As a life long Simmer I have to admit I’ve always been a Sims 2 girl. Its undeniably my favourite because its simple, there are a billion fan made mods and custom items available, it has all the expansions you need for mindless God playing fun and while keeping many aspects from the first game, it progressed the story from the original Sims in new and interesting ways.
Everything since has been rehashing old ideas while throwing out as much overpriced content as possible. Admittedly the problem began in Sims 2 with the birth of “stuff packs” like Ikea and H&M. (Really!? People paid for these?) But when Sims 3 began charging on the online community for hair and make up? Crazy! A business is out to make money, obviously EA is no different! But when one of the biggest selling points of your game is that it is easily customisable giving fans the freedom to create their own world and let their imagination run free, really you’re sticking two fingers up at your target market! You’ll notice Sims 4 custom content is now free. 😉
In all honesty while my sister loves the game, I can’t really be fair about the Sims 3 as I can’t load it on my laptop without it crashing the whole thing, and on my main computer the game is so riddled with bugs that playing it is a chore. Bugs including things like insisting I sign in to play and then refusing me access to my account via the game for weeks at a time for reasons
never explained, but no problem accessing the site outside the game. On my sisters account she sent one on her celebrity characters away on a world tour (which is encouraged so they can visit your online friends), thanks to a bug this character has never been seen again, much to the rage of said sister having lost her favourite most worked on Sim! The game did have some interesting content ideas initially with expansions like the World Adventures pack, but it all fast became a yet another cash grab with overpriced overrated stuff packs, the Katy Perry expansion being a prime example (which is a shame as I am a big fan).
Until now I have avoided Sims 4. As if the extortionate price wasn’t enough to deter me (currently £44.99 on Game.co.uk just for the STANDARD edition!!) I have heard many complaints of missing basic content and a severe lack of classic aspects like detailed customisation. I was waiting for something new and exciting, some new ideas, instead we were given less than ever!
Today I gave the game a try, (if my siblings are willing to fork out that much money I might as well give it a go). I have to give it credit, the graphics are so realistic that I felt my Sim watching and judging me the entire time I created the face, making grumbling noises, her eyes following. A little creepy but it shows just how far along the game has come from the original first game. You can now alter tone of voice and style of walk which are nice little details. The game also had the typical Sims ability to leave me questioning where the last 6 hours of my life went!
The majority of that time was actually spent yelling at the game! Haha. I had to reset mouse controls to that of previous games it was frustrating me so much, actions that should have been simple left me chasing my Sim wondering what the hell she was doing! As for bugs… Well much fun was had when my character somehow set fire to the kitchen. My sister kept telling me, “its ok, the fire alarm is going off so your Sim will run to safety, the fire department will arrive, put out the blaze and you will be paid insurance for the damaged items.”
Did this happen? Hell no!! My entire kitchen was engulfed, it started spreading to the living room so I decided to put out the blaze myself. After 3 attempts to extinguish my poor burning Sim in the shower it told me I was unable to use the shower because a fire was in progress! Luckily I managed to get her to extinguish the fire herself, mood wrecked, house wrecked, funds gone after repairs, Sim half dead and mightily pissed off! Lol. I wish I had captured it on video but this was my first experience of the non-existent fire brigade and pointless alarm so keeping my Sim alive became my priority. Needless to say while entertaining, I learned not to trust the game.
The Sims 4 has potential, I like what I have seen from “Get to Work” but have not yet tried it myself. All the games are highly addictive when they work and if you can afford to keep buying the expansions, but never more have I had to scour the reviews of YouTubers to tell me if a game is really worth my hard earned cash. I find the stuff packs to be more expensive and more disappointing than any of the previous games. “The Sims 4 – Get Together” is on its way, and this old faithful Simmer still holds out hope they can get back on track with the awesome addictive games they are so capable of.