There are other strange oversights in the game that make it more frustrating than it should be. Most adventure missions have goals that appear in the worldview map that lets you figure where you have to go next. But some don’t, and the difference is immense. I had to find two old relics and so thought of buying them at the store. This didn’t work towards completing my adventure, so instead I had to look around the map (pixel hunt, really) until I found some areas I could excavate. Even worse was the mission where I had to find a small red assassin bug that kept disappearing from both views. Don’t get me started about trying to find the tent salesman.

So why go on all this adventuring? Well, for some reason the governments of Egypt, France, and China only grant longer visas to people who have earned Visa points by running these cruel little errands and have desecrated enough tombs. You’ll initially only be able to stay for three days, which is a terribly short journey considering you’ll still have to eat, sleep, shower and do all of the other annoying little things you need to keep your Sim happy. You’ll find precious few hours to explore and adventure; if there was a way to take a “vacation” from some of the more boring aspects of the Sims, this expansion would be much more appealing. You’ll have to take several short, expensive three day vacations in order to ensure Visa points sufficient to take longer five and seven day vacations. Eventually, you’ll be able to earn the right to buy a second home at a vacation spot but this seems rather unnecessary if you’ve already explored the area through weeks of vacation. Your Sim ages on vacation just like they do in their home town, and so you can spend a better part of your Sim’s life traveling and exploring just so they can earn the right to permanently travel and explore the same areas. That is, of course, until they die.

While the locations don’t play particularly different and the longer trips just grant you more of the same, I found sending more than one Sim on vacation provided more variety in gameplay. Then, I would guide two or three of my characters on their various adventures or as they satisfied various lifegoals. Since the transit times between locations are fairly long, I found I always had time to switch to another character and direct them to a new location or objective.

My Sim and his girlfriend both learned the martial arts skill, which is just another of many skills to learn. The reason I liked this one in particular is because by having my two Sims spar, they were both able to gain experience. I also enjoyed watching my Sim get beat up by a wooden dummy and later break his hand trying to break a concrete block. The costumes and belts you earn were also a nice inclusion by the developers.