Normally I don't review games, but following all the bad press this game is getting, I decided to put my two cents out there. A more in depth Normally I don't review games, but following all the bad press this game is getting, I decided to put my two cents out there. A more in depth explanation is after the bullet points.



The Good:

-A more stylized look

-Attention to detail

-Emotions

-Load times

-Music

-Updated UI

-Create a Sim



The Bad:

-No more open world

-Strange conversation mechanics

-No toddlers

-Price



Score: 8.5/10



When I heard that EA was going to hold back review copies until release, I thought "wow, this game is going to be really bad". Upon launch I looked up user reviews and was bombarded with 0 and 1 out of 10's. I initially thought I had really dodged a bullet with this one, but after reading the explanation behind such poor reviews (the only things of substance being the toddlers and pools), decided to check it out to see if it really was as bad as the reviews say it was. I knew about the "Great Game Guarantee" from origin, so if it really was as bad as people were saying, I could return it no problem. I launched the game and was greeted by familiar sounding music. Before I say anything else, I just want to say that the music throughout all of the Sims games is really great, and although some might say its kind of silly to have that be a point in a review, It is a big part of the game. If you were in build mode and some garbage song comes on, you wouldn't be nearly as immersed. Moving on, when I clicked the play button I was met with the the Create a Sim area. I never played the Create a Sim demo, so this was a new experience to me. Although the constant tutorials were kind of annoying, those are only a first time thing, so I let that slide. They obviously put a lot of work into this part of the game. This is the first Sims game where all of the characters I made looked different from one another. After messing around with the tools for a little while, I made a sim that looked strikingly like myself. I moved into an empty lot to get acquainted with the build/buy modes of the game. Much like create a sim, I felt that the huge overhaul of the system made a difference. In a much shorter time than the Sims 3 I had my house all set up and looking nice. A lot of people are complaining about the lack of objects in the game, and I couldn't find the numbers anywhere online, but it seems to have just about as many things to choose from as vanilla Sims 3. I had a lot of fun with the integrated build buy, but the lack of Create a Style was a bit distressing. Although they had a lot of custom options for the furniture, I missed being able to get exactly what I wanted into the game, which was rather disappointing. I began the game, and had a short introduction the new UI, which is a nice improvement. I signed my sim up for work as an entertainer, and was slightly peeved I couldn't follow him to work, and had to stare at an empty home for a couple minutes. This is where the lack of an open world is most annoying, as in TS3 I was able to scroll over to the park and see what other sims were doing, or just explore the map really. Instead I clicked around the house, and I must say, the attention to detail is pretty impressive. The books and the descriptions are what really got me, but the entire game has attention to the littlest things that make it feel a lot more expansive. The next day I had no work, so I decided to take my sim out to meet some friends. I traveled to the park and started talking to one sim while playing chess. The animations really make the interactions feel natural, and the emotion specific actions are a really cool addition to the game. On the subject of emotions, I really like the fact that they now (more noticeably at least) impact how your sim preforms certain tasks. The fact that a goofy mood is better for writing jokes, and an inspired mood is better for painting, and these are just a few of them. I really appreciate the game mechanic, and it seems most people are completely overlooking this. After playing for a couple more hours the game didn't seem to lose any steam, and kept me wrapped up in my sims life, although having group conversations was rather strange, with people just kind of walking up and randomly joining/leaving. I think if the feature was worked on a bit more, it could really work well in the game, but for right now it's just kind of awkward. After a bunch more hours of game time under my belt, I decided to write this review. To cover a few points outside of the actual gameplay, I would like to say that the price is a bit steep. I understand that most games today are $60, as was the Sims 3, but with the knowledge that at least 10 new expansion packs and more stuff packs/DLC are coming, I think a price of $40 would have made the game reach a wider audience ($20 can make a difference). Overall, the game feels like a step up from The Sims 3 in a definite way, and I would recommend it to anyone on the fence about buying (although waiting for a sale couldn't hurt). … Expand