Sims 3: Reviewed (PC)

A lot of changes have happened since we saw the very first creation of a sim type game called Little Computer People way back in the 80′s.  Maxis took hold of sim games by the scruff of the neck when they first produced Sim City and have never looked back.

EA have now given over a whole division dedicated to The Sims and as we enter our third major evolution of the game (I am not counting the ludicrous amount of expansion packs or spin offs there have been) things are about to get a whole lot more creative, a whole lot deeper and a whole lot more fun.

The Sims series, as you already know, is a testament in itself to elaborate design, creativity and unlimited imagination where the only thing that will hold you back is you.  Sims 3 comes with the largest toolset to date to enable you to create your sim the way you want offering millions of variations in clothing, hair, eyes, accessories and now also come with personalities for the first time.  The addition of personalities allows you to create a deeper experience for yourself and your sim and when you are creating your sim you are offered to fill 5 personality traits from over 60 options.  This will make your sim act in a certain way and with new addition of lifetime goals and achievements to chase after this time around it actually gives you something to play for rather than the voyeuristic approach of earlier versions. Although the idea is the same the wishes of sims have become a lot more task orientated and once completed will give you certain points to unlock perks.  Perks are there to make your life easier in the long run.  Remember the pain it was to send them to the toilet when their bladder was getting full?  Well now one of the perks is to have a steel bladder which eliminates this want from the gameplay and thus allowing you to concentrate on other areas of your sims life.  Little touches like this has made the game a lot more accessible and less repetitive than past outings.

The gameplay itself is very similar to Sims 2 but now has a free roam town to explore with extra towns you can buy via their handy community plugin.  This is where I have to have a little grumble. In the past you have your sims go to certain events and they would just appear there, this time around it is a little more free flowing.  Unfortunately instead of disappearing you now catch a taxi to get to certain areas of the town.  I say unfortunately because you are really doing what you were in the past but in a different guise.  Also, when you go to an event you just disappear inside and you cannot see what is going on.  With so much thought that has gone into other areas of the game, a nice little cut-scene here depicting what was going on inside would have helped the story of your sim flow that little bit better.  Perhaps this is something that can be done via a patch but we shall just have to wait and see.  Saying that, going to the park, for example, isn’t a chore and with the AI in the game interacting and meeting each other at every opportunity, building friends, relationships etc you feel that the town is more alive with the story changing around you all the time.  Some of this you have control over and some you have not but that is part of the fun of the game, not knowing what is around the corner and also how far you can take this game before it restricts you.  From what have seenand the tools that are at your dispoal everything is possible and the story of your sim wil be drivem by you, your decisions based on their moods and wishes and everything else in between.  If you want to be a playboy with 5 girlfriends on the go then you can, if you want to end up trying to b a master criminal you can.  Want to run for elections because you sim’s lifetime goal is to run the town?  No problem, point them in the right direction, take the right career tracks, keep the buggers happy and you are sorted.

The customisation tools do not finish with the setting up of your sim either.  You start off with a certain amount of money and get to choose a property within your budget furnished or unfurnished.  There are endless possibilities with regards to furnishing your home for maximum comfort of your sim.  Although there are tonnes of furnishings, you may buy other objects to place in your property via the community plugin for real cash.  If this is something you may want to invest in is another thing but the option is there and I am sure EA will make a shed load of cash from wannabe designers wanting to spruce their sims place up.  You can also create, trade and share items too via this plugin and is something I will talk about later in this review.

The customisation tools now add a new feature where you can build your own house to within your budget.  This includes walls, stairs, gardens, wallpaper etc and goes that in depth you can even measure how much dirt you want to put down before laying the grass.  Perhaps this may be a little over the top but goes to show how much work EA have put into this to give you every available option to explore and how geeky you really want to go.

The community plugin works really well and something EA have worked on to improve from previous sim outings.  The ability to create, share, trade are apparent and dependent on the interactivity of the community will see how big this grows.  You can add friends to a friend list, chat in the forums, blog about your sims, buy points to spend on new items, share these items, swap these items, buy new towns and the list goes on.  There is another really cool feature here and something I will imagine will get a hell of a lot of use and that is the video editor.  Unfortunately this was locked until Friday’s release date but you will be able to film your sims lives, edit the footage and upload it for the community to see which I think is an amazing feature in itself.  Some of you must have seen the Sims parody from Red Vs Blue called There Goes The Neighbourhood?  Well, now you can do this from the comfort of your own chair without any fancy equipment to hook up to get the desired result.  I expect to see a lot of footage from people’s favourite films being replicated in a sims kind of way and just goes to show, yet again, the total control and customisation you have over this game.  I know Big Brother is around the corner and there would be nothing to stop you re-creating the whole thing here.  Build a Big Brother house, create Sims looking like the contestants and filming them for a 14 or so week period making them do the stupidest things in there.

To sum up, this is one hell of a game and an excellent advancement on the already brilliant Sims 2.  The functionality and customisation of the game are second to none and could very well suck up big portians of your life playing.  Whether you are a hardcore player or just a casual one you cannot deny the power of the Sims franchise.  You never see the game out of the charts and that is a testament to the franchise that EA have now created.  Although there are certain niggles in the game you have to stand back in awe at what has been created.