Alright, first up in my short list of games to review is The Sims 3. You should know about this game, so I'm not gonna go into detail about it. Basically you make some
sims, build a house, and tell them to set themselves on fire.
Ok, well maybe only I do that. Anyway, I don't like writing paragraphs so I'll just do a list.
+
- Better interaction with the community. In previous Sims, it was a bitch to leave your house, so I didn't really do it. In 3, however, you can just zoom out and click somewhere in town, and your
sims will go there. Amazing! This gives the game a better mood, makes it more realistic, and all that.
-
RPG elements. An inventory and skill leveling make it more like an
RPG, which is good for the
RPG-players But even if you don't play
RPGs, these new features still enhance the
sim-
ness.
- Create a style. This allows you to customize styles of clothing, furniture, and walls/floors. You get to pick the texture and colors, but that's about it.
-
- Ridiculously bad
pathfinding. Apparently, if
someone's in your way, you stand there for about 5 minutes waiting for them to move. If you're unlucky, then the other guy will stand there and wait, too! Eventually, one of you move, leaving the other guy standing there, and guess what? STILL WAITING. On top of that, he'll be complaining about not having a path, and waving the crossed out footprints icon. God, that icon pisses me off. This problem only gets worse with more people. If you have 8 people trying to get through one door, expect to wait about 30 minutes. And, in serious conditions,
sims can die because they spend all their time no-
footprinting instead of trying to save themselves. Which brings me to...
- Stupid AI, and, at times, extremely stupid AI. If you were on fire, would you jump into a pool? You would, right? Well,
sims won't. Maybe you won't experience this kind of stupidity, but your house isn't on fire all the time. But even in the best of conditions,
sims will still act retarded, such as getting out of bed only to pass out on the floor. Other fails include not using the toilet or shower in the same room as someone, even if the room is the size of the whole lot. They'd rather let the other guy see them pee themselves rather than letting him turn around and pee properly.
- Not fluid/smooth. What I mean by this is that everything HAS to follow the rules. Actions cannot flow into each other naturally. For example,
sims have to turn the computer off when switching from one task to another. Sims put a plate on the floor when you cancel their 'clean up' action, even though a table is 2 feet away. Sims can't watch TV from an orthogonally facing chair. Sims have to walk at least 3 squares to use their phone. Stuff like that, which makes the
sims very robotic and not simulating human life at all. This isn't just limited to live mode, either. You can't build round anythings. Everything has to snap to grid. Objects that should be able to be intersect each other can't (ex. 2 doors next to each other in a corner).
- Random bugs. While not
occurring that frequently, some bugs do
occur, and they are usually very annoying. Some that I've encountered include not being able to get in your work car, bushes that go through walls, and extreme lag when lots of people or inventory objects are present.
- Gets old faster than you think it would. They say that this game has "months of content". Yeah
ok. Once you build a few houses (or castles with moats), get the good lifetime happiness rewards, and do a few skills, there's nothing really new or exciting to keep you playing. Even if let your creative juices flow and find out the best ways to make money or kill
sims, that gets boring too. It just seems that a game like this should last you much, much longer than it does.
- Not customizable enough. No body shop (yet) so you can't create your own objects. Not enough
sim customization. Lots of build mode limitations. Also, certain objects that should be allowed to style edit are not, like fireplace walls, railings, and stairs.
0 (for neither +'s nor -'s)
- Graphics. Not very improved from Sims 2. Also, lags when moving camera across town.
- Build mode is largely the same as Sims 2.
QED
The Sims 3 is all the sim of the previous sims. It adds some welcome features, and for the most part, is a good sequel. However, due to the nature of the game, we want it to be perfect, something that isn't possible yet. We always want more - more items, more customizations, more human-ness. Hopefully, Sims 4 (this is an EA game, after all) will fix the problems in this game, and maybe one day we'll actually have a realistic life simulator. But for now, this will have to do.
Score: [1/1]. Go play this game.
Coming soon: a guide to killing off your sims!
