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I was really hesitant to get the latest version of The Sims. I'd heard it was buggy as hell and this was after EA pushed the release back from February to June. I'm not even going to mention the fact that the pushback was because of marketing and not bug fixes. ;/
However, while wandering through Best Buy, I saw the game and that it was on sale. So, shrugging, I plunked down my money and bought it.
I've been playing it most of the day and, to be honest, I'm not sure I like Sims 3. Sims 2 was all about satisfying Wants, avoiding Fears and achieving lifetime Aspirations. Gameplay in Sims 3 is focused on keeping your Sims in a good mood by granting them wishes. There's no penalty if you don't grant a wish, so the game relies heavily on positive reenforcement.
There are a couple of big differences between Sims 2 and Sims 3. Create-A-Sim is much more developed in Sims 3, and you can create virtually any kind of Sim that you want. You can have a skinny Sim or a morbidly obese Sim. You can customize hair color and eye color, clothing, mix and match hairstyles with various outfits and even alter makeup.
And, this is where the game gets really different from the previous version, you can assign your Sim specific traits. There are five slots available, but you don't need to fill them all. So its entirely possible to create a muscely Sim with the traits, Athlete and Coward. Or you can create a Sim who's traits are Bookwork, Brave, Friendly, Genius, and Natural Cook. You can even chose your Sims favorite Music, Color and Food.
To be honest you can spend hours in CAS alone, creating a perfect replica of yourself or someone you know. But, eventually, you'll want to move your Sims into the game town, Sunset Valley.
Another big difference between Sims 2 and Sims 3 is that you aren't stuck on a single lot. Instead, the game loads the entire town and your Sims can visit other lots without annoying screen breaks. Or, at least, that's what's advertised. In reality, unless you're right next door to where you want to go, you'll wind up walking or bicycling or taking the cab to your destination, accompanied by a neat animation. You can visit the Park or the Graveyard, catch a film at the Theater or attend a class at one of the venues around town to boost Skills.
Overall, the game is familiar to experienced players without being offputting to newbies. But, I'm not sure I'd really recommend this version of the Sims. It seems that in some areas the programmers just made things needlessly complicated. Like instead of buying generic food to fill up an empty fridge, now you have to specify what you want to buy at the shop. It's needlessly wasteful. And, this is a pet peeve of mine, in Build mode there's no longer a button that lets you toggle from the standard view to an overhead view. Instead, there are a couple of switches on the control panel that let you tilt the view. It produces a similar effect, but it's less efficient.
I've heard a lot of people complaining about framerate problems and game lag and I've noticed that, even when the game is on the highest speed, it seems awfully slow in comparison to its predecessor. However, I suspect the framerate problems are based on the system the player is operating on. Sims 3 was designed to run on PCs with Windows Vista, as well as Macs, and I've actually enjoyed better performance on this game than Sims 2.
Still, I'm not entirely convinced that I like Sims 3. It could just be that I'm bored with these types of simulation games. I can't fault the programmers for what they put in the game. They cherry picked popular elements from all the previous version's expansion packs. But for some reason, the game just feels . . . hollow.
After a day's worth of play, on a scale of 1 to 10, I'd give Sims 3 a solid five. It's got some good developments from the previous version, but I don't care about micromanaging my Sims moods or having to buy a recipe so my Sim can learn how to cook risotto. The expansion packs may improve gameplay, but I suspect they'll just bring slicker versions of the same old, same old. Of course, the game will sell like hot cakes, but unless EA really shakes things up with the next XP, I think the franchise could take a serious hit.
However, while wandering through Best Buy, I saw the game and that it was on sale. So, shrugging, I plunked down my money and bought it.
I've been playing it most of the day and, to be honest, I'm not sure I like Sims 3. Sims 2 was all about satisfying Wants, avoiding Fears and achieving lifetime Aspirations. Gameplay in Sims 3 is focused on keeping your Sims in a good mood by granting them wishes. There's no penalty if you don't grant a wish, so the game relies heavily on positive reenforcement.
There are a couple of big differences between Sims 2 and Sims 3. Create-A-Sim is much more developed in Sims 3, and you can create virtually any kind of Sim that you want. You can have a skinny Sim or a morbidly obese Sim. You can customize hair color and eye color, clothing, mix and match hairstyles with various outfits and even alter makeup.
And, this is where the game gets really different from the previous version, you can assign your Sim specific traits. There are five slots available, but you don't need to fill them all. So its entirely possible to create a muscely Sim with the traits, Athlete and Coward. Or you can create a Sim who's traits are Bookwork, Brave, Friendly, Genius, and Natural Cook. You can even chose your Sims favorite Music, Color and Food.
To be honest you can spend hours in CAS alone, creating a perfect replica of yourself or someone you know. But, eventually, you'll want to move your Sims into the game town, Sunset Valley.
Another big difference between Sims 2 and Sims 3 is that you aren't stuck on a single lot. Instead, the game loads the entire town and your Sims can visit other lots without annoying screen breaks. Or, at least, that's what's advertised. In reality, unless you're right next door to where you want to go, you'll wind up walking or bicycling or taking the cab to your destination, accompanied by a neat animation. You can visit the Park or the Graveyard, catch a film at the Theater or attend a class at one of the venues around town to boost Skills.
Overall, the game is familiar to experienced players without being offputting to newbies. But, I'm not sure I'd really recommend this version of the Sims. It seems that in some areas the programmers just made things needlessly complicated. Like instead of buying generic food to fill up an empty fridge, now you have to specify what you want to buy at the shop. It's needlessly wasteful. And, this is a pet peeve of mine, in Build mode there's no longer a button that lets you toggle from the standard view to an overhead view. Instead, there are a couple of switches on the control panel that let you tilt the view. It produces a similar effect, but it's less efficient.
I've heard a lot of people complaining about framerate problems and game lag and I've noticed that, even when the game is on the highest speed, it seems awfully slow in comparison to its predecessor. However, I suspect the framerate problems are based on the system the player is operating on. Sims 3 was designed to run on PCs with Windows Vista, as well as Macs, and I've actually enjoyed better performance on this game than Sims 2.
Still, I'm not entirely convinced that I like Sims 3. It could just be that I'm bored with these types of simulation games. I can't fault the programmers for what they put in the game. They cherry picked popular elements from all the previous version's expansion packs. But for some reason, the game just feels . . . hollow.
After a day's worth of play, on a scale of 1 to 10, I'd give Sims 3 a solid five. It's got some good developments from the previous version, but I don't care about micromanaging my Sims moods or having to buy a recipe so my Sim can learn how to cook risotto. The expansion packs may improve gameplay, but I suspect they'll just bring slicker versions of the same old, same old. Of course, the game will sell like hot cakes, but unless EA really shakes things up with the next XP, I think the franchise could take a serious hit.
