Hot Date was always going to offer more than any of the previous expansion packs to the best selling PC Game, The Sims. Sim fans had always felt trapped at the fact that you could never take their Sims out of their houses. Well, in a way, you could - by calling up your Sim from another house and inviting them over, but you couldn't control them. You could send them out to work - but you wouldn't be able to see them there.

Hot Date, the third expansion pack to the game, (released after Livin' It Up and House Party) offered something new and exciting - the ability to call up a cab and take your Sims downtown. And, with The Sims: Vacation planned for UK release in April, it looks like the idea of taking your Sims out of their houses is going to be played on more.

I'm not sure why Maxis decided to let Sim fans have this new freedom. It was a welcome, but dramatic change to the way the game works. Maybe it was because they wanted to make up for the cancellation of SimsVille (which was expected to be a cross between Sim City and The Sims), or maybe they were running out of ideas for Sim expansion packs which involved staying at home.

The Sims is, in my opinion, the best game of control that you can find on the shelves. You create the people, design and furnish their houses and living enviroment, and control their lives, right down to whether they have a normal dinner, or decide to order pizza instead. Dating has always been a popular element to Sim gameplay, so Hot Date excellently adds more ways to interact with a loved one.

Before I go into the details, let me tell you about the system requirements:

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You will need -
Windows 95, 98 (Windows 2000 and NT not officially supported)
The Sims installed
266MHz Intel Pentium or AMD Processor
64 MB RAM (128 MB recommended if other expansion packs are installed)
4x CD ROM Drive
600 MB free hard disk space
2MB Video Card (compatible with DirectX 7.0)
DirectX 7.0 compatible sound card
Keyboard and mouse
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Let me give you one piece of advice before you install this game - if you have a perfect couple in mind, who don't already have feelings for each other, work on them before you install. Building up the perfect relationship is now much harder than it ever was before. Your Sims interests are now a big part of dating - the conversation can turn sour if you have nothing in common. Luckily, when you go downtown, you can buy magazines which you can take home with you - these help increase your Sim's interests in certain subjects.

There are many new ways to socialise in the Sims.

You can now ask:
How are you?
How's work?
What are you into?
Let's date
Let's hang out

This is a welcome addition to the game, since "How Are You" is probably what most of us ask at the beginning of any conversation, and yet, it has never been an option in the Sims before now!

When you want to go downtown, you can either click on the Sim in your household who you want to invite, or call up the Sim who you want to ask. When you invite somebody downtown, even if they are a member of your household, you cannot control them. You must keep an eye on their mood, because this has a dramatic effect on how successful your Sims' date is.

Or, if you prefer, you can go downtown alone, and talk with the many Sims who are there. This is an excellent way to make new friends and build up relationship scores needed for jobs.

There are a bunch of other people in the downtown area, who don't live in your neighbourhood. These are called "Townies" and you can also meet, talk and date these people.

Once your Sim has called the taxi, you can choose which part of downtown you want to go, depending on how you want your date to go. There's a beach, a park, and plenty of other places where your Sim can have a good time.

Time stands still at home while your Sim is downtown, but their needs still decrease over time - you'll have to get them home before their energy decreases too much. A lot of the other Sim needs can be satisfied downtown - such as Hunger and Fun.

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NEW NON-PLAYER CHARACTERS

A Sims expansion just wouldn't be the same without some good non-player characters, don't you think?

THE "OLD PRUDE"- Make sure that you don't kiss and cuddle too much on the streets of downtown. Otherwise, the old prude may get angry at your PDAs (Public Displays of Affection).

TOWNIES - As mentioned before, these Sims are not members of your neighbourhood and are usually downtown. Sim fans have reported that if you marry a townie, then you will have a lot of family friends, because townies get to meet so many people downtown.

VENDORS, WAITERS, ETC - When downtown you're likely to be served a hot dog by a vendor, or given your food by the waiters and waitresses.

CLAIRE THE BEAR - Watch out for Claire the Bear! When you're having a nice picnic, she can often come along to spoil things! Sim fans have also reported that she walks past your house in the middle of the night and routes through your rubbish bin on rare occasions!

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BUILDING

If the downtown lots created by Maxis do not interest you, then don't worry. By switching to Downtown View from the Neighbourhood, you can try your hand at building your own segment of downtown! Remember that each neighbourhood has their own downtown, so you could try having different types of places to visit for different neighbourhoods, much in the way that you have different houses in different neighbourhoods.

When building a place to visit - try to remember what your Sim will need on a date - food supply, fun things, toilets (VERY important!), so try to bring in at least one thing to satisfy each need.

Unfortunately, you can not have objects such as the Hot Dog Stall at home - only when building downtown!

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DATING & SOCIALISING

Dates can make or break your relationship, so make sure that you don't mess things up. Asking your Sim's date home for some "desserts" at the wrong time, can severly damage a relationship! While dating and socialising in The Sims used to be easy (Talk until 20 points, Hug until 40, etc.), this is no longer applicable. Now, if you try and perform the same action towards another Sim, then it will backfire for no apparant reason.

Matchmaking is now much more important. Does your perfect couple have similar interests? Since having Hot Date, I took my two Sims "Hubba Bubba" and "Bella Goth" downtown. They had been madly in love, but while dating, Bella decided to start talking about fashion. Hubba wasn't interested, and didn't hide it, and so the relationship score decreased slightly. Try buying magazines to help your Sim get interested in something.

You can find shops downtown where you can buy gifts for your date. Lollipops, chocolates and games are available, and the objects are added to your new inventory, and the "Give Gift" option will become available.

There is now more freedom in how to socialise with a date. You can now decide whether to fire a full-on passionate kiss on your date, a peck on the cheek, or maybe a polite kiss. There are even different types of hug, including "romantic" and "intimate". There are even new ways to brag and greet Sims. There's so much more to discover, and you can discover what makes a date successful through trial and error.

You can also gossip about the people on the next table. Sometimes this results in a right old giggle between two Sims, and sometimes backfires.

While you're out on a date, make sure you don't neglect the Sim who you invited out. SimTracy invited SimMike out, but Tracy started talking with everybody BUT him, so he went home angry and neglected.

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NEW OBJECTS

Hot Date includes more than 125 new items! Most of these can only be used downtown, because it would defeat the object of the game if you had an ice cream vendor parked permanantly outside your house!

The park includes a new pond, which is home to plenty of fish. Your Sims can buy fish food or rent a boat and play with it on the pond, increasing fun levels.

There's a nice little swing, which your perfect couple can use while on a date, and a picnic basket for use in the park - but watch out for Claire the Bear! There's even a special couch downtown known as the "Cuddle Couch". While Sims are waiting for their food to arrive, they can cuddle up together.

With 125 new objects, there is so much included in this expansion pack, and since Hot Date is so magical, I don't want to spoil too much for you.

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CONCLUSION... IS IT ANY GOOD?

Hot Date has to be the best Sims expansion pack yet. Some users reported problems during installation - I didn't have any problems installing as it all seemed pretty easy really. You do have to enter the House Party CD in order to copy files from that disk to the Hot Date disk, so I'm not sure whether you need House Party to play Hot Date, you're better off asking technical support about that one before you buy (maybe you could just enter the original CD).

The only problem is the amount of RAM that you need to play. 64 MB, and 128 MB if you have installed the other expansion packs. I had my computer upgraded in memory because Hot Date ran way too slow without enough RAM. Check your system specifications before you buy.

This expansion pack adds so much more to the original game - much more than I could ever have imagined. The only problem now is that I am addicted to both Hot Date and Ciao, and they both seem to get in the way of each other! Well now I'm doing a bit of both, doing some Ciao work, and talking about Hot Date.

The new objects, Non-Player characters, and social interactions are brilliant. This has to be the must-have of all the expansion packs, but with the others you have much more options for building downtown.

If you don't have this game yet - you are definately missing out!