- Site: The Sims Pet Stories
- Publisher: Aspyr
- Developer: EA Games
- Genre: Simulation
By Brad Cook
Some people rely on their pets to get them through difficult times in their lives. Others dont understand the allure of pet ownership under any circumstances. Sims are the same way, and Pet Stories illustrates those differences: Alice Whitt is facing the loss of her house, unless she can come up with 120,000 Simoleons to pay the bank, but at least she has her dog, Sam, to comfort her. Meanwhile, Stephen Loyal would like to focus on his career as an executive chef, but his life is turned upside down when he must take care of his cousins pet cat, Diva.
As in The Sims Life Stories, Pet Stories features those characters lives in Direct Story Mode, where you steer your Sims fates according to the plotlines. Alice inherited her grandparents house in Garden Heights and is determined to keep it, despite the rotten Diana DeBores attempts to foreclose on it. She just needs to figure out where to come up with all that money when shes an unemployed starving artist. Luckily, Garden Heights is full of dog lovers, and Alice could get all the Simoleons she needs if Sam wins the local dog show. And if Alice can give him the proper training first.
Over in the desert suburb of Mesa Flats, Stephen wound up taking care of Diva to make up for missing his cousins wedding. Hes not fond of animals, but he must do the best he can while planning the catering for the annual Midnight Masquerade Ball. On top of that, hes dating both Rachel and Erin, trying to decide which one is right for him, but a newcomer named Gordon Fetching is doing his best to ruin those efforts. Diva only adds to his misadventures.
Keeping Busy
As in the Sims 2 expansion pack Pets, Pet Stories tasks pet owners with training their animals, teaching them commands and tricks while scolding them for bad behaviors and praising them for good ones. You cant control your pets, but they come with predetermined personalities, and they develop positive and negative relationships with adult Sims. The game features over 70 breeds of dogs and more than 30 breeds of cats; Sims looking for low-maintenance pets can choose from fish or a hamster-like Womrat.
Like their owners, Sim pets can embark on careers that earn not only Simoleons but also gift codes that unlock all kinds of goodies. Those items can be shared with characters in The Sims 2, if you have that games Pets expansion pack. Pets can also produce offspring, another ability they share with their owners.
When Sims and their pets get tired of hanging around the house, they can look for fun elsewhere. Garden Heights and Mesa Flats, along with a third neighborhood called Arbor Falls, feature community lots with stores, pet training facilities, restaurants, parks, and more. Sims can travel there alone or with companions, meeting others during their trips and forging new relationships. They can buy new stuff at the stores, but dont forget that you can also download bonus items at the Pet Stories Web site.
Continuing Their Stories
Stephens and Alices stories continue beyond their conclusions, or you can select a pre-made family and move it into a home in any of the neighborhoods. You can also create your own human and pet Sims, customizing them to your hearts content, and you can even register new breeds of cats and dogs. If youd rather not use an existing lot, build your own house and move your new Sims, or an existing family, into it.
In addition to streamlining the gameplay mechanics by introducing keyboard shortcuts for important commands and making relationship development easier, Pet Stories was designed for quick sessions. The game runs in a window, allowing you to check e-mail and surf the Web while playing, and its graphics were optimized to run on laptops, so you can take Stephens and Alices drama anywhere. Pet Stories even features a laptop battery indicator.
No matter how you choose to play the game, youll learn a lot about human and animal behavior in Pet Stories. And dont be surprised if your pets teach you a thing or two as the wise Winnie the Pooh once said: Lots of people talk to animals. Not very many listen, though. Thats the problem.
Game Hardware
Check out our systems for your best gaming experience.
If you liked this game, check out:
- The Sims 2
- The Sims 2: Nightlife expansion pack
- The Sims 2: Open for Business expansion pack
- The Sims 2: Pets expansion pack
- The Sims 2: Seasons expansion pack
- The Sims 2: University expansion pack
- The Sims 2 Family Fun Stuff
- The Sims 2 Glamour Life Stuff
- The Sims 2 Happy Holiday Stuff
System Requirements:
- Mac OS X version 10.3.9 (10.4.8 recommended)
- 1GHz Intel or PowerPC G4 processor (1.8GHz recommended)
- 256MB of RAM (512MB recommended)
- 32MB video RAM (64MB recommended); GeForce FX5200 or ATI Radeon 9000 or better video card, or Intel GMA 950 chipset
- 3GB hard disk space
- DVD Drive
Cheat If You Must
Pet Stories uses many of the same cheat codes found in The Sims 2. As in that game, hold down the Control, Shift, and C keys at the same time to open the cheat code box. Type a code and press Return to activate it. To quickly return to a previously-entered code, press the up arrow. To stop entering cheat codes, type exit.
Note that you shouldnt use a comma in any codes that ask for a number.
The Codes
motherlode get 50,000 Simoleons
kaching get 1,000 Simoleons
unlockcareerrewards unlock all of the selected Sims career rewards
aspirationpoints(#) replace # with a number (but keep the parentheses) to give the selected Sim that many aspiration points
aging off keep all Sims on the lot from aging; type aging on to restore it
maxmotives max out the motives for all of the Sims on the lot
aspirationlevel(#) replace # with a number between 0 and 5, with 0 dropping the selected Sims aspiration meter into negative territory and 5 maxing it out
slowmotion # replace # with a number between 0 and 8 (keep the space after slowmotion, but dont worry about any parentheses), with 0 being the slowest game speed possible and 8 being normal game speed