The Sims: Makin's Magic is the seventh and last add-on for Maxis' original people simulator, The Sims. The Sims: Superstar will take your sims to Magic Town, where they will duel and perform magic to acquire ingredients, which can be used in various combinations to create various spells. When the game begins, a mystery man will drop by, and leave a magic starter kit in a box. You'll get a magic charger and a spellbook, along with ingredients to make your first spell. After that, it's up to you how to use magic wands, potions, and spells. The bulk of the game revolves around obtaining the ingredients necessary to mix up the various magic spells. If you don't have the right collection of ingredients, you'll end up with a disaster :)

The Sims: Makin's Magic features ability to travel via the Magic Portal to the all-new Magic Town location where Sims perform magic and duel to earn MagiCoins, which give them access to spell ingredients, ability to cast spells (every spell has a unique Backfire, including toad plagues, donkey heads, and lightning strike) and perform at the Side Show, Spook Show, Magic Dueling Arena, and Magic Trick Table (tricks and routines include everything from rabbit out of a hat and levitation to summoning ghosts and mummies), magic items including the Wand Charger and Charm Maker, Faerie Toy Box, Magic Crystals, and a Dragon Nest that hatches a Pet Dragon, ability to create basic ingredients with new skill objects, including the Bee Hive, Spinning Wheel, Butter Churn, and Nectar Press, grow and harvest grapes from Vine Plots and bake breads, pies, and cakes in Baker's Oven. The expansion also includes a new objects such as Popcorn Maker, Cotton Candy Stand, and the Ghoul-ash Cart, kitchen with an all-new Mediterranean Kitchen Set, featuring a new fridge, sink, stove, dishwasher, and a brand new Tea Set, and of course also new decorator set, including moving paintings, creaking stairs, and twisted trees, al new walls, floors, and roofs.

There's no doubt that The Sims series has been one of the most lucrative series in history. I know many gamers say that The Sims suck, but it's hard to ignore this game since it's the best selling game ever. And although the game is getting dated, people still play / buy it. Look at the top selling games every week. Surprisingly, this final expansion pack adds plenty of new things for you and your sims to do. It's almost hard to believe that the new additions are fun and fairly innovative. Either way, if you love it or hate it, Makin' Magic is out and it’s the end of the series. If you loved The Sims, you'll probably grab the expansion pack to complete your collection anyway. This final add-on will definitely occupy you before The Sims 2 comes out.

Minimum System Requirements: Win98/2k/XP (NT and ME are not supported), Pentium II 450 MHz or faster, 128 MB RAM, 4MB PCI or AGP video card capable of High Color (16-bit Color), 800x600 resolution display, DirectX 7.0 compatible, 4x CD-ROM, 1.3 GB HDD space.

Ed.Note: Acceptable minimum for playing is 1GHz CPU, 512MB RAM, Geforce2 MX 64MB