Your Sims work hard for the money, and they need a vacation. Sims 2: Bon Voyage takes them on the trip of their dreams — or nightmares. As the latest in a string of expansions to The Sims 2, the game builds off of features introduced in previous expansions to give your Sims a place to take a break from life.

Sims 2: Bon Voyage comes with three vacation locations: Twikii Island (somewhat like Hawaii), Three Lakes (a mountainous location), and Takemizu Village (an Asian locale). Each destination has a different theme, but many of the same kinds of activities, such as exploring ruins, taking tours with a tour guide, shopping, and laying on the beach. You can learn local customs and gestures at each place. As you explore each location, you will accumulate experiences and items in your vacation memories screen, and your Sims can take snapshots of exciting moments. There are specific memories you can gather, which acts as sort of a checklist for your Sims. You can meet interesting locals with stories to tell, or you can dig for treasure and find a map to a secret island. Exploring is definitely in your Sims' best interest; they need to stay alert as well, as unsavory characters might steal their wallets during an unguarded moment.

To go on vacation, your Sim has to buy plane tickets by phone or computer. They can leave immediately or wait a few days, and the ticket cost changes accordingly. You can choose a hotel for your stay now or you can wait until you arrive. When it's time to leave, a shuttle whisks them off to the airport.

Once you've arrived at your chosen locale, you check into one of the resorts and pick a room to stay in. Depending upon the resort you choose, the accommodations will be either Spartan or luxurious, and priced accordingly. I do admit that I wish I could have not chosen a place to stay and been stuck sleeping on the beach or something like that. Also, if you run out of money they will just mail you a bill. If only it were that simple in real life.

With a home base selected, your Sims can start exploring the local features. The ability to walk to lots is a great addition here because you don't have to wait for a taxi. Also, you can now go to community lots alone even if you're on vacation with other Sims. This is fun when a Sim is worn out and wants to sleep, while another is wide awake and wants to lie on the beach. Time passes for everyone on vacation, though, and any Sims left behind pretty much don't do anything during that time. There's also something a bit glitchy with leaving for another lot when your companion is supposed to come but is otherwise occupied. The first Sim wanders off but the game waits for the second Sim to do the same before loading the new lot. On vacation, the Sims generally do what you want them to do — free will seems to be a little looser here — but sometimes it doesn't work out very well.

Your Sim can go on vacation alone, or they can take family members and friends with them. You aren't required to take the whole family on vacation, but if you have any little kids at home, you will have to leave someone in charge or else hire a nanny. This is pretty much the only realistic touch in the "going on vacation" experience, because otherwise no time passes. The mail doesn't pile up, none of the plants die, and those dirty dishes left in the sink don't stink up the place.

The fact that no time passes really highlights the biggest feature that I think was left out of the game. Now that parents can go away together, why can't we play as the kids left at home? You should be able to throw a party that totally destroys the house.

If you plan to take lots of vacations, your Sims can buy vacation homes in each destination instead of staying at a resort. These work just like regular homes, with furniture to buy and groceries to stock. When you consider that even the least expensive hotel on Twikii Island is about 500 Simoleons a night, it won't take long to save money through buying a home instead. I only wish they were more like real beach shacks and rustic cabins than the spitting image of the house you just left.

While I didn't try this feature out, you can also create new destination lots that are modeled off of the three existing destinations. I think this would be fun if you had something specific in mind, like a private owners-only type of place, but otherwise I don't see the need to go beyond what has already been provided.

Sims 2: Bon Voyage adds some new features that affect regular game play, too. For example, you can now invite Sims you've met on vacation to be houseguests for a several-day stay. Also, when returning from a good vacation, you can choose effects for each Sim that last for several days, such as an extra Want slot or a boost to your stats. When planning to get married, Sims can choose to plan a honeymoon, which will take them to one of the three vacation spots for a special vacation together. Finishing out the list, Sims can now wear jewelry such as necklaces.

With all of these new gameplay features in Sims 2: Bon Voyage, and the fact that it's the sixth major Sims 2 expansion, it's surprising to me that there hasn't been the slightest upgrade to the game engine or mechanics. Honestly, things are starting to feel a little bit poky. My fairly low-end computer, which ran the Sims 2 like a champ when it first came out, now chokes a bit on Sims 2: Bon Voyage, even though it exceeds the minimum system requirements. Loading takes a long time and camera movement can be sluggish. Updating my graphics drivers helped a bit. However, I hope we're nearing the end of the line for the Sims 2. I can't imagine putting more and more stuff into the same game at this point.

Sims 2: Bon Voyage is a great new expansion for the diehard Sims 2 fan that has spent lots of time with their Sims and wants some new gameplay opportunities. If you're new to the Sims 2, Sims 2: Bon Voyage shouldn't be the first expansion you choose, because I think other expansions like University or Open for Business add more to the game. Also, it feels like EA is nearing the limit of what they can do with the existing Sims 2 game. Generally, this game rounds out the Sims 2 experience very well and hopefully sets the stage for a future upgrade to the Sims universe.