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- Reviewed on: 10/28/2003
- Released on: 10/28/2003
- Originally published on GameSpot: The Sims Makin' Magic (PC) Review
Maxis' world-renowned PC strategy game The Sims, which lets you create and control the lives of a virtual family of little computer people called "sims," has been extremely popular since its release in 2000. The game has also given rise to a total of seven expansion packs, and the latest and final of these is The Sims: Makin' Magic, which lets your family of sims learn how to use magic wands, potions, and spells to turn their unwanted neighbors into frogs, to shower themselves with riches, and to create other wondrous effects. While some of Makin' Magic's more-colorful additions seem a bit out of place, this final expansion pack adds plenty of new things for you and your sims to do.
Makin' Magic makes plenty of new additions to The Sims.
Like the last few expansion packs for The Sims, Makin' Magic adds a great many new household objects with which your sims can fill their houses. It also adds a new outdoor "lot" area, named Magic Town, which you can visit at any time. Here you can also completely scrap and redesign yourself. Like other expansion packs for The Sims, Makin' Magic also includes a few additional options that work with previous expansions. For instance, if you have The Sims: Unleashed, you can temporarily change one of your pets into a person. However, Makin' Magic also lets your sims use magic spells (which emphasize the logic, cooking, and mechanical skills) to circumvent mundane problems, like refilling personal needs (also known as "motives") such as hunger, fatigue, and social interfaction. Additionally, your sims can actually perform magic shows, similarly to how they could put on various types of shows in the previous expansion, Superstar. Many of these additions completely eliminate the need for common chores, like continually chatting up other sims to keep your social needs satisfied. For instance, in Makin' Magic, a child sim can magically create an imaginary best friend instead of having to hunt down other sims for conversation. However, the expansion's décor is much more colorful than that of the previous expansions. Specifically, the expansion's sparkly magic spells and brightly colored amusement parks seem like they might be more appealing to smaller children than to the more-mature fans of the series who enjoy The Sims for its tongue-in-cheek social commentary and risqué sexual innuendo.
Regardless, Makin' Magic gives you many new interesting things to do that will likely draw your attention away from constant bathroom breaks and naps. You begin a new game of Makin' Magic at home when a mystery man appears at your door to drop off new magical equipment, including a cauldron to formulate new spells, a new magic wand, and a handful of spell components. From there you can build a comfortable home business harvesting beeswax and elderberries. If you'd prefer, however, you can use these components as spell ingredients, or you can use them to barter for other spell components or magic items from various vendors in Magic Town.
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