Sim just wanna have fun

I’m going to be honest. While I don’t entirely hate the game I will say that I am pretty damn disappointed. It put me off from playing the franchise for a bit. I got so bored at the initial release that I lost interest in sims for quite a bit. (Thus my poor backing up resulted in me loosing my favourite sims and their saves. I am an idiot.) It’s a sad truth but that is really how fickle I am.

Now I am not saying it’s a bad game. I just feel like it’s lost all its connectivity to the original franchise. Now I have been playing this game since it’s initial launch. And while it’s had it’s ups and downs nothing has felt as flat as this. (Not even sims online...)

At first I thought it was just a case of ‘well this isn’t the sims three. There is nothing to do.’ which is what happened to me when I bought TS3 on release. I had all that wonderful content from the sims 2 while the base game of the sims 3 had nothing. The team on TS3 were pretty damn quick to remedy that. Even if I had to pay for the new content it was still pretty meaty content. Comparing the two TS4 has had 2 ‘full’ (I’ll get to that issue later on) expansions, 3 game packs and a slew of stuff packs in its first two years. Now looking back by this point the sims three had five, yes FIVE, full expansions, 4 stuff packs, three new buyable towns and a bunch of store things.

Now one might argue that they aren’t releasing expansions as fast in order to really get them right. But to be honest the expansions don’t really feel like that much of an expansion at all. They add a small handful of items to the game, a couple of new mechanics and that is it. Other than a bunch of new animations what do I get out of it? That is what i’ve asked myself. Maybe I am just a bitter jaded old lady... but the sims 4 content seems really bland. Sure when I got it it kept me occupied for a few hours. I thought it was cool and new but the novelty worn off pretty damn quick and I was back playing around in the sims two and three.

I also felt like the sims lacked any character. Like the traits didn’t really seem to do much but give them a couple of animations specific to that trait or affect their ‘emotions’. Which by the way ended up less cool in practice... mainly since manipulating them felt too easy.

But as I was saying before TS4 isn’t a bad game, it’s pretty good if you’re jumping into the series. Or if you like building or creating sims. Because let’s be honest both CAS and build mode are effing great. There is a lot of options which made me even forget being mad about the lack of colour wheel. Just because I find it bland and lacking a lot of the personality that the last three games have had doesn’t mean it is a bad game. It is a pretty good one.

Honestly I could go on about the things I dislike and liked about the game but in the end it will always be summed up the the word ‘disappointed’. This simmer probably won't be buying the next few expansions. Because A) While expansions are the same price I feel as if I am getting less out of them and B) It seems like the team at the sims really don’t know how to deliver the content many players are asking for. So until I feel like the game might peak my interest again I’ll probably stick with the sims 3 or 2.