Makin’ Magic starts off simple. You head to a saved house or move in a new Sim, then a mystery man shows up with a box of magic. The box contains everything a Sim needs to look up spells, conjure up magic, and cast your first spell on an unsuspecting friend or neighbor.

The family spell book is a machine where Sims can look up various spells. The book will show the ingredients needed for each spell, but you won’t find out what it does until you mix them together. Ingredients like toadstools, butter, and honey need to be added to the wand charger. Next the Sim takes the wand included in the box and charges it with the ingredients. The box contains all the ingredients needed to make the Toadification spell. It turns any Sim you cast upon into a hopping toad. But like all spells in Makin’ Magic they can backfire. In the Toadification backfire, your own Sim hops into a temporary toad form.

To gather more ingredients and create different spells the Sims have to travel to Magic Town. Each destination, be it Clowntastic Land or Vernon's Vault, have a unique flavor. There’s plenty to do in each location – socialize with gypsies, ride new roller coasters, barter for hard-to-find ingredients, or perform your own magic. Standard Simoleans won’t cut it to buy all magic ingredients. Sims need Magicoins, the preferred magical currency, to purchase rare items to create bigger, better spells. They're also used to purchase a residential lot in Magic Town. Magicoins can be earned by performing at various town locations.

If you don’t feel like gathering ingredients you can make some at home. New magic objects can be purchased to make golden thread, honey, and other magic ingredients. You can even buy a skeleton maid that tidies up the house.

There is a lot of new stuff to do in Makin’ Magic but it never strays from the most fundamental aspect of the game – taking care of your Sim. You’ll want to explore the new areas and create new spells. But you can’t when your Sim is hungry, needs to pee, is bored, or needs rest. At low points your Sim will refuse to do any magic even will Free Will turned off. It gets annoying when you just want to try out new stuff and there’s no way to mess around for long without Sim-caring consequences.

The in-game music has the magic touch. There's frolicking organ music in light-hearted tunes to match the title's whimsical feel. Magic Town is alive with colorful visuals and characters. The magic spells and Sim reactions are in line with the top-notch acting expected in the series.

The Sim interface doesn’t work well for spell making. Each ingredient has to be added separately with the standard “ring of options” interface. Then the wand needs to be charged in a separate action. It’s tiresome and a revised interface would make things much smoother.

There’s a lot of a magic to make here and the new aspects are fun and entertaining. More tutorials other than the first box and an updated interface would work well. But if you have time and patience to balance Sim-caring and magic, this expansion is a keeper.