So, I got the Sims 3 last week, a day or two after it came out. I didn’t think I was going to get this one, but EA used their hypnotic mind powers on me, and now I have it. I picked it up for $40 at Best Buy, so at least I didn’t pay full retail for it.
My first impression of it was that it was totally different and much better.
After playing it for about an hour, I realized it was basically the same game with a new interface.
I can’t honestly tell you that I expected something ground-breaking when I got this game. I got it for something to kill some time over summer break when I don’t feel like doing something productive. It accomplishes that. It will suck up appalling amounts of time if you’re not careful.
Obviously, I’m not going to discuss everything that they changed, but here’s a little rundown of things I thought were interesting.
Moodlets
The aspect of this particular game that makes it different from all of the other Sims games is called Moodlets. These are little… buffs and debuffs, for lack of better terms… that you get for certain things.
You can get a Well-Rested buff that will increase your Sim’s performance at school and work and whatnot, then you get the Sleepy and Tired debuffs that decrease your performance.
They have these little things for everything: having just had your first kiss, having just moved into a new house, having ridden in a new car, etc. etc.
Skills
One odd thing is that you don’t start out with all of your skills at 0. You don’t even start out with the skills. You actually have to discover the skill before you can ever start building it up.
Also, they ditched the Creative skill and instead, you have guitar skill, writing skill and painting skill.
Furniture and Appliances
The big thing with furniture in this one is that you can position your furniture diagonally. Whoop-tee-freakin-doo. Just what I’ve always wanted to do…
The thing that I’m more interested in, though, is that if you have a high enough mechanical skill, you can actually upgrade your appliances. You make make them self-cleaning and unbreakable and whatnot.
Another neat little thing is portable items. In the Sims 2, you could put anything in your inventory. In the Sims 3, you can only put portable things in your inventory. So, you can actually carry around a laptop (yes, there’s a laptop in this one), and whip it out wherever you are. You do have to have a desk, though; your sim won’t actually use his lap.
No Load Screens (Almost)
I’d say that the biggest difference between 2 and 3 is that in 3, the entire town is loaded, not just your lot. You can actually have your Sims roam around town without having any load screens. Obviously, though, you still have the huge load screen when the game first starts out and when you select which family to play.
Story Progression
This one, I was not expecting. I was thinking that this game would be like the Sims 2, where you select a town and then you select a family. Then, when you don’t feel like playing that family, you can go back to the town view and select a different family to play in the same town.
Well, in this one, you can only have one active family per town. All of the families you’re not controlling, go on living their lives without you. They age, they die, they have kids, etc. etc.
So, the Sims 3 is a great way to waste time, but if you’re looking for a good gaming experience, why would you even be looking at a post about the Sims in the first place?
My Rating of the Sims 3
7.5/10