Rainbow Dash
06-12-2009, 07:11 PM
A nearly overwhelming amount of options, data, and details come packed into The Sims 3. Improving on everything from the last two editions, the newest game about running digital lives feels far more organic and customizable. Everything from the angle of characters’ chins to the pattern on their shoes can be altered according to players’ whims. Ornate houses can be built from the ground up. You can craft personalities from dozens of options, building anything from a charismatic, schmoozing party animal to an insane genius who dreams of becoming an evil overlord. And you’re no longer constantly forced to push your Sims to pee, bathe, and eat; the AI has been improved and the timers reduced so that play focuses more on life decisions than basic needs.
While the graphics haven’t been dramatically updated from The Sims 2, everything is a little smoother, and there’s plenty of new animation. Added realism might not be good if you aren’t interested in seeing virtual vomiting when your Sim eats something bad.
One of the most dramatic changes is the lack of load screens. You can watch your Sims as they jog to the park or drive to work, and they can socialize with people they pass on the street. There are new options for the formerly dead time when your Sims are at work or school. You can choose to have them slack off and relax, chat with co-workers at the water cooler, or try to catch up on last night’s homework. Sadly, while you can receive rewards for these decisions, you can’t see them in action. Most public buildings have no accessible interiors. It’s a lost opportunity when you could otherwise maneuver your characters to hit on the cute secretary or play with classmates at recess.
Beyond the game: New clothing, furniture, and hairstyles for your Sims are available for purchase at thesims3.com.
Worth playing for: The opportunity to make highly intricate social and career decisions is sure to appeal to any control freak, or anyone who’s dreamed of trying out an entirely different life path.
Frustration sets in when: Difficulty zooming makes you waste time trying to find the spot where you want to send your Sim.
Final judgment: Even more addictive than the last two. Grade: A-
I strongly disagree with many parts of this review.
You can craft personalities from dozens of options, building anything from a charismatic, schmoozing party animal to an insane genius who dreams of becoming an evil overlord.
First of all, the trait system is very poorly designed. A good number of traits only unlock additional social options that accomplish nothing that "chat" doesn't. For example, you get a whole new menu when you pick "Good sense of humor," but none of the new options give any moodlets (effects that improve or decrease your mood for a set amount of time,) effect any life goals, skills, or anything. There are traits like "Evil" that give you new aspirations, such as "steal candy from baby" and "Good Kisser" that gives you and your loved one a positive moodlet for 2 hours after a kiss - so the menu-centered traits are useless.
Second, yes, you can have an insane evil genius, but it's not what it sounds like. The traits don't interact with each other - what you'll get is someone bent on world domination that plays chess and wanders around and talks to himself when not doing anything else.
It's a great idea in theory, and has alot of potential, but it's not there yet.
One of the most dramatic changes is the lack of load screens.
Indeed, instead whenever you save or load a game you get all the missing load screens at once. It's a 5 minute start-up process, at least. However, it is honestly worth it - the things they did with free-roaming in town are rather impressive.
But this also causes a much bigger problem - the fact that since you've got one save game for the entire town, you can only play one family at a time. You'll loose progress (opportunities and lifetime reward points are reset) by changing families, and if you start a new game, the entire town is reset, even if you use the same town as in your first game. This is really the most fatal mistake of the game. I've gotten married, churned out two kids, spent alot of effort, and now they're grown up - so I'm either going to have to keep them both in the house, which will make things get cluttered in a hurry, or send one of them off to live on his own somewhere and never be able to control him again. I'm not keen on the idea of having to give up everything I've worked for like that, and it really, really ruins the game.
Beyond the game: New clothing, furniture, and hairstyles for your Sims are available for purchase at thesims3.com.
This was an absurdly stupid move by EA games. They expect you to dish out an extra dollar for a new hairstyle, or 5 dollars for a set of tiki-themed items. That's simply retarded - we paid full price for the game, and yet they expect us to pay more for some mildly different items and hairstyles? Fuck that. They have roughly the amount of items up there - which, again, none of which are particularly unique - as an expansion pack would, probably a bit less. The price for all of these generic items combined is roughly $250. You do the math - is it worth buying this crap, or waiting for an expansion with new, unique items?
Worth playing for: The opportunity to make highly intricate social and career decisions is sure to appeal to any control freak, or anyone who’s dreamed of trying out an entirely different life path.
I've touched on the lack of control you have over the town, and the uselessness of the micro-interactions, so I won't say it again.
Final judgment: Even more addictive than the last two.
For fuck's sake, I'm already bored. There's no reward for anything you do - sure, you can accumulate life points and spend them on new abilities for your character, but they're all wiped out if you want to try to play as another character for a while, not to mention the uselessness of most of the rewards. All but a few of them simply eliminate or lessen a minor inconvenience - a food replicator, which is the second most expensive life reward in the game, for example. And unlike in The Sims 2, you can't even amass items that can be used for good or evil with your score.the only item that even lets you do anything to anyone as far as I've seen is the Body Modifier, which lets you make guests far or weak - assuming that you're good enough friends with them to convince them to use it. Where the hell's my talent vacuum? Where's the cow plant I used to eat an entire village? I don't need the crap they're offering, so I have no reason to go get it, which makes for a rather boring game.
Overall, if you're considering getting the game, I say wait until the first expansion, at least. C-.
While the graphics haven’t been dramatically updated from The Sims 2, everything is a little smoother, and there’s plenty of new animation. Added realism might not be good if you aren’t interested in seeing virtual vomiting when your Sim eats something bad.
One of the most dramatic changes is the lack of load screens. You can watch your Sims as they jog to the park or drive to work, and they can socialize with people they pass on the street. There are new options for the formerly dead time when your Sims are at work or school. You can choose to have them slack off and relax, chat with co-workers at the water cooler, or try to catch up on last night’s homework. Sadly, while you can receive rewards for these decisions, you can’t see them in action. Most public buildings have no accessible interiors. It’s a lost opportunity when you could otherwise maneuver your characters to hit on the cute secretary or play with classmates at recess.
Beyond the game: New clothing, furniture, and hairstyles for your Sims are available for purchase at thesims3.com.
Worth playing for: The opportunity to make highly intricate social and career decisions is sure to appeal to any control freak, or anyone who’s dreamed of trying out an entirely different life path.
Frustration sets in when: Difficulty zooming makes you waste time trying to find the spot where you want to send your Sim.
Final judgment: Even more addictive than the last two. Grade: A-
I strongly disagree with many parts of this review.
You can craft personalities from dozens of options, building anything from a charismatic, schmoozing party animal to an insane genius who dreams of becoming an evil overlord.
First of all, the trait system is very poorly designed. A good number of traits only unlock additional social options that accomplish nothing that "chat" doesn't. For example, you get a whole new menu when you pick "Good sense of humor," but none of the new options give any moodlets (effects that improve or decrease your mood for a set amount of time,) effect any life goals, skills, or anything. There are traits like "Evil" that give you new aspirations, such as "steal candy from baby" and "Good Kisser" that gives you and your loved one a positive moodlet for 2 hours after a kiss - so the menu-centered traits are useless.
Second, yes, you can have an insane evil genius, but it's not what it sounds like. The traits don't interact with each other - what you'll get is someone bent on world domination that plays chess and wanders around and talks to himself when not doing anything else.
It's a great idea in theory, and has alot of potential, but it's not there yet.
One of the most dramatic changes is the lack of load screens.
Indeed, instead whenever you save or load a game you get all the missing load screens at once. It's a 5 minute start-up process, at least. However, it is honestly worth it - the things they did with free-roaming in town are rather impressive.
But this also causes a much bigger problem - the fact that since you've got one save game for the entire town, you can only play one family at a time. You'll loose progress (opportunities and lifetime reward points are reset) by changing families, and if you start a new game, the entire town is reset, even if you use the same town as in your first game. This is really the most fatal mistake of the game. I've gotten married, churned out two kids, spent alot of effort, and now they're grown up - so I'm either going to have to keep them both in the house, which will make things get cluttered in a hurry, or send one of them off to live on his own somewhere and never be able to control him again. I'm not keen on the idea of having to give up everything I've worked for like that, and it really, really ruins the game.
Beyond the game: New clothing, furniture, and hairstyles for your Sims are available for purchase at thesims3.com.
This was an absurdly stupid move by EA games. They expect you to dish out an extra dollar for a new hairstyle, or 5 dollars for a set of tiki-themed items. That's simply retarded - we paid full price for the game, and yet they expect us to pay more for some mildly different items and hairstyles? Fuck that. They have roughly the amount of items up there - which, again, none of which are particularly unique - as an expansion pack would, probably a bit less. The price for all of these generic items combined is roughly $250. You do the math - is it worth buying this crap, or waiting for an expansion with new, unique items?
Worth playing for: The opportunity to make highly intricate social and career decisions is sure to appeal to any control freak, or anyone who’s dreamed of trying out an entirely different life path.
I've touched on the lack of control you have over the town, and the uselessness of the micro-interactions, so I won't say it again.
Final judgment: Even more addictive than the last two.
For fuck's sake, I'm already bored. There's no reward for anything you do - sure, you can accumulate life points and spend them on new abilities for your character, but they're all wiped out if you want to try to play as another character for a while, not to mention the uselessness of most of the rewards. All but a few of them simply eliminate or lessen a minor inconvenience - a food replicator, which is the second most expensive life reward in the game, for example. And unlike in The Sims 2, you can't even amass items that can be used for good or evil with your score.the only item that even lets you do anything to anyone as far as I've seen is the Body Modifier, which lets you make guests far or weak - assuming that you're good enough friends with them to convince them to use it. Where the hell's my talent vacuum? Where's the cow plant I used to eat an entire village? I don't need the crap they're offering, so I have no reason to go get it, which makes for a rather boring game.
Overall, if you're considering getting the game, I say wait until the first expansion, at least. C-.