The Sims 3

Okay, so there are obviously a bunch of people out there who decide before a game is released that no matter who praises said game, they will not even get close to playing it. A bunch of my gamer friends have proved this time and time again and it's happened once more with The Sims 3. These are guys that enjoy many of the same games I do, yet won't touch a Sims game because it's too casual. I guess my line of thinking has always been, if it's fun, then it's all good. Why have the need to sort of immediately crap on a game without even giving it a chance?

Having said all of that, my main hope is that those of you who are out there who fit that description will possibly change your mind once you've read this review. Not likely, sure, but you never know and what the hey, I've got some time on my hands...obviously. Let me just say right off the bat that this game is about as much fun as any game I've ever played in my life. And I turn 30 next Monday and have been playing games since I was about 5 years old, so this is really spanning a long freakin' time. Word!? The Sims has always been a really different game in which you can do virtually whatever you want to. With each sequel that comes out, this statement becomes ever truer. Naturally there are certain restrictions, such as the inability to get drunk and beat your sim wife and sim kids. Not that you'd want to do that, anyway, but in a world in which you can play games where you can execute other human beings in various brutal styles, (Godfather II, I'm looking at you), I figure it might be a good idea to sort of clarify. But yeah, you can go many different routes in this game and with this third game in the series it seems even more sot han ever that the only limit is your imagination. At least, more so than any other game I've ever played.

I have always been amazed by The Sims' ability to capture my attention and hold me in it's grasp for such long periods of time, because as someone who spends a lot of time playing various styles of games, it really doesn't seem like it'd be even the slightest amount of fun. Really, it doesn't, and I freely admit that to anybody who asks (nobody asks). I was even a bit skeptical about this sequel because I just doubted that they could possibly keep coming up with more ideas for this style of game...but they've surprised the hell out of me with this one as they've expanded upon their greatness in so many ways. Gone is the feeling of claustrophobia that can sink on as you're stuck in the same house all the time. Gone is the feeling of not having much to do after your Sim learns all the skills required for his job and asking what next? I've played a pretty extended amount of time with my first creation in The Sims 3 and have had a blast starting a family and renaming the daugher of my boss to reflect my real fiance and I haven't even gotten into all the options for how you can edit the entire town and neighborhood to be whatever you want. The level of customization in this game is simply staggering.

In conclusion, I don't think there's any way that someone who plays this game won't like it. Even those of you who have gotten all 1000 achievement points on games such as COD4 and Fallout 3. Give it a chance, people. Or not. It's not like this game needs any help in that department, right? Now, I've got to go get started on creating another Sim, this time around it's going to be a bit more...EVIL!!! MWAHAHAHA!