Reviewed on July 10, 2009
EA skillfully fleshes out the formula for The Sims with its latest iteration, bringing it closer to an actual game than the PC series has been, without diminishing what makes it so broadly appealing in the first place.
Read Ryan Davis's full review
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Maxis Software's follow up to the hugely successful Sims 2 introduces an improved character creation system, an open neighborhood, and a greater focus on character development.
Synopsis
The Sims 3, the third game in the Sims franchise, allows players to explore a seamless, open neighborhood, visit neighbors’ homes, and create realistic Sims with distinctive personalities. Your Sims can roam outside of their home with no loading times. They can stroll downtown to hang out with friends, meet someone new at the park, or run into colleagues on the street. New community buildings are available to let your Sim run wild, socialize, work, and play. Easy-to-use design tools allow for unlimited customization to make truly individual Sims. Determine your Sims’ shape and size, from thin to full-figured to muscular—and everything in between. The Sims 3 offers much more in the way of customizing the Sims that live in the neighborhood and also the buildings and places. Thanks to the new smarter AI, Sims will know when to do chores, activities, socializing and how long they should do them for.Neighborhood
The new seamless neighborhood
Neighborhood features:
- Everyone in the town will age together.
- Trees and shrubs sway in the breeze.
- The town is fully customizable and allows you to remove and change lots and Sims.
- "Map Tags" float over areas to allow a quick way to find your way around.
- Sims can move nearer to their place of work to reduce traveling time.
- Land values are not just based on size, but now include location.
- You are able to zoom out to see the entire neighborhood or zoom in to a see a single Sim.
- Move houses to bigger or smaller lot sizes.
Sims
Is she stuck-up or friendly?
Fulfill his dream of looking through your trash.
Sims Features:
- There are only 6 needs: Bed, Toilet, Entertainment, Food, Social, Hygiene.
- Sims have certain skills like cooking or fishing.
- Hair will not grow but you can 'paint' certain parts of the hair.
- They will look after themselves better.
- Instead of fixed interaction (like Talk or Joke), the options are filtered based on your current Mood or your Traits.
- Sims still spin around to change clothes.
- Sims have likes and dislikes to certain foods, colors, music and much more.
- Sims will now focus on many new skills, skills will not be static as in The Sims 2.
Customization
add patterns and colors to almost everything in the game
Another great addition to the build tools is the ability to move objects 360 degrees and without a grid. You can now also position stuff on counters or desktops as long as the objects aren't overlapping. There will be a grid available if you need help placing objects, but it will be much smaller. You will be able to center a 3 tile couch to a 2 tile TV set.
Customization features:
- You can choose specific Asian and African models.
- Shoes are separate and you can also choose barefoot or wear socks.
- Body can be shaped just like the faces are able to.
- Adult now considered more 'middle aged' and includes wrinkles.
- Use your own patterns/colors and then apply it to anything through a drag-and-drop interface.
- Buy an empty bookcase and then buy and place books in it.
- Table and chairs link and can move as 1 object (same with beds and end tables).
- You can make a certain stair wider (up to 4 tiles wide) with a slider.
- You are able to build 5 stories high.
- You can pick up items (garbage, books,etc.) yourself with a Hand cursor.
Traits
Below is a list of traits along with a small description. These are subject to change.- Absent-Minded - A Sim who often forgets what he/she is doing
- Artistic - High skill in creating art
- Athletic - A very active person
- Ambitious - A Sim who desires a lot in life
- Brave - Shows a lot of courage
- Charismatic - High charm/appeal to others
- Childish - Behaving immaturely
- Clumsy - Lacking dexterity or grace
- Commitment Issues - Avoidance of long-term partnership and/or marriage
- Daredevil - A reckless person
- Evil - Has a bad character and does bad things
- Excitable - Easy to get into action or excitement or reacting to stimuli
- Family Orientated - Emotionally directed to family
- Flirty - Showing interest or liking in other person
- Friendly - Generally warm, approachable and easy to relate with
- Frugal - Economical, avoiding to waste anything
- Genius - Possesses extraordinary intelligence or skill
- Good - Favorable character or tendency
- Good Sense of Humor - Very comical or amusing
- Green Thumb - A natural skill for gardening
- Grumpy - Unhappy and/or irritable
- Hates the Outdoors - Negative moodlet when outside
- Handy - Clever in using their hands in a variety of useful ways
- Hot-Headed - Easily angered
- Hydrophobic - Fear of water
- Inappropriate - Not suitable for the situation
- Kleptomaniac - One who steals compulsively
- Light Sleeper - Is easily wakened
- Loner - Avoiding the company of others
- Loves the Outdoors - Gains a positive moodlet when outdoors
- Lucky - Is favored by luck
- Mooch - To wander around aimlessly
- Mean Spirited - Loves to fight
- Natural Cook - Good cook or cooking with organic ingredients
- Neat - A habit of being clean and orderly
- Neurotic - Tends to whine or complain
- Over-Emotional - Intense emotion or full of passion
- Party Animal - To attend or give parties
- Perfectionist - Having extremely high standards
- Playful - Likes playing, prone to play frequently
- Romantic - Emotional appeal of heroic, adventurous, mysterious, or idealized
- Rude - Offensive in manner or action
- Schmoozer - Chatting friendly and persuasive to gain favors
- Slob - A lazy and sloppy person
- Snob - Prefers only the finest of things and enjoys looking in mirrors
- Unlucky - Unfortunate, marked by misfortune
- Vegetarian - Does not eat animal products at all
- Workaholic - A compulsive worker
System Requirements
PC/DESKTOP
XP (Service Pack 2):
- Processor: Pentium IV 2.0 GHz / Athlon XP 2000
- Memory: 1 GB
- Graphics: GeForce FX 5900 / Radeon 9500
- Graphics Ram: 128 MB
Vista (Service Pack 1):
- Processor:Pentium IV 2.4 GHz / Athlon XP 2400
- Memory: 1.5 GB
- Graphics: GeForce FX 5900 / Radeon 9500
- Graphics Ram: 128 MB
LAPTOP
XP (Service Pack 2):
- Processor: Pentium IV 2.4 GHz / Athlon XP 2400
- Memory: 1.5 GB
- Graphics: GeForce Go 6200 / Radeon mobile 9600
- Graphics Ram: 128 MB
Vista (Service Pack 1):
- Processor: Pentium IV 2.4 GHz / Athlon XP 2400
- Memory: 2.0 GB
- Graphics: GeForce Go 6200 / Radeon mobile 9600
- Graphics Ram: 128 MB
Mac OS X
- OS: Mac OS X 10.5.7 Leopard or Higher
- Processor: Intel Core 2 Duo
- Memory: 2.0 GB
- HDD: 6.1 GB of hard disk space, with at least 1 GB additional space for saved games and custom content.
- Video: ATI X1600 or Nvidia 7300 GT with 128 MB of RAM or Intel Integrated GMA X3100
- Supported Video Cards: ATI Radeon ™ X1600, X1900, 2400, 2600, 3870, 4850, 4870, NVIDIA GeForce 7300, 7600, 8600, 8800, 9400M, 9600M GT, GT 120, GT 130, Intel ® Graphics Media Accelerator (GMA) GMA 3-Series . This game will not run on Mac systems with processor PowerPC (G3/G4/G5) or video cards with integrated GMA 950 series.
| Game Name | The Sims 3 |
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| Themes |
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| Original US Release |
June 2, 2009
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| Original US Release |
February
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| Aliases |
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