The Grunts

If you followed any of the gameplay trailers for the Sims 2, you'll recognize Buzz Grunt from the movie that featured the alien tensions in Veronaville. Although that trailer ended on a positive note, with Pollinator Tech inviting Buzz over for a barbecue, things are unlikely to go so well in the real game, as Buzz is quite a Grouchy fellow, with an intense antipathy for both Pollinator and Olive Specter. (He may even have Wants related to beating those Sims in a fight.) The rest of the family is fairly screwed-up, as well, with each of the male sons having his own unique reaction to the stifling influence of their father. The one who'll be in the worst shape at the beginning of the scenario will be Ripp, but you should be able to quickly boost his Aspiration meter by inviting over Ophelia Negri and getting that all-important First Kiss. Be sure to wait until you actually have a Want for this before you initiate the First Kiss, though; doing it when the Want isn't up will make for a big boost to the daily relationship, but won't impact your Aspiration meter.

Tips
As you may have done with the Specter house, you might want to shift the main entrance to the house closer to the street. The Grunt household has one of the simplest designs in the game--it's just a rectangle--so feel free to knock down interior walls and move things around. There's a telescope stand in the backyard which is fairly pointless, so feel free to demolish it for cash.

The Beakers

The Beakers are a charming little family, what with the imprisonment of Nervous Subject and the forced human experimentation and all. After you play with the family for a little while, though, all the rage at this heinous act will fade from your body, leaving you with only a dull understanding of how Circe and Locke could do such a thing: Subject is one of the most annoying Sims in the entire game.

The reason for this is easily discerned by looking at his traits. It's clear that Subject's family has been living in the shallow end of the gene pool for a while, as he only has points in Active; everything else is set to zero, so he's a Grouch, and Sloppy, and Shy, and incredibly Serious. And Sneezy, too. This all has a rather deleterious effect on his socializing and controllability. The first thing you'll notice is that, due to his high Active score, he'll need more food than normal, and due to his incredible Sloppiness, he'll choose to Stuff Face at the fridge rather than actually make a meal. What's more, he's very difficult to dissuade when he gets his mind onto food; you can attempt to cancel out his interactions with the fridge all you like, but he will usually pop another one back up as soon as the first one disappears. So, that's fun. If you enjoy a challenge, feel free to stick with Subject; if not, try to move him out to a cheap lot, or just have him walk outside of the house and build a set of walls around him so that he can slowly die.

Tips
The layout of the Beaker house is actually pretty decent; they have the benefit of having a few of the nice career reward Skill-building items automatically installed. The only real sticking point here is the walk to the sidewalk, but there's little you can do about that.