3rd Time Lucky – Sims Review
Today I’ve climbed a bit further out on the geeky limb to bring you a few highlights of the Sims3 game, from my point of view. Let’s hope the bough won’t break until I get my equilibrium back and my feet back on the somewhat shaky, more emotional ground that I’m used to.
Let’s start at the beginning, shall we? Creating a Sim is quite a bit different this time around, with sooo many options to choose from… kinda. There are sliders to let you select a Sim’s weight and skin tone, and a brand new ‘young adult’ age category. Then the plethora of options to let you alter a Sim’s appearance! It was a little daunting at first, but I have learned how to safely navigate the sliders for upper eye lid settings, lower eyelid settings, global eye settings, cheekbones, jaw width, jaw height… the list is huge, but it means with a little perseverance you can make a good likeness of someone you know, if that’s your thing.
The part of the design process that I’m loving – be it in create-a-sim mode, building mode or buying mode is the ‘Create a Style’ option. Basically, it lets you select a surface ( the couch cushions, panels of clothing, the floorboards, counter tops, rugs, window frames… the list covers just about everything) and change the appearance of that surface, choosing from a huge range of fabric, wood and metal textures, among others. The almost endless options of create a style mean that the lists of objects, wall coverings and clothing are a lot smaller… you have to use your own creativity to make them unique. Building a new house could just be my favourite part of playing the Sims… and this just made the whole experience so much more customisable. The only problem is, I take three times as long to get the house looking perfect (What, mum? No, I can’t eat yet! I’ve only got three more rooms to fix…)
Perhaps the biggest change in gameplay between the Sims 2 and Sims 3 is the inclusion of moods. Everything can impact on your Sims’ moods… from dirty dishes in the kitchen to the beautiful view from the house, and from feeling lucky to eating food that is nicer than usual. And instead of constantly checking a sim’s needs (or just hitting the mailbox up for some ‘make all happy’ magic) these are reflected in the moodlets that are always visible. For me, that makes keeping my Sims happy so much easier, and because I can do it within a reasonable time, and the whole routine of a Sim falls magically into a life-like schedule. Instead of falling asleep for two hours at four a.m. and having dinner for breakfast, my Sims can now lead healthy, normal lives! Thank you, EA, from the bottom of their hearts plumbobs!