Genre: Simulation
Rating: T (for Teen)
Publisher: Electronic Arts
System: PC / Mac
Release Date: June 2, 2009

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It’s no secret amongst regular GA’ers, that I am a huge fan of The Sims franchise, and that I was beside myself with anticipation for The Sims 3 release.  I’ve been playing pretty steadily since I came home from E3, and trying to think of all the ways I could do a review of the game, and do it justice.  I mean, you can read any old review about the game anywhere, and to be honest, most of the big stuff you’d want to know about the game was on websites everywhere before it even came out.

However, let me say what I said elsewhere at a Sims forum I’m a member of (yes, I really do like The Sims that much): “After playing The Sims 3 steadily for about a month, I know I’ll probably never go back to The Sims 2.”

Sure, there’s stuff that I miss from the earlier version, enough that I want to talk about them a little first. So, one of the things to remember if you’re a long time Sims 2 player is that with The Sims 3 you’re getting the bare-bones game.  There’s custom content in the store, and a little bit slowly coming from the communities, but for the most part, you’re on your own with what EA has provided.  Next, the game LOOKS different.  The Sims are more realistic, softer and rounder than their earlier counterparts.  In many Sims communities this is a hotly debated item, with people on both sides of the fence on whether this is a good thing or not.  I for one, love the new look – no more crazy angled faces when your Sims with extreme features mate.

Also, you’re no longer needed to control how your Sims live.  If you never touched them, and just watched them work out things on their own, they’d be able to figured things pretty easily – and they’d manage just fine to sleep, eat and use the restroom without you.  They’d also leave their house, meet new friends, and travel the countryside without you.  This is mostly a good thing for regular Simmers, but it also means that there’s a new system in place to help you meet small goals (“wants”) for your Sims.  Lastly, one of the things I’ve heard a big complaint about from the communities I frequent is that there are no paranormal Sims in the game – no Aliens like in The Sims 2, and definitely nothing like the paranormal community you could create with all the expansions.  However, what some people forget is that the ghosts in The Sims 3 have received a little bump up in the heirarchy.  Before, they just wandered about at night and caused a little mayhem.  Now, they’re far more interactive than they’d ever been.

Overall, you have to keep in mind that if you’ve been playing The Sims 2 for the past several years – you’re no longer playing the same game.  I think, that this is a bigger step up in the game’s evolution that The Sims to The Sims 2 was.

So, what’s the game like, really you might be asking…

Well, I’ll tell you.  When you start, there’s no longer a full neighborhood with myriad families to choose from.  Sure, you can play a prefab family if you want, but there’s only going to be one of them under your control.  At least, that’s the way the game is meant to be played.  The Sims 3 is in a perpetual “Story Mode”.  As you progress with the family of your choice – whether prefab or hand created, the rest of the neighborhood progresses around you.  Have an old neighbor in the house next door?  He or she might die a few days after you start playing, and if you’re friends with that neighbor, you’ll get a notification when they pass on.  Or, maybe the neighbor is a new couple with a new born baby.  As you play, that baby will grow up – become a toddler, a child, a teen, a young adult and so on.  And while you can only control one household/family at a time, anytime you want, you can go to the Edit Town mode and choose another family, and check in with them to see what’s really going on.

In the family that does get your attention, you’ll see a lot more personality than before, and a lot more variety than before with the new traits versus the old zodiac personalities that were pretty stale.  There are some changes to the Lifetime Wishes as well, new career paths to try out, and new ways for your Sim to work – or dedicate themselves to work, which will also be varied based on your Sim’s traits.  Of course, somewhat like real life, this sort of Sim freedom and variety, might not always work out for you, like if your unfortunate Sim falls in love with a Grumpy, Loner Sim.

If you’re big on micro-managing your Sims, this might bug you a lot.  Of course, there are always ways around things, turning off Free-Will, for instance, will get you back to where you could go in The Sims 2 where your poor Sims can’t make a single decision without your input. However, for me, the best part of this new generation of Sims is that finally, the world around my Sim is dynamic.  The game keeps track of the entire town population, working to supervise their jobs, their relationships, their birth and their deaths.  One of the reasons the game keeps an eye on the population is to make the world far more interesting – you can have your Sim make friends with their Boss, or their spouse’s boss, they can spy on their neighbors, or spread gossip about what their neighbors have been up to.  The other important reason is population control.  If you’re like me, and you like to create random families of characters to stick in your game, the town updates accordingly to keep the population down.  By keeping the population steady, the game controls it’s own lag on your system – less influxes in population mean a smoother running game.

Even if you have Sims move out of their original house – say across the street from a newly married sibling – you can still go visit.  I’ve been having a blast making my Sims wander the neighborhood introducing themselves to their new neighbors.  Once you’ve been invited inside, you get a good look at the neighbors houses, something you can’t do if you just try and peek through the windows.  But if you keep a good eye on them, you’ll know when your Sim’s neighbors get new family members, have birthdays, or get better cars (or carpools), which is kind of neat.

For a fresh out of the box Sims experience, I think The Sims 3 is about as good as it gets.  Sure, I’m sad that there isn’t a bigger paranormal presence in the game yet, that’s something that really makes the franchise.  But so far, I haven’t really been missing them.  Also, if you’re a fan of The Sims 2, you’re not going to notice a ton of new interactions in a day-to-day Sim life.  But, there are some things (like fishing or gardening) that have been added to the core game that were only later additions to the game with The Sims 2.  While many of the objects and interactions are very similar, it’s the way the game is played that makes the biggest difference between games.  This version of The Sims is such a more dynamic and vivid playing experience and gaming experience than we’ve had previously.  There’s a lot of creative potential waiting in this game, whether you create stories or video or in-game content – or just sit back and watch your Sims carry on, on their own, it’s always a new experience.

The biggest change, aside from how a Sim is actually played (via traits and moodlets), is the actual creation of Sims and customization of items within the game.  This was the biggest thing that got press before the game’s release, so you may have already hear a lot about it.  But briefly, let me say that this is the most comprehensive Sim creation we’ve had yet.  You can customize everything about your Sim as you build them, and then, you can customize even further with colors, patterns and designs.  Then, once you’re playing, you can use those same colors, patterns or designs to make your house and the stuff within it, match your Sim.  So, if you like to have themed rooms or houses, you can work to incorporate them EVERYWHERE (like the lovely teal kitchen below).  It’s much easier to incorporate your own designs into the game than it has been previously, and it’s also easier to get them out of the game and share them on The Sims 3 community with your friends.

Lastly, it’s important to remember that, while the game is created to be played solo on your own computer, The Sims 3 online community can have a big impact on how you play, or why you play.  EA has created a good community where you can share your creations – whether it’s recolored furniture to download, or a story about your Sims to share with your friends.  The community has always had some problems, and I’ll admit that I’m not a big user of it myself.  However, it’s got some nice features, like the video editor where you can take videos pieces from your game with custom creation formats on the site to splice together a Sims 3 video of your very own.  Any way you play, share or interact, it’s built to be both easy in places and challenging in others, but always a lot of fun.

One last note about the Collector’s Edition versus the Standard issue of the game.  If you don’t want the cool plumbob USB drive, or the downloadable city, don’t bother with the extra bucks it costs.  The downloadable city is okay, but it’s not a necessity, and not worth the extra trouble.