A fine game on its own, but at the cost of so much.
After the recent revamp (and unfortunate downfalls) of Sim City, it seems like Maxis and EA are in a type of unholy matrimony that had sullied the names of both parties (the latter more so than ever), so the mention of a new Sims game had, fairly enough, many consumers including myself hesitant and skeptical. The new emotions system, the ability to multitask, the clean, crisp new look of the sims themselves and the world… It all promised many good things for a new Sims experience and perhaps would dissipate the sour taste left from Sim City. Unfortunately though, it only partially succeeds - While also taking some massive steps back.
Expanding on the Sims 3 moodlet (temporary buffs/debuffs) system that defines how your sim is feeling, the Sims 4 introduces actual emotions in your virtual people, where each positive and negative moodlet will add or detract to how good or bad they’re feeling. A sim at rest and not doing much will be ‘Fine’, but eating a nice meal will put them into a ‘Happy’ state, making them more willing to chat and be friendly with others. Watching a romance program will make them ‘Flirty’ and obviously willing to bat their eyelashes, a rough day at work will make them ‘Tense’ and downright refuse to do productive tasks, and so on. I bring up the emotions system first and foremost since it’s a greatly welcome and (mostly) enjoyable addition, as it brings a new level of realism to these simulated lives. If a sim is ‘Angry’ and heads off to work, their performance will naturally suffer, however should they go to work in the ideal mood (Inspired for a chef, Focused for a criminal, etc), they will perform better than if they went in merely Fine or Happy. Certain moods will also affect certain interactions; an Energized sim will get more out of a workout, a Flirty sim can create special recipes, which will make others flirty, an Embarrassed sim can hide from the world under their bed sheets… It doesn’t take much for moodlets to come and go, and putting your sim into the ideal mood for certain tasks is easy enough when you discover their triggers. The problems that arise from this are minor yet annoying, as when you create a sim, some of their traits can randomly give them a moodlet which can at times overwrite the mood you wanted. If my journalist is Inspired and heads off to work, but his hot-headed trait suddenly makes him hopping mad, his work performance takes a hit for something I couldn’t control. It’s also hair-pulling when you try to sit a sim down for a task to boost their skill gain, and partway there they see their spouse and suddenly become lovey-dovey. Yes, it’s a realistic system and feels right at home, but the sims sometimes come off as lunatics for how quickly their moods change when you’re not looking.
Not being much of a creator and more a player, my time spent in the advanced create a sim and house building options have been incredibly limited, but from the time I’ve spent dabbling in it, both have been tweaked and refined for better creating ability. The former now adds rather fine adjustments to your sim’s physique and very fine adjustments to their face, letting you create practically any person you want, although this can still be lost in translation due to the new, ‘cartoonish’ look the sims have, despite the cleanliness and polished visuals. The latter hasn’t seen much of an upgrade from the Sims 3 save for its ease of use and a handful more modifications to ensure you can build just about any house you could ever want. Also added are pre-designed rooms that can be placed like blueprints for quick and easy house construction on a new lot, and aspects of the house can be changed even after construction, like extending the length of the kitchen with a mere mouse drag, or swapping out entire sections. In both forms of creating, you can now upload said creations to the online gallery where other users can view, download and use each other's works in-game, be it sims, houses or entire lots, allowing you to ever expand your library of people and buildings should you ever tire of one or another.
To go into the numerous smaller additions would take ages, but it’s certainly time to go into the omissions Maxis and EA decided were a ‘great’ idea. For starters, the pre-loaded world map has practically been removed. In Sims 3, tapping the ‘M’ key would pull out and give you a sweeping view of the whole neighborhood you were in, and you could travel just about anywhere you wanted, letting you go to a rabbit hole location or another sim’s home with little to no load times. In Sims 4, bringing up the map gives you a static image of the tiny neighborhood, and trying to explore around your home limits you to a small sector, while visiting another lot requires a whole load screen. All of that freedom to waste an entire in-game day by running around the town with no direction is gone, since loading a new instance isn’t quite as streamlined and/or enjoyable. No longer can you take a run to the corner store, stop by the movies and then visit your neighbor for a visit to the fishing hole (Hell, a lot of the minor rabbit hole locations from the Sims 3 are gone too!). What makes this utterly ridiculous is that pulling the camera out for a look at the area will show buildings that have no purpose whatsoever other than to act as filler and give the disguise that it’s a full town. The illusion fails miserably to say the least, since these placeholder buildings could have been actual locations. Also removed are practically every element from the previous game’s expansions. Yes, a new title means a new slate, but so much of the Sims 3 expansion content has been removed from the Sims 4 that if a person new to the series sat down with this new installment, chances are they would never suspect how much content was missing. It took Maxis a few months after the game’s release to add in pools for heaven’s sake! (Credit due, Maxis is doing monthly updates to both fix bugs and add content, like February’s Genealogy addition) What makes this an even harder pill to swallow is that it means a whole new wave of paid DLC’s in order to add to the vanilla game and no doubt get all that content back.
For all the additions and refinement and wonderful new elements the Sims 4 brings, it still feels like this could have been the decisive entry to the series. Instead, it tries to act like the previous game hardly existed if it all, and for a fan of the series, it feels like a smack in the face (It’s been a re-occurring theme through the Sims franchise truth be told, but Sim City’s pratfall makes the sting far more noticeable this time). For followers of the series, you’re better off waiting until the Sims 4 and its eventual DLC goes on sale. That said, for those new to the series, I can certainly recommend the Sims 4 if you haven’t played any of the previous titles. Sims 4 is far from a bad game, but too much is gone for it to be forgivable, especially since the DLC train is already on the move.
