The Sims 3: Did It Meet a Long Time Fan’s Expectations?

When I was still in elementary school I remember my brother playing The Sims 1. After I begged to play it too as he owned the game, I was granted permission and I got hooked. We ended up buying the expansion packs until Sims 2 came out. I continuously bought the game’s expansion packs and played then Sims 3 came out. I am a mix of disappointed and pleased with this game.

When I had Sims 2 I could hardly play it on my new Vista computer so I was very relieved that this game worked for my computer. I was disappointed by the lack of romance you could have in the game. I am not a person who loves romance but who could not love the ‘goose’ option in Sims 2 that left the receiver Sim momentarily surprised? I also miss the public woo hoo, hot tub woo hoo and car woo hoo options from the Sims 2 as well. It made it more interesting for that romantic Sim and for me because of the reactions of passerby Sims… and the spouse of the cheating Sim.

The other minor disappointments were that the hot tub was removed from the game. It has been there in all the games to this point, why change it? It was fun making the Sims splash each other, relax, and woo hoo in it. Just as well, majority of buildings will let the Sim in but won’t let you see what your Sims is up to. You want to go to the store? Your Sims goes in and a box pops up and you click on what you want to buy. I always liked making my Sim walk about and examine things from the previous games.

My next and final complaint involves the website. The website has a store where you can buy items from it and download a free town. The game comes with one town upon installation. What if the consumer does not have Internet? I think they deserve the “free” town on account the game was roughly forty dollars from my Wal-Mart.

The game also gives you ten dollars worth of Sim points that you use to buy from the store. Ten dollars is worth 1,000 Sim points. Most items are roughly around seventy to over a hundred Sim points. The sets they sell are roughly 1,000 Sims points themselves. All that money for air? You won’t find me shopping there because I will never spend money on air. If I can’t physically hold it, I won’t be wasting my money on it.

I know I’ll get the comment of “I like the store because it saves me money because I play with the same objects each time” so I’ll respond to that now. It may be a save for you but I am a player that likes variety and I do play with majority of the objects. I am not saying they should be rid of the store but it is pricey and they come out with objects for it nearly every day, they should have added more of those objects in the base game or put it towards an expansion or a stuff pack so I can actually have it and not feel like I put my money out there for air. I have a habit of uninstalling a lot or losing my Internet. The store would be a waste for me and I hate buying what I can’t hold.

However, the game was not a total lost. It had many unique items and Sims (young adult is included). You can give your Sim high lights, low lights, pig nose, plastic surgery nose, round face, long face. You name it, you can make it. The Sims is very customizable which can make very interesting Sims for your game play. The clothes can be any color imaginable or you can change the pattern, or texture on different parts of the clothing. You do all of this in Create-A-Sim. The possibilities are endless! You can really let your creativity run wild.

Maybe you don’t care about Sim looks but Sim houses. You have the same options of customization in build mode or buy mode. Objects can be turned into any pattern, texture, or color to your liking. Wall paper, the floor, the windows and doors are all fully customizable. You can really get down to detail by having the window pane look white from the outside but black on the inside, or anything else you can imagine!

Perhaps you don’t care about all this detail and just want to play. In build or buy mode it gives a few selections of each item that you can just quickly buy and put in. There’s also various pre-made homes fully furnished and ready to go as well as plenty of interesting pre-made Sims such as Bella and Mortimer as children living with their parents.

The game has story progression that you can enable or disable whenever you please. It allows other families to reproduce, grow, have careers, move, and die without you playing them. It gives a real feeling and it interesting to see what families continue from generation to generation or who just dies off forever. Don’t worry, if you want story progression on but don’t want a certain inactive family progressing without you, just save them to a new game that will not change until you choose it from the main menu.

Now for actual game play. Your Sim can play guitar, paint, fish, plant, write, and countless other things to improve skill and earn some extra cash on the side. You can catch a butterfly worth nine bucks or a hundred, the same for beetles. You can find space rocks, gold, silver, and other gems around the towns worth various amounts or you can smelt and have in your home.

Perhaps your Sim wants big bucks then they can get a job at the music career and become a rock star or hit movie composer or join the military career and be an astronaut that works Mondays only and earns $6,000.

The Sims 3 already provides many possibilities and it’s only the base game. From previous games the expansion and stuff packs brought in bigger and better things which I am sure will happen with The Sims 3 making it an even greater game.

Even with its disappointments, it still had too many great things for me not to play or want to buy any expansion or stuff packs that hit stores. I still think it’s worth the money and worth the time.

This is from a fan since Sims 1, let there be Sims (3)!