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Sims 2 Open for Business, The

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8.7 User Score:

Generally favorable reviews

Based on 29 critic reviews
How did we calculate this?

Based on 20 votes
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Game Info

Publisher: Electronic Arts

Developer: Maxis

Genre(s): Simulation, Strategy

Players: 1

ESRB Rating: T (Teen)

Release Date: February 28, 2006

Summary

The world is your entrepreneurial oyster in this all-new The Sims 2 expansion pack, allowing you to experience the victories and challenges associated with creating, owning and running your own business. From the layout and merchandise, to the employees and materials, you choose what your Sim needs to create a profitable and fun business. In The Sims 2 Open for Business, your Sims will learn what it takes to build a clientele and keep loyal customers happy while improving employee morale and managing a lucrative business. Players can even help their Sims to create and craft new items to sell and meet customer demands. As each customer is different, you’ll be able to apply sales techniques to woo even the most discriminating shopper. Dress your employees in wacky outfits to entertain cranky customers or drop the price for an unsure browser. From training, promoting, hiring and firing, you’re ultimately the boss who calls all the shots! [Electronic Arts]

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Also On The Web: Official Website

What The Critics Said

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

2404.org

While Open for Business adds new places and new objects, its true value is in adding another huge gameplay element to an already outstanding title. As an expansion pack, it includes more new content and better gameplay than several other stand-alone games.

AceGamez

It's a fantastic expansion, probably the best to date, especially when combined with the expansion that came out prior to this, Nightlife.

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Gamers' Temple

The Sims 2: Open for Business opens up an entirely new and utterly fascinating aspect of play for your sims.

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GamerNode

In the end, The Sims 2: Open for Business is definitely one of the best expansion packs to be released for The Sims series. Although earning profit can be difficult at first, it really isn't too hard managing your business.

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Armchair Empire

Open for Business will require you to put aside the leisurely pursuits of your Sims, roll up your sleeves and put in a hard day’s work to succeed. But in gameplay and fun, this is the most rewarding payday you’ll find in any Sims game.

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PC Gameworld

If you want to turn your Sims 2 game into a business management simulation with more details and customization features than you can shake a stick at, then Open For Business is for you.

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Cheat Code Central

There is just enough realism in Open for Business to make this challenging even for boring economic students, but it's still a lot of fun for Sims fans that have come to know and love the wacky characters and unpredictable situations that you run into in The Sims universe.

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My Gamer

This game is what you make it- if you find you're not enjoying it, try something drastically different. As in all Sims titles, the only limit is your imagination.

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Pelit (Finland)

Yet another decent add-on for The Sims 2. However, the theme is not as interesting as the previous two, and sometimes it feels like there are too many things for the virtual people to do. [Mar 2006]

Game Chronicles

This new expansion adds a new level of challenge to the game and a significantly fresh aspect of gameplay, though few new items and ordinary social interactions, so you may want to keep this in mind if you’re considering investing in this particular expansion.

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Next Level Gaming

If you are a fan of the series then my guess is that you already have this expansion and are enjoying it. If do not have the original then I would recommend picking yourself up a copy.

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eToychest

A deep and imaginative addition that anyone addicted to the Sims 2 will want to pick up. If you're not in that category, this expansion offers very little to you.

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GameSpot

By introducing new job-related skills, the ability to hire and fire employees, and a healthy number of new items, Open for Business makes it fun to put your sims to work.

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GameSpy

By itself Open for Business may not be a must-have, but paired with "NightLife," the two packs together will probably add hundreds of hours of gameplay to the series. Running a restaurant, building a trendy nightclub, creating a megastore, opening a cozy little coffee shop -- these kinds of challenges will keep you entertained for months to come.

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Yahoo! Games

The economic model is robust enough to keep things interesting and the complexities of running a business will keep players hopping.

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Loaded Inc

Open for Business isn’t one of those expansions that are so good that they make you want to go out and buy the original game just so you can play it. Having said that, this title is the best of the three expansions currently available for "The Sims 2."

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G4 TV

Far from a frivolous extra, Open for Business delivers as much fresh gameplay as many “complete” games.

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DailyGame

A perfectly logical expansion, if not a perfectly intuitive and enjoyable one at times. In other words, it's like real life.

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IGN

This is probably my least favorite of the expansions to this point. That's not saying it's bad, it just takes more work than I want to put into it.

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PC Format

Playing shop is fun and there's enough here for Sim-ophiles. [Apr 2006, p.91]

PC Zone UK

Even though it feels so very wrong to say this, Open For Business is a Sims expansion worth buying.

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Game Informer

Open for Business doesn't take advantage of the Sims' best qualities and also falls short as a stand-alone idea. [Apr 2006, p.131]

1UP

It's a tougher -- and leaner -- game than its older expansion-pack siblings, but isn't starting your own business all about being the toughest and leanest?

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PALGN

One of the best expansion packs released for The Sims yet. Letting your Sims have their own businesses seems like a natural progression and the business element is deep, it isn't just a tacked on inclusion.

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Eurogamer

Anybody with an actual Sims fetish will love it to bits. Granted it can be fiddly and confusing to start with (why hide so much of the critical new stuff in the depths of the catalogue?), but once you're up and running there's a definite attraction to it.

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VideoGamer

For once, it's an expansion pack that does exactly what it says on the box. It broadens the experience of the already panoramically wide core game enough to justify a purchase.

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Computer Games Magazine

There's enough new stuff to see to last maybe three or four sim lifetimes, which is a pretty good deal for your $35. [July 2006, p.58]

PC Gamer UK

While everything works, there are a few odd quirks which don't exactly break the game but do make it a little bizarre. [May 2006, p.89]

PC Gamer

Unfortunately, there's so much frantic micromanagement involved in keeping your biz going that you scarcely have any time to do anything that feels like play. [May 2006, p.102]

What Our Users Said

The average user rating for this game is 8.7 (out of 10) based on 20 User Votes

Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Bailey O. gave it a10:
This is definetly the best game i have ever played! I get to make all different things and run my own business I love it!

Samuel L. gave it a5:
Electronic Arts specializes in what it does best; selling one-eighteenth of a finished project in a $50.00 box and leaving people hanging for more. The concept for The Sims 2 is brilliant, allowing people to simulate a virtual life - to a point. The game focuses mostly on comic relief and mischief rather than full-fledged simulation (sorry, fans of Grand Theft Auto, this is a gun-free game), and while the graphics are appealing, they certainly do not have the eye-candy in-your-face dynamic landscape and lighting kick presented by Valve's Half Life 2. This is one of many of the game's expansion packs that costs over $30.00 a piece for a few objects, animations, costumes, and sounds. The creative juice of the game is left to the players, who crank out millions of custom content monthly. However, the main strife with the game is that it is laden with bugs, annoyances, and things that just get in the way, that of which is solved by custom content mods and hacks. If EA/Maxis falls back on this cushion for too long (and it already is), the quality of the series will diminish quickly.

Jordan gave it a9:
Best expansion so far for me. Adds alot of extra option for you to consider and give you much more depth and complexivity to the game which I like. May not be for simpler more laid back gamers for for those who want the extra challenge than this is an essential pack. The game did ship with a few small bugs that affected quite a few people but there are both official and unoficial patches and hack that fix these.

[Anonymous] gave it an8:
Not bad, needs some bugs worked out though :P

Arnaud D. gave it a10:
very original game

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Sims 2 Open for Business, The

Game Info

Summary

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