Seasons - The changing weather is a nice feature, but can occasionally be a hindrance to gameplay. The holidays are interesting the first one or two times, but become more of an annoyance or interruption to gameplay after that. There are a few cool additions when it comes to items to interact with, like ice skating and such, which are appreciated. While the functionality of the weather and holidays is interesting, and adds some changing flavor from day to day, the EP doesn't add much in terms of deeply enriching mechanics. This EP gets last place from me, even though the changing weather is nice and adds some much appreciated variety. (Let's be honest, weather variations should be standard in the base game at this point.)
Cats and Dogs - The majority of people I know prefer to have a pet in real life. I assume this carries over into playing The Sims. Some of my Sim households just don't feel complete without a fuzzy furbaby (pet) or two counted among them. They can make Sim families more entertaining, and add the interesting gameplay loop of taking care of the pet's needs, which are different enough from Sim needs that they don't get too stale too quickly. Taking your pet to a park is a nice distraction from your Sim's every day life. An occasional trip to the vet adds some unpredictable interest to owning a pet as well. The Brindleton Bay map and its default lots are lovely. This EP is my second must-have.
City Living - The addition of apartment lots is interesting, but not much different from owning a home, from a gameplay perspective. (You are, in fact, more limited in the ways you can customize the apartment lots, which could be a problem for some Simmers that focus more heavily on the building aspect.) The various festivals and events add a fun mechanic, one in which participation is optional and doesn't interfere with typical gameplay loops. The events can become less appealing after attending each a few times, but at least they are optional. The city itself, with its various default lots and venues, is really nice. This EP belongs in 3rd place, in my opinion (tied with Get to Work.)
Get Together - This EP adds one of the deepest and most enriching mechanics of all current EPs. The ability to form and customize clubs is wonderful. It adds a lot of options for changing up gameplay through "club gathering" events. Want to set up a fishing club where all of your buddies gather at a riverside cabin to compete over hooking the biggest catch? Do you want your single mother Sims to have a club of their own where they drink wine and practice yoga and to alleviate stress? You can do these things and more. Making special clubhouses adds a reason to build unique lots that you may not build otherwise. The clubs, paired with the new events, brings a neat and unique way to meet and bond with new Sims. Windenburg is beautiful, and the default lots and venues are very nicely built and styled. Of all the EPs released, this one seems to add the most "bang" in terms of depth, functionality and replayability. This one definitely gets my vote for #1 must-have.
Get to Work - The story-like control over a Sim's career progress is fun, but loses its appeal after playing through each career once or twice (as does owning a retail business.) The addition of the retail stores, and the ability to own one as a household business, is great, but the retail stores lack incentive to visit them as a customer. Building custom stores that sell items not available in the catalog is a good idea, but you'd first need a Sim able to produce such items as a store owner, then sell that business to make it NPC-run. This could make access to those special items easier in the long run, but it takes a lot of work up front, which may be more than it's worth. As they come, the default stores don't appear to be good for much. Having inevitable alien abductions is irritating, but they don't seem to happen too terribly frequently. The ability to turn them off entirely would be appreciated. (I understand the excitement in unpredictability, but I don't want my male Sims getting pregnant. Sorry. Having this as a forced feature in an EP focused on careers and business ownership is strange, in my opinion. An option to limit abductions to Sims in the Scientist career would be fantastic.) In terms of mechanics and functionality, this EP gets 3rd place from me (tied with City Living.)
Get Famous - Like the Get to Work careers, the various paths to fame are fun one or two times, but don't go far in terms of replayability. The fame perks and quirks are neat, and add some new interest to customizing your Sims. The addition of famous Sims is interesting, but can be irritating under certain circumstances. Is your Sim trying to enjoy a date at a restaurant? It can be a bit more difficult and time-consuming if a famous Sim walks into the restaurant. Your Sim and/or their date may continuously get up from the table to go gawk at the celebrity Sim. This can unexpectedly add frustration and time to any given outing. These famous Sims can interrupt any activity on a public lot, and they seem inexplicably drawn to your active Sim's location. They show up to cause amok nearly 90% of the time, which can become quite aggravating. The new map is nice, as are the default lots/venues, but the number of buildable lots seems low. Fourth place is the best I can give this EP.
