Four years in the making, The Sims 3 arrived in stores June 2, 2009. With The Sims 2 and the original The Sims before it being the bestselling game franchise of all time the new edition has some huge shoes to fill. Have the developers at EA Games done it again?
The Sims 3 Game Changes
Although it’s hard to admit, The Sims 2 had some flaws, but it came a long way from the original The Sims game. Think back to the original Sims. They were blurry and awkward and their food never went bad. Also, when a couple had children the kids never grew up and were randomly generated. As a result the kids never looked like the parents.
There were mods to try and alter this, but the real fix came when The Sims 2 came out. Finally babies and children looked like their parents, grew into adults, and had babies of their own. Whole families could resemble each other. It was just about perfect.
So what have the developers at EA Games done with The Sims 3? One huge change has been in the neighborhood. Players can now walk their sims throughout Sunset Valley. In The Sims 2 meetings between sims were random chance. Players could not have Mary Lou Sim meet Johnny B. Good by going to his house. Now they can.
The Sims 3 Sim Personalities
Players could differentiate sims in The Sims 2 from one another visually, but not truly by personality. Every sim had the same interaction choices, although with some expansion packs changed this slightly, but for the most part every sim acted like every other sim.
Not so with The Sims 3. Now when a player creates a sim in Create A Sim mode, or when one is born in game, he or she can dictate its personality. A sim can be many things, like “loser,” “loves the outdoors,” “insane,” “good,” and “athletic.”
The player may not foresee how these traits affect their sim in the long run and this can be a good or bad thing. For instance, a sim who hates the outdoors will always have his/her mood negatively affected every time he/she steps outside. Also, different personality traits allow for new interactions. A sim that’s neurotic has the choice to “Freak Out” at any time for instance, and a sim that’s Charismatic will have many social interactions to use while making friends and romances that another sim without this characteristic will lack completely.
First Impressions of The Sims 3 Game
The game may have rather steep requirements. For many laptop users who opted for saving money rather than high game performance on a machine, it may be too much. Even for a computer with the capacity to run the game without any problems, the installation time is very long. Impatient fans may find waiting in front of their computers agonizing.
Longtime fans and experts of the first two games will probably find the game complex and baffling at first, but The Sims 3 offers lessons throughout to combat this and help out players who are brand new to the Sim experience, or even experienced Sims players who have just been broadsided by the new menus and gameplay.
There are many differences between The Sims 2 and The Sims 3. The steep learning curve is one of them, but if players persevere they will surely find the answers.
 |
 |
