*****

Teen Style is a 'stuff' pack that consists of a number of new objects and outfits made exclusively for teens and their bedrooms/game rooms, and also features a few new teen outfits based upon social groups such as 'goth' and 'socialite'.

All stuff packs are far smaller than actual Expansion Packs and contain much less content; however, they do fill a niche that is left out in the actual expansions.
These packs are quite expensive so it is all down to consumer choice; whether or not the niche that is being filled is important to you or not.

Like my other stuff pack reviews, I will explain the 'facts' surrounding the pack first and then follow up with my personal opinion.



-The Facts-


-Specs

The stuff pack requires at the very least:

OS: Windows Vista, XP, Me, 2000, or 98

Installed: The Sims 2 for Windows

CPU: 1.0 GHz or faster

RAM: 256 MB or more

Disc Drive: 8x or faster CD/DVD drive

Hard Drive: At least 350 MB of free space

Sound: DirectX 9.0 compatible

Video: DirectX 9.0 compatible
Video card must have 32 MB or more memory and one of these T&L capable chipsets:

ATI Radeon 8500 or greater;
NVIDIA GeForce2 GTS or greater


-The Order

Although not necessary, all eps and stuff packs should be installed in the order of the date they are released. This is because each pack contains a patch for the previous game.


-Buying & Building

The sims 2 Teen Style, as the name suggests, provides items exclusively designed for teens. There are a number of themed bedroom sets along with co-coordinated outfits. Themes include dark and gothic to pink princess.
Pictures of all of these items can be found on thesims2.com.


-Clothing

The clothing provided in Teen Style is only available to teen sims and no other age groups will see any other benefit from this pack.
The clothes are themed to suit specific social groups such as socialites, goths and sporty teens. Pictures of all clothing can be found on thesims2.com.



-My Opinion-


-Specs

As mentioned in my H&M review, the specs listed on the box can be deceiving. Meeting the minimum specs alone will not allow for decent game play, if at all. In my experience, the Sims 2 requires a computer that is as powerful as possible. It is common Sims 2 community knowledge to take the specs they give you and multiply them to provide the 'real' minimum specs. Below is a more accurate estimation of the specifications you will need:

OS: Windows Vista, XP, Me, 2000, or 98

Installed: The Sims 2 for Windows

CPU: 2.0 GHz or faster

RAM: 1 GB or more

Disc Drive: 8x or faster CD/DVD drive

Hard Drive: At least 1.5GB of free space

Sound: DirectX 9.0 compatible

Video: DirectX 9.0 compatible
Video card must have 32 MB or more memory and one of these T&L capable chipsets:

ATI Radeon 8500 or greater;
NVIDIA GeForce2 GTS or greater;



-The Website

When considering buying a stuff pack, the Sims2.com website proves especially useful. It provides individual pictures of most items contained within the pack so it can help you decide whether or not the stuff pack will meet your tastes or requirements.


-The Order

Personally, I insist that my games are all installed in the order that they were released. This ensures that the patches are linear and should help to avoid bug problems. While this isn't entirely necessary, I would advise doing the same if possible.


-Buying & Building

Personally, I like sim teens and I have quite a few of them running around in my game. While I've never considered there to be a lack of objects for teens, you can never have enough of a good thing. I love some of the new items, particularly the gothic themed objects (although I'm not a goth myself) because they seem to have been invested with the most creativity.

Although a lot of items such as wardrobes and beds are designed specifically for teen bedrooms, a number of the items - such as chairs and tables - could be easily implemented to other areas of the house and I have done so quite successfully.

The only thing that bugs me is the pink furniture; it seems more suited to a child, a barbie obsessed lunatic, or a fluffy-brained playboy model (see; barbie obsessed lunatic).


-Clothing

To be honest, I wasn't terribly impressed with the clothing section of this pack. Although aptly themed clothing was provided, there isn't enough for each theme, and it would be silly to dress every single goth teen in the same outfit; especially since the whole point of having the pack is to gain more choice. The outfits that are in the game are very good and it would appear that a fair amount of design work has gone into them; unfortunately there just aren't enough of them. Ultimately, the pack is nice if you make sim teens, useless if you don't.


-Conclusion = So is it fun?

As mentioned earlier in the review, the purposes of stuff packs is to fill a niche and their worth depends entirely on how interested a player is with the contents of the pack.
I absolutely adored the goth themed items and I don't know how I would build sim houses without them these days.
Like all stuff packs, I felt myself wanting more items and clothing than were provided; however, I was able to find the pack relatively cheap (5.98 from ASDA with free delivery); I doubt that I would have been impressed had I paid the full 9.99 recommended retail.