A lot, and I mean a LOT of Simmers play with aliens. What's the big thing about them? They look different, I guess, but why do so many people play them?

And also, what's so cool about Strangetown? I have trouble navigating my way around the town there, and the whole desert-alien-area 51 thing is cool, but doesn't seem very nice to play, more of a decoration or a picture, I suppose. Plus you have that darn fake Bella Goth running around.

Why do you like either/both of these so much?

Because aliens look different, they have very extreme personalities (I have one who has 10 Neat points and 0 Nice points and will punch you over the right to clean the toilet; his twin brother has 0 Neat points and 10 Nice points), and in an unmodded, uncheated, pre-FT game they are very hard to get. (I went three REAL LIFE years between abductions before I learned the stop-start trick.) Depending on playstyle, you can give them special abilities, too. For instance, I have a mod that has the side effect of allowing all sims to teleport anywhere at any time. I usually only use it in emergencies, such as the time my sim got trapped in a corner, since it's faster than rearranging the furniture. However, my alien twins will be able to teleport wherever they want because aliens should have special powers like that, I think.

Strangetown was the most interesting premade hood to start in for me. (I don't like soap operas, and think Romeo and Juliet is not only not romantic, but is rather stupid, so Pleasantview and Veronaville were right out.) However, once I had the hang of game mechanics, which would have been after my first (27 hour long) play session, I switched to building my own hoods. I don't understand the appeal of any of the premade hoods. There is at least one very popular story out there about Strangetown, which probably adds to the cool factor. (I don't get that either.)

The really nice thing, though, is that I don't have to understand the appeal of the premade hoods or the popularity of stories about them. If other people are enjoying them, that's fantastic! If I prefer to do my own thing, that's okay too! It's a big world and an endlessly customizable game, and we can all have fun just the way we like to have fun.

I didn't 'get' Strangetown when I first got Sims 2. It took me moving out west and then moving away before I really fell in love with that little town - I got homesick!

I mean, I like aliens and the implications how alien hybrids now have to navigate between their alien and Sim cultures or how it really doesn't even matter to them at all. True: aliens don't get any cool powers like vampires or werewolves do, but they were base-game creatures and I suspect that their abilities are limited to outer-space and our aliens are really Sims. And then you get the other sims who already live there and if you really get into the stories, there's huge potential for science vs. military and where technology can go wrong...

I also like fake Bella Goth (or is she really the fake?). She could be Bella Goth, unable to ever go home again or she could be a very good lookalike, trying to create her own identity.

Well since Esme already did all the work of posting most of my thoughts lol, I'll just agree with everything she just wrote.

Like the Area-51/Roswell/Supernatural vibe, but running up against the limits of the preexisting Sims? Want some new ideas on how to play Strangetown-like 'hoods without having to copy the storylines EAxis decided to ship the game with? Give a listen to the podcast Welcome to Night Vale, and you should have no shortage of inspiration! (if you haven't heard it, think "The News from Lake Wobegon" as told by Stephen King.")

Well, let's see, what's cool about having actual canon villains - not one, not two, not three, but FOUR canon villains - Buzz, Olive, Loki, and Circe (who has the scariest bio in all simdom), and the child of death, and abductions, and a retired alien living in the closest thing to Leave it to Beaver he could swing, and three adorable socially-inept nerds living in an impossible house and having babies and oh, dear, the Grunt family that just breaks your heart because they're so SAD and disfunctional, and the child of death who OMG I have to rescue him, yes he behaves badly but it's because he's so damaged -

There's more going on in this neighborhood than all the others combined, strong personalities with interesting backstories and so much misery to repair!

@Peni Griffin says it all

Also the aliens are cute.

Because alien babies are so much cuter, too!

Strangetown is the only EAxis hood I'd ever consider playing (I did play it briefly when the game was released). It's the only one with characters that are even slightly interesting (to me anyway).

I like Strangetown because it's so, well, strange. The story is a lot different from any other premade neighborhoods, TS2 and others, and the characters are very versatile. Though I have to admit when I was younger my fave was Pleasantview, and I only got so much into Strangetown after I played TS2 for PSP (which is set in Strangetown), and got to know the characters better.

As for aliens, I think they look cool, and I like incorporating them into my stories. But I don't give them any supernatural powers - though most of them do turn out to be good scientists or something like that, I like to think that aliens tend to be into science. It's also a good way to have a single male Sim, or a gay couple, reproduce naturally (if you don't have any mods, though I now play with the mod for getting both genders pregnant).

In one of my old Megahoods, I had a story that aliens were trying to take over the world by populating it with alien babies (through 'host' Sims who were kidnapped and forced to give birth to them) I eventually had more alien babies than Sim babies (thanks to FT benefits)

I have not really played the preemade hoods. I started playing back in 09 and made a new hood where I fooled around and learned the game. After that I made a new hood and that one is still going strong.

Oh and I love my alien sims. Have alot of em. Used a few different Multi-Pollination Technicians so they are quit different.

And this... is why even after 15 years and 3 .. err versions? and even some offshoots, that The Sims is still a very popular game. It allows for so many different ideas and story lines. Allows you to play at just building, at story telling, and at creating items that make nicer houses and Sims.

You can play with all sorts of Sims that are magical, mythical, or alien. Or you can totally ignore any or all of these and play with just the Sims themselves. It's all up to a players preference as to what they like or don't like.

For me, I'm I don't think Strangetown and the aliens are all that cool. I mean, I don't mind the idea of aliens and the sci-fi aspect of it, I actually love sci-fi however, I strongly dislike the way the aliens were done by maxis. When I last played I modded out the plant sims, the witches, the werewolves, the vampires, and of course the aliens. They just don't suit my play style.

When, and I hope it's soon now :D, I get my game set up the way I want it to be, I plan on checkin out the various multi PT's and see if they don't suit my liking better than the maxis aliens since I do like the varied skintones and the alien idea.

@Peni Griffin fixing? I don't think it's needed, well... just Olive, who needs to complete her tombstone collection (love playing with her that I aged her down with the genie and now every sim must be careful whe she's around!)

Well, if you don't happen to enjoy misery; or specifically enjoy fixing it! Personally one of the reasons I got into sims (at a particularly frustrating part of my life) was that you can force the little buggers to be happy whether they want to be or not.

If you're the sort to torture your sims, then of course Strangetown gives you a head start...

Strangetown is my favourite ever neighbourhood for several reasons, but mostly because the characters of the sims there are so complex, detailed - even the community lots have back stories (and secrets).

For example - take General Buzz Grunt. He seems to be so harsh on his two eldest sons, but then is so friendly towards Buck who looks like his deceased wife. Why did his wife leave him, and go to Olive Specter's house of all places? What has he got against aliens? And then his bio informs us that he enjoys barbershop quartet singing! So just here is quite a complex character with an interesting backstory and developed personality.

I find it really hard to articulate why I love Strangetown so much. The closest I can come to describing it is that there's just something about the place. I think you can tell the Maxis team worked hard on making the characters have depth, and in creating several interesting storylines. I feel that unlike in other neighbourhoods, there isn't really a set or typical way to play this neighbourhood. I might come back to this comment later because I feel like I did a lousy job, but Strangetown is definitely worth a play!

@Zarathustra WTNV is my life! Not really, but its pretty awesome

Igonring the fact that I don't like deserts, I think Strangetown is pretty cool. The isolated, yet not enirely alone feel that comes with it. Which is weird since I get weirded out pretty easily and if I lived somewhere like that I'm pretty sure I'd have a severe case of paranoia. Strangetown also has an air of mystery to it. When I started listening to Welcome To Night Vale, I realised that I finally found something that someone else made that makes me feel exactly the way playing a family in Strangetown would feel. And Pollination Technician 9 is just one a whole new level of coolness. Aliens are green, but a really cool green, not like plant sims. The fact that their eyes could be alien eyes or normal Sim eyes is pretty cool too. I seem to be saying pretty cool a lot today. That is not très good. Ooh ooh, Nervous Subject is just adorable!

Seriously though, listen to Night Vale (Cecil's voice is incrdible)

Aliens are pretty cool :D
I don't play them as if they were too different (no special skills or powers or anything like that) but I've always assumed that they would have some trouble fitting in any hood - probably Strangetown being an exception as there is so many of them! - because, well, being half alien is kinda weird xD

I also like them to have children because you never know if their offspring will be alien-like or human-like.
Giving them a Family aspiration can be so much fun - what will happen? Will the neighbourhood be soon crowded of little green babies... or will they blend in and next generation will be perfectly normal for human standards? (Hell, yes, I love TS2 genetics, I've said it so often lately.)



And Strangetown is defintely my favourite premade hood.
It's so dysfunctional!! ^o^
The families stories are quite twisted (I mean it as a good thing), it's so surreal that you can really make anything happen there.
I've restarted it a few times and I'm sure I'll do again in the future.

Why is Strangetown awesome? Well, for me, it's because of... General Buzz's potty training face:

I like Strangetown because it just has so many stories and so much potential; Loki and Circe's evil genius, Olive Specter's past and murders, the Grunt family and their drama, the Curious-Smith clan and their drama, Nervous and his supernatural descent.

As for the aliens, they can be as cool as you want them to be depending on what you do with them. For me, I explore the background of a lot of things they do

I was quickly strolling down that page when I saw that pic and stopped me dead in my tracks. LOL

Personally, I like aliens because of the genetics. I have a PT mod with four different PTs so my aliens don't look like the original maxis ones, but I like seeing how long the green skin tone will be passed through the generations. I also enjoy the rare moment when I get a sim with a normal skin tone and the black alien eyes. Then there is always the twist in the story line when an unsuspecting sim gets abducted and has to fit a new little baby into their life who is so obviously different. Also, I have a mod that allows abductions to end in not only pregnancy, but also the abducted sim could return as a vampire, witch, werewolf, or any supernatural due to the aliens' experiments....

As far as Strangetown, I have only played that hood a very very little bit, maybe a week in the many years I have had the game, so I can't tell you much about that.

LOL! Imagine what I was like when I saw Buzz doing it, live.

Strangetown is the only Maxis hood I ever really bonded with, for all the reasons outlined in the other comments. I'm not here for As The World Turns, I'm here for...ALF? Third Rock from the Sun? There's just something about a town with creepy and otherworldly goings-on, with characters that are sort of funky but still sympathetic. And who still might set themselves on fire while making a grilled cheese.

It's also the only hood that makes the game's vast expanse of nothingness beyond the lots work in its favor, heightening the sense of isolation instead of reminding you that you're playing a game in a fake dollhouse town. Idk what it is about it exactly, but if I'm not making my own hoods, I always come back to Strangetown.

Everyone loves a good drama and Strangetown has tons of it!

Plus, aliens add something different to the game. With a few tweaks here, some skins and other things there, you can have tons of different races of aliens just roaming about- some hostile, some neutral, others a mix of the two. It's like a whole new world has opened up for you to discover.