I’m still full time at university, so have little to no spare time … which is why all of my blogs are neglected at the moment.
I did take some time out this morning to write up a review of Sims 4 over on Amazon even though I bought it through Origin. One thing to keep in mind when looking at the pics, most graphic issues in the pics don’t show in game for me and I play on a 2?3 year old vanilla multi-purpose computer. Read it on Amazon:
My Sims 4 Review
or scroll down
The alien monster baby issue has been fixed via patch since this shot was taken.
Save your money & wait for a sale; better go play something else, November 1, 2014
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I purchased my copy through Origin as a digital download and have had it since day one. I made the mistake of installing right away even though I knew I wouldn’t be able to play until the weekend because of my uni schedule.
For game play and content, I did not expect the game to have all the features of the previous series since this is a new base game and a new incarnation of the series. I was also very aware of the missing toddlers and pools; along with the cas limitations. The only reason I caved was because of the new woodworking skill.
The first few hours I played around with it, on premier night left me feeling very unhappy with the game. I chalked it up to being over cas already because I had played the free cas demo for a few weeks in August. I told myself that I shouldn’t rush my decision because I had not had a chance to get properly into the game. Day 1 I would have said 1 star.
Weekend finally arrived and I spent some serious time in the game getting used to the look … very tween fluffy feel good graphics …. and the basic mechanics of the programing along with the new UI. By the end of the first day of play I felt the game was a 2 star game and was ready to ask for my money back. Ouch! I reread the great game guarantee, because I had installed day 1 it was not eligible. Yes I could have called and argued my case and fought for a refund …… because I’ve been simming since The Sims 1 I decided to give it a second chance in the hopes of finding some redeeming qualities to the game. So I have been playing it off and on trying to find ways to get the most from the game.
Because of the patch in of ghosts and the promised patch in of pools the game has moved up to 3 stars, if they ever Patch in toddlers I’ll bring it to 3.5 or 4 stars. I will most likely never give this incarnation of the sims a 5 star rating …. for a 5 star they would have to go back and completely rework all of the graphics and grow up the visuals instead of aging them down for the tween (Disney) crowd.
**What I don’t like (besides no toddlers)**
*In game, if you wish your sim to level up career’s or achieve a lifetime goal you have to spend a lot of time on many mini tasks. *The dating meter is back from sims 2, but it isn’t just for dates anymore, it’s also for all party’s and social gatherings.
*Loading screens, and the fake open world feel.
*The lack of casT(create a style), because it is a base game and content is lighter than past base games the inability to recolor (without a mod) stands out heavily.
*Starting base game content is lighter than previous incarnations of the game which is made worse by the fact that about a third of it is locked until you complete certain tasks or career levels.
*To turn off the tutorial you have to enter a cheat/command code in through the origin interface before you start the game
*If you are a legacy player, you can’t start out on a 50×50 lot (largest available). You have to 1st start on a small lot and then pick a large one to bulldoze, and then move the sim to the large lot.
*Not a fan of the object baby tied to the bassinet
*Sims will spend almost every free minute mourning the deceased if not watched, even weeks later.
*Sims can’t paint portraits
*No family tree’s
* No story progression for townies just like S2
* Babies go from infant to child, just like S1 with no transition stage
* Teens are to close in appearance to adults
* no burglars, handymen, gardeners ….
* collections tracker isn’t 100% accurate, it doesn’t include all base game plants or the patched in plant
* Can’t add any space or lots to the limited selection of places, so if you want something different or more you have to bulldoze something
* not a big fan of the all or nothing new foundations (but I do like the new height varieties/slider that allows for higher foundations)
* Plastic hair, even if it is a little less plastic than the first promo images**What I like, and why I’m willing to give it 3 stars**
* Woodworking skill
* Despite loading screens each lot/neighborhood area as a semi decent unincorporated surrounding to explore and roam around in before hitting the need for a loading screen. (hence my comment above about fake open world)
* A decent assortment of musical instruments including violins for children from the start. (If you started with S3 base, you might recall the uproar when piano’s were left out of the base game)
* A few later added expansion/online store(digital content) items have been carried over as base game items; such as the cow plant (which wasn’t even in S1 base game, but is a fan favorite; caution it dies easily without Constant attention this time round); violins and the voodoo doll
* Ghosts are back in and pools are promised
*The new building tools are nice to work with, and as Ruthless_KK’s studio shows it’s possible to finally get cleaner build versions of most building styles**Stuff I’m meh about**
* plants don’t really die, you evolve them to get higher quality
* back to always nice out, no weather to speak of
* the wonderful new build features can be troublesome, because spaces have to be enclosed rooms for some of the build features to work properly
* most of the classic cheats are still around for when they’re neededEnd point, I’m not happy/thrilled with this generation of sims, and may not buy any future expansions, but will still play the copy I have once in a while so my $$ won’t be completely wasted. But I really don’t advocate getting a copy, especially if you loved Sims 3 and/or toddlers. I still play more S3 than S4.
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