read by torch light all along.)

Our personal favorite is the futuristic theme, with an optional, but expensive, maid/gardener robot to take care of the fabulous modern furnishings. Clearly the Sims team has been doing its research over at Herman Miller, and you'll have a bright red, flowing-foam sofa to show for it.

But it wouldn't be The Sims if only good taste prevailed. Bring on the mai tais with a tiki-heavy islander theme. There's also a startling collection of carpeting and objects best grouped under the design ideal we call "demented clown."

The attention-getting rarities include: a lame fortune-telling ball (our advice mostly centered around hiring a maid), a voodoo doll for hexing roommates, and a genie who delivers as much bad as good (dead plants, anyone?). And, yes, there's a vibrating bed to give your Sims the spice they've been missing.

While the expansion didn't blow us away, it did provide more of the humor and novelty true Sims die-hards will appreciate. With even more attention to detail than the original offering, EA deserves Sims-like applause for this edition. --Jennifer Buckendorff

Amazon.com Review
The Sims has sold millions of copies since its release, and now all those virtual voyeurs who bought it have a new bag of tricks to unleash on the unsuspecting inhabitants of their computers. The Livin' Large expansion pack comes with enough new items to buy, careers to pursue, and hilarious secrets to keep fans glued to their monitors until a full-fledged sequel appears.

Those of you who missed the phenomenon the first time around will have to buy a copy of the original game in order to use this add-on, but it's worth it. The Sims lets you create an entire neighborhood of digital people who all have their own unique personalities, jobs, relationships, and desires. Livin' Large takes this concept to new extremes, adding mad scientists, magical genies, and even the Grim Reaper to the mix. It also comes with more than 100 new objects to enhance your sims' dwellings. One desperately needed object is the robot maid, who handles all the housework for well-heeled sims, letting its owners focus on more important (and fun) things--such as the new vibra-bed.

Considering how many free objects and cool unofficial patches are available on the Internet, is Livin' Large worth the money? Definitely. The enhancements are of professional quality and really add a lot of surreal fun to the game. You also get new features, such as the ability to run five neighborhoods at the same time, and five fun new career paths to explore, such as Slacker and Musician. No fan of The Sims should miss this one. --T. Byrl Baker

Pros:

• Plenty of new items to buy and career paths to explore
• The ability to run 5 neighborhoods at once will keep you busy
• Much more humorous than the original release

• Some fans may not like the more surreal additions