The Sims 4- A Review

Hello readers! Back to the more general posts tonight, & what a better way to get back into these than with another review? Two in a week- aren't you lucky! :) This is something I've wanted to write up for ages, as the experience I'm reviewing did happen almost a month ago, however, what with life being a bit all up in the air at the moment, I haven't had the chance to do so. But now that I have, let's crack on with it!

Tonight I'm giving another talk within the realms of my all-time favourite game series- The Sims. You may or may not know, but back at the end of January, in order to celebrate the 15th anniversary of the game, Maxis released a free 48-hour trial of The Sims 4 on Origin. I'd never been majorly excited by The Sims 4, from things I read & from seeing early screenshots I just didn't like the look of it- felt the graphics looked too cartoony & the fact that there were loading screens back in it again really put me off, seeing as the game had progressed to open world in Sims 3. However, a free trial is something to take advantage of & I was curious to give it a go- it is The Sims, after all!

I don't think I used the full 48 hours, but I think I managed to experience enough of the game in order to give it a review. As I only had a short while to explore, I wasn't able to go full-story mode like I do in Sims 3, however, I did create a brother & sister duo & gave them their own stories that I worked on whilst exploring the game. Overall, it wasn't as bad as I initially thought it might be, but if I'm being honest I still prefer Sims 3. Sims 4 did have good points, although the not-so-good points outweighed the good for me. Allow me to elaborate:

Good Points

• Emotions- The new emotions are my favourite feature of Sims 4, & what I believe is the most prominent in this latest addition. For those of you that don't know, Sims don't tend to have a lot of emotion- it's normally good, bad or in-between. In Sims 3, the mood can be affected by certain events, such as negative or positive life experiences. In Sims 4, there are a variety of emotions- inspired, flirty, sad & confident are some I experienced- again brought on by life experiences the Sims have. Unlike with it's predecessors, these emotions are more complex, allowing for new wishes to be made & they can even control actions. A Sim whose feeling confident, for example, has the option to "pee like a champ" (really, that's what it says!) & sad Sims can express their sorrows in the medium of art. By far the best thing about this game!

Emotions example: This is a painting my Sims did when he was sad. Very moving...

• Multitasking- Finally Sims have the ability to multi-task! Admittedly, they can do so a bit in Sims 3, but much like emotions, this is more prominent in Sims 4. Not a particularly major point in comparison to emotions, but I liked it.

• Graphics weren't as bad as I expected- One thing that put me off initially was the way the game looked. As I said earlier, it looked more cartoony, much like the versions of the game you'd see on social media as opposed to the game itself. Whilst actually playing though, it looked alright, I liked how the characters look, didn't look as flat & horrible as how I first saw them & their surroundings in screen shots.

My Sim, Greg. I want his hair...

Here we see Greg's sister, Glenda (green hair) playing chess in the park.

Not So Good Points

• Lack of customisation- One thing that's great about Sims 3 is the ability to have a huge amount of control over customising objects- from clothes to furniture- there are a number of textures & colours to choose from. In Sims 4, this is gone. Outfits & furniture can be customised, but the customisations have already been selected. For example, you can change the colour of a shirt, but the colour you can change it to has already been pre-selected.

• Create-A-Sim- The way Sims are created is another big part of the game. More areas of the body can be customised, however, I found navigating this new feature a bit tricky, especially with the face. The trick, I learned, is to click on the highlighted area of the body & then enlarge or reduce that area. Although this particular ability to customise is great, I personally prefer the use of sliders & diagrams, as found in Sims 3, as this enables a better selection of certain areas & allows an easier selection of finer details.

Took a few minutes to get Greg's face together. With glasses on I think he resembles a character in 'The League of Gentlemen'

• Build mode- To be fair, I'm not the biggest user of build mode anyway, I prefer playing with the Sims than building, but I thought I'd customise the initial house I bought in order to explore it, & although it wasn't much different to before, I found putting the roof on quite difficult & took me a few attempts. I wasn't overly impressed.

My addition to the original house. Thankfully, they kept the blueprint tool, which is something I liked about the new Build Mode.

• Loading screens- Now this is the worst! As I mentioned before, in Sims 3, the series progressed from the loading screens between lots to an open world, so this was one of the initial things that put me off the game & also my least favourite part of it. For starters, it's restricting- every time you want to go somewhere you have to wait a few minutes & stare at a loading screen. Plus, there's hardly anywhere to go in Sims 4, in comparison to the many community lots in Sims 3. Also, I feel it's taking a step back in terms of the Sims games- the open world is what drives the game forward in Sims 3, so to go back to loading screens in Sims 4 really is a shame.

In conclusion- I don't think Sims 4 is worth it. If Maxis had built on the emotions & somehow worked that into Sims 3 (which, as well as the open world & high customisation, has pretty much everything in expansion packs, including time travel), then they'd have an amazing game. Instead, they sacrificed one key element for another, & although the new element makes for a new & interesting game play, it also makes the game lose it's fun slightly by regressing to the singular lots format of Sims 1 & 2.

That's my view readers. Have any of you played Sims 4? If so, what do you think?

Thank you for reading! :)

Here's a better image of Glenda. Again, I want her hair!

Never Mind The B*llocks, Here's A Gig Review

Good evening readers! Seeing as I haven't yet gotten round to making the next part of my music challenge, I thought I'd treat you all to another gig review this evening, seeing as I haven't done one in ages.

On Friday I took my Mum to see The Sex Pistols Experience, a tribute to the prominent punk band of the late 1970s. I'd first heard of the group about a year or so ago, when my friend's Dad went to see them at the same venue. After telling my Mum about it (& that Eddie Tenpole was support), she expressed a great interest, so when I saw they were back in town again (5 days after her birthday, in fact), I told my Mum & got us tickets as part of her birthday present. Enjoying the music of the Sex Pistols myself & being a fan of live music, I thought it would be a good night- & I was correct!

The Sex Pistols Experience in action!

Much like when my friend's Dad went to the concert, The Sex Pistols Experience (who I'll be referring to as SPE for short from now on) were suppoerted by Eddie Tenpole. I had only heard two of his songs briefly- 'Who Killed Bambi?' & 'Swords Of A Thousand Men'- so I wasn't really familiar with his music or persona. My Mum was very excited to see him though, so I had the feeling he would have been good- & he was amazing! In fact, I think I enjoyed him more than the SPE! He had a fantastic stage presence & kept the audience entertained both with music & humour & his guitar playing was brilliant- incorporating both rhythm & melody into his strumming.

Eddie Tenpole- absolutely brilliant!

Now onto the main act- the SPE themselves! Fantastic set, unfortunately as I was not around to see the actual Sex Pistols live I cannot give a comparison to the actual band, but to me they did a pretty good job! Their Johnny Rotten looked menacing throughout- he even had a staring contest with Mum at one point! The band possessed a great energy & kept the audience engaged- much like Eddie Tenpole they used humour as well as the music, making amusing remarks to audience members who called out to them.

Overall, it was a good night. I hadn't listened to any Sex Pistols music in a while, so was great to hear it again! (Plus it turns out I know more 'Never Mind The Bollocks...' lyrics than Mum!) It was also great to hear the music of Eddie Tenpole- will definitely be giving his music a re-listen in the near future!

And that's that. Stay tuned as I return to the music challenge next week, fingers crossed I'll be showing you all a little something!

Thanks for reading! :D

Weekly Music Challenge Day #25- A Song That I Wish I Could Play On An Instrument

Hey readers! Welcome back to another edition of Music Monday. Rejigging the list order again this week, as I have a little something planned for a certain part of the challenge.

Moving swiftly on, tonight's challenge is to find a song I wish I could play on an instrument. Now this I could easily write a list for- there are too many songs out there I wish I could play! Usually the reason I say I can't is because I can't find the chords- will admit I'm not always the best when it comes to playing by ear- so for my song choice today I'll choose this:

'Liver' by The Hitchers

The reason why I choose this song among all the others in my mental list of songs I wish I could play is because I was thinking about trying to play it the other day. Actually, I did Chordify it earlier & it turns out the chords are pretty easy, so will have to give it a go soon!

That's it folks. Why not tell me a song you wish you could play on an instrument?

Thanks for reading! :)

Weekly Music Challenge Day #24- A Song That Makes Me Laugh

Hey readers! Hope you all had a good weekend! Firstly, I'd like to that everyone for the positive feedback I received regarding my last post- this was mainly done on Facebook & I do appreciate all the nice comments & understanding of my decision.

Now it's time for the return of Music Mondays! In the next few weeks I'll be completing my music challenge, although will change the ending slightly as I skipped one of the challenges due to a rather morbid nature.

So, onto this week's post. It's a nice one this week & a very easy one- a song that makes me laugh:

'America, Fuck Yeah!' from the Team America Soundtrack

I think the general piss-take nature of this song is what makes me laugh, & the fact it's so stupid! Every time it comes on my iPod I chuckle to myself- I just find it amusing that I have it on there!

What's your funny song readers? Leave your comments below!

A New Year, A New Beginning (And The Return From My Hiatus)

Hello readers! I’ve finally decided to return from my hiatus & I apologise that it’s taken a while. Life has been a bit here, there & everywhere since my last post, been busy with various things & because of other things I haven’t really felt like blogging. In fact, I’ve attempted this post a few times, but each time I just haven’t felt it, however, I feel that what I’m going to say needs to be the first thing I blog about upon my return as it will give context to any future posts, plus will answer some questions that those of you that know me IRL may have.

So, what is it that I feel the need to tell you? Well, my readers, I have made my biggest life decision to date- I have left Uni. “But why?” You may ask, well, allow me to explain:

To get to the point, I’ve decided I don’t want to be a graphic designer anymore. Now this isn’t a decision I made overnight, I’ve been uncertain of this choice since the end of last academic year when I started this blog, & although I enjoyed my course more upon my return, I ultimately decided it isn’t for me. I’ve been studying graphic design & it had been my aspiration since I was about 14, which was when I first started messing around in Photoshop. At first, I thought it was all about making things look nice & interesting, but when I got to college I started to explore a little more in-depth into the subject- learning about grid systems, typography & although my college course had it’s down points, it was a great course & I learned loads, plus I made some great things. Although I could’ve left education there & attempted to find a job in industry, I felt I wasn’t quite ready for the “real world” & that going to University would enable me to enhance my skills & get me experience in the industry & contacts. Oh how wrong I was.

University, if anything, did nothing to benefit my graphic design skills. Sure, I learnt a little more about what graphic design entails & got a glimpse at what the industry is like, but I personally think I haven’t made anything portfolio worthy since college. As you may well know, as I’m sure I’ve blogged about this at some point, I had some really demotivational lecturers in my first year & I started to lose passion for it then & actually said to myself that if I still didn’t enjoy the course after this first semester, then I would leave. However, I ended up enjoying it more, but in the stress & pressure leading up to my hand-in, I realised that this wasn’t what I wanted in life, & although I enjoy making & designing things, I’m really not that interested in graphic design on a deeper level.

I felt that graphic design was taking over my life. In college, my free time was minimal due to the amount of coursework I was doing. University increased this lack of free time- I found I’d feel guilty if I took time out to do something I enjoy, like watching a TV show, as that could be time better spent on coursework. Or I wouldn’t text people or socialise much as I wanted to get on with my work. So I thought- is this what I really want to do for the rest of my life? Do I really want a job where I’m literally working full time? Lecturers in my first year went on about staying up until 4am to finish work & meet deadlines- that’s not what I want. Plus graphic design isn’t a stable career- you’re up against everyone else chasing clients. I don’t want that either.

Here’s what I do want from life:

What I want is a stable job. A job where I can work set shifts & at the end of that working day I can come home, relax, & have time to myself. Play Sims, watch TV, do art for fun! I want to go to bed at a reasonable hour & if I do stay up late, it’ll be because I’m engrossed in a book, a TV show or game of Sims, not because I’m worrying about if a typeface works or what paper stock I should use. I don’t want to be chasing clients & competing with someone for my next paycheck- I want to know what I’ll be earning each month & have something stable- as long as it keeps me, fed, sheltered & clothed then that is fine by me. And at the end of the day, that is what matters. That, & being happy.

So what am I doing now? I’m taking some time out. I have a part-time job where I can gain extra shifts, & when I’m not doing that I can do whatever I please! I’ve gotten back into reading & am getting through the Futurama seasons. It’s great being able to watch things, chill out & just sort things out- even go into work- & not have to think about coursework & deadlines & how time spent on other things is affecting that. Eventually, I’ll get a full-time job, but for now I feel I need a break. I just need to sit back, enjoy myself & have some quality Amy time. Sure, I’ll still do art, but it’ll be done on the side & it’ll be stuff that I enjoy. Who knows, I could start to earn a few more extra pennies if I put more things on my Redbubble (or even start an Etsy page)?

And there we have it. A new year, a new beginning for me. As for this blog, I do want to get back into it like I did, but posts may not always be Mondays & Fridays. I may start to do it more sporadically, however, I will continue my music challenge until it finishes. After that, I’ll see what happens.

Thank you all for reading, if you do have any more questions, feel free to ask in the comments section below. I’ll be back Monday with my Music Challenge. J