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!

The Sims: You're Playing It Wrong!

Hello readers! To celebrate the fact that I've managed to get The Sims 3 to work on my PC (admittedly only base game version at the moment, but still at least I can play!) I've decided to dedicate this Friday's post to my all-time favourite computer game- The Sims.

Back before I reset my computer & I was playing Sims with World Adventures, will reinstall soon now I've got my game to work!

As those of you that know me in real life know & those of you who don't have probably guessed, I love The Sims & have done since I was about 9 or 10. I recall the early days of playing Sims 1 on the PC & Playstation- PC version is definitely the best! Then when Sims 2 arrived- finally they could properly grow up & be a bit more like real life! And then Sims 3- at last an open neighbourhood! I loved them all & I feel that the versions have improved over time (although Sims 4 looks pretty shit, but let's not go into that). Although I'm not the proper 'hardcore gamer' type, I can say that Sims is the game that can keep me hooked for hours, & once I've played I'm addicted for a good few weeks after.

I know what some of you are thinking- "How on Earth can you play it for hours? It's so boring!" Well, in response to that, I give you the post's title, which is a quote I once used semi-jokingly in conversation with a friend of mine who did say it was "boring"- you're playing it wrong. That's right. An open game where you have the ability to do pretty much whatever you like & I reckon that you're playing it wrong. Well, not wrong as such, as there is no wrong way you can play The Sims, but I feel as though you're not making the most of what the game has to offer. Allow me to elaborate:

There are a few different types of Sims players:

• The Killer

This is the person who plays Sims purely for the sake of killing off their characters, be it by fire, drowning or death by flies.

• The Builder

The person who, at some point in the future, would love a career in interior design & uses the game's tools to express their creativity. Or people who just really enjoy building houses &/or community lots.

A house I built this week. Bottom left- downstairs & right- upstairs. :)

• The Virtual Life Liver

The person who creates themselves & their family or friends as Sims & plays the game with them, in a way living a virtual life through the lives of their Sims. This type of player may also 'live out' any fantasies they have with celebrities &/or fictional characters.

• The Storyteller

This is the person who uses the game to play out stories for their own original characters, although they could also do it with their favourite fictional characters. Either way is good.

Those of are four main categories I'd put Simmers into & I can honestly say I've been in each category at some point in my life as a Simmer. I used to enjoy killing Sims off in my younger days, on many an occasion on Sims 1 did I trap a Sim in a room full of chairs & set the firework off. Death by flies was a favourite of mine in Sims 2, which had some of the best deaths (& life experiences, for that matter) out of any of the games. Building wise, usually this isn't my cup of tea & I put my families into the pre-made houses, although recently I've felt like building a couple of things, including the house in the photo above. I also built a rather bad nightclub/bar, but what can you do with only the base game?

Once in Sims 2 I did create my family, however, after my Sim-self was beaten up, I decided to delete this virtual version, besides, I prefer to create my own original characters. Which brings me to the present day Simmer me, who is a storyteller- I create Sim families & give them stories, as families & for the individual characters. My current family are based on characters I've thought of for a novel which I may or may not get round to writing.

The main Sim in my current family. :)

Personally, I feel that storytelling is the best way to play The Sims. The game itself gives you the ability to create whoever & whatever you like & truly unleash your imagination, something I feel is best taken advantage of. The Sims 3 especially allows this, what with all the customisable clothes, furniture & enhanced Create-A-Sim, plus the open neighbourhood means that there's less time spent in front of loading screens. I always find with The Sims that I always keep advancing the story in some way, making my Sims work on their skills, relationships or any other activity that I feel fits with their story. This is what makes this game so addictive for me, as, when I do manage to pull myself away, I find myself thinking about what could happen next. How do I continue the legacy of my Sims? It's this freedom & creativity that makes the game so brilliant & this method of play being the one that makes the game fun & keeping you on it for hours.

Sure, killing Sims is fun, but there are only so many ways in which you can do it, even on Sims 2. Building can be fun too (as I have found this week), but it can get tedious after a while (which is why I don't do it often). And I imagine it must be quite amusing to simulate (no pun intended) real life in the game, although can be rather tragic when your Sim-self gets beaten up, killed or worse, expelled. Hence why storytelling is the better mode of gameplay, & can in fact incorporate all of these elements.

The Father of my current family. Looks pretty sad for someone who's watching TV...

At the end of the day, it's up to you how you play The Sims. We're all individuals & I am just one among the many Simmers here on Planet Earth. I personally prefer to play the way I do & find it more fun to play out my stories, but if you prefer to play it another way then that's absolutely fine. Who am I to tell you how to play The Sims? I can give advice, but as I've said, each to their own.

I hope you've all enjoyed today's post! Any Simmers out there want to share their gameplay method? If so, feel free to leave a comment! :)

Happy Simming folks, & thanks for reading! :D

The game I eventually want to play. It looks AMAZING! :D