As a lover of Sims 3, I was beyond delighted when I heard the sequel was coming out. While I am a lover of Sims I am also a lover of sales so I waited almost 6 months for the game to go on sale before I actually purchased it. It was half off for the deluxe edition which is a good deal. After all that planning and waiting when I finally got the game it would not play for me. So I contacted EA for assistance. Side note EA’s customer support sucks. I was hung up on, told my problem was resolved at least twice when it wasn’t and ignored along with several people on the message board until I abandoned all hope and left Sims 4 alone.
Three month later after I had completely forgotten that I had Sims 4 I saw the icon calling out to me and like a fool I was suck back in again. I clicked the icon and it started up immediately the tutorial was brief but detailed so I fully understood the game. The graphics are the first thing I noticed since the create-a-sim (CAS) screen is the first thing you see. The character staring back at me felt almost as real as me. Each section of the body can be adjusted to create a sim completely your own. Genetics even play a factor as children share the parent’s individual features. The degree varies from sim to sim so no two siblings look exactly alike, even twins have subtle difference.
Once your sim is created, you choose the home for them to live in. A completely new family starts off with 20,000 simoleons. Simoleons is the Sims’ currency. 20,000 can buy either a modest two bedroom one bath, or if you’re like me, a lovely, empty lot where the motherlode cheat works well. The neighborhood which is not fully open world as it was in the Sims 3. It is limited to a block or so viewing screen and you still have to wait for loading when a Sims visits a neighbor. I’m not sure if that’s because I play on a laptop or if it’s just the way the game is.
All that aside, the addition of emotions is amazing and adds new level to the game that I didn’t expect. Simply going to the bathroom changes per sim’s emotion. Depending on the emotion for example a sim can now take an angry poop, or if confident, pee like a champion. Emotions have even added new ways to die for example death by embarrassment, death by anger, and my personal favorite death by laughter. All of this was added in just the base pack.
There are also improvement in building however that doesn’t really apply to me since I’m a social/family simmer but I’ve heard good things and the homes that I have downloaded are in fact more elaborate and beautiful. However I can’t speak to the ease of building or the new shapes one can build since I skipped that tutorial but the game does include a detailed tutorial on every new feature. Please note the issue I experienced has been fixed as of writing this and was caused by firewall issues, then virus scanner issues, then cheat issues again. All of which have been resolved at this moment.
Things I miss from Sims 3
Toddlers. Baby grow into children instantly and as a family simmer. This feature is important to the family unit.
College but I have a feeling this will show up in an expansion pack at some point in the future since they added the young adult period after teens.
Seasons. Oh how I miss you. With snowball fights in winter and bobbing for apple in spring. Hopefully seasons returns in the near future.
Babysitters. Am I the only one the misses watching the lazy baby sister ignore the infants? Now once the adults leave the house the infant disappears to daycare. While teens can take jobs as babysitters is merely symbolic now.
And last but not least the beloved repo man who came and took your possession when your bills were overdue. Now your utilities are shut off one by one until you pay. The handy man is also gone. Sim have to repair their own appliances now risking electrocution. I have lost 4 Sims to electrocution now and it’s like Russian roulette each time they fix electronics around the house.
Final Score: 9/10 Power Ups
