Surprisingly, it isn't. It's actually a pretty fun expansion. The magic is quite nicely done. I was expecting it to really unbalance stuff, but it's about the same as the genie/voodoo doll stuff they already have in. And it backfires, horribly.
In all the years I've played the Sims, I've only ever had one accidental Sim fatality (Plenty of deliberate deaths), accidentally being burned to death the first time I ever played the game - Of course before I knew the whole thing about cooking skill affecting oven fires. Within two days of the new expansion being installed, I've had two deaths, both due to the new magic. First time, Bella Goth, attempting to enchant the fridge, sets off a fireball which catches her and burns her to death before the fireman can rescue her. Mortimer luckily got to the Reaper, but tied the rock/paper/scissors, so I was left with Bella as a Zombie.
Fair enough, I can handle that.
Next day when I'm playing, Mortimer is bucking for promotion at work, has all the pre-requisites for it, but is in a bad mood. So I have Bella cast a 'Get Happy' spell on him. It backfired and reduced all his bars to nothing mere minutes before his car arrives. In desperation, I cast the spell again, it backfires, and in the space of seconds, Mortimer starves to death. And I lose against the Reaper.
Reload time.
So now I'm left back with just Bella being a Zombie.
It adds a few more items and skins, but nothing really stands out above the new magic stuff, but I always like new stuff.
There is a slight feel of Harry Potter to it. Sims are separated into 'Magic' and 'Non Magic' people, and non magic people may as well be called Muggles. You get in trouble for using magic around non-magic people. But overall it's pretty good.
Overall, it's one of the good Sims expansions, which is good because it's very probably the last. Sims 2 is just on the horizon (This expansion actually comes with a preview cd for Sims 2, and it looks just lucious). As with any Sims product, if you like the Sims, you'll want this expansion. If you don't like the Sims, then why are you reading this page?
Back to Games list