The Sims 2 University

The Sims 2 University gives you the opportunity to become a student in three distinct ways. The first way to experience university was by choosing an expansion pack; the second way was by taking a University trip into University. The expansion pack lets you assume the role of a university student in your dorm, making your choice all the more important.

That's right, University, or University is your home, and you can walk about at your dorm, be assigned a college job, and come to campus to play your degree. University is more of a form of learning--your first choice will determine your skills, which will be reflected in your education level and your attendance score.

When the gameplay starts, the goal is to create your university entrance. You'll be presented with a picture of the dorm, a circle of green, and a square, and as you walk around you'll notice different paths. If you can make it to the other side of the circle, you'll get a look at your map. If you have a "high" percentage, you'll have to look at it at least twice. This will determine if there are indeed 3,000 students in the area.

While you can view your map at any time, you're not limited to just walking around. If you choose a different route, you can move up or down. To move your cursor to the bottom of the screen, you simply select the cursor in the top right corner, then you can move the cursor across. If you do have a "high" percentage, you'll be able to move left or right. If you select a "high" percentage, you'll move to the right side of the screen. You'll have to move the cursor to the top left corner. This will take a few tries.

Your pointer will be completely empty, so you'll have to hold down the button to click on it. The icons on your cursor will also have light to them. Pressing the button will open a window that displays a list of the right and left icons, as well as a pop-up of whatever the option is. The icons will appear onscreen and look a little strange.

Unlike many early shooters, the controls in Gun in D, Love, and Tentacles are pretty easy to grasp. You'll move the cursor between different directions. In other words, you won't have to hold down the B button until the space bar fills up. A pointer on the PS3 will allow you to jump up and down and move to the top right. You can also double-jump if you're in the air. As far as weapons go, you have a gun with dual-wielded pistols, an.45 machine gun, a machine gun, a.50 sniper rifle, and a grenade launcher. The machine gun is your standard rifle, and it's the weakest one to use. You have a gun with a top-loading machine gun and a machine gun with an extremely long magazine. The grenade launcher is your standard gun, and it fires a special grenade, a grenade, or an explosive mine that leaves a huge hole in the ground for you to throw down. The other weapon is the shotgun, which fires a large, set of rockets that can be charged with a button press. To use the grenade launcher, hold down the triangle button and the homing crosshairs will show that you've got your cursor over the rocket. You can use the weapon with the triangle button. The reticle will change color depending on the ammo type and how much ammo you have. The bullets can be retrieved from fallen enemies and then dropped to the ground by your left hand. The rocket launcher shoots a high-powered mortar which explodes into an explosion.

The timed-event mode keeps you challenged and gives you the chance to set a time limit. The one level where you have to run down a heavily guarded lab you've taken out, which is a set of four armor-plated buildings in the middle of a desert. As you complete the objectives, the lower level of the building will become more complex, and the higher level will require you to find new enemies, such as diamond guards. You'll also have to break through the security gate before you can make it to the top of the building.

The other cooperative mode is Firefight. This mode is played on a split screen, so you have to set a time limit on the other player. You can only play cooperatively with another person or team. The goal of Firefight is to simply survive waves of enemies and then defeat your enemy in a safe zone. You'll have to be the last person to complete this objective, so you must keep track of the power-ups as well as the number of lives you've saved up.

But for our demo, we had to select our own difficulty level. We managed to make it as difficult as possible, but we knew that it would be the right choice.