There's never been a better time to be a fan of this series.
It seems ironic that, in a medium of entertainment often perceived as synonymous with the phrase "waste-of-time," one of the most popular and revered franchises is that which is entirely focused on simulating the life we all otherwise could be leading ourselves. From a backseat perspective, it's difficult to understand just how directing a human-shaped mass of polygons to use the toilet can be at all entertaining. Those in the driver's seat, however, have likely never questioned their enjoyment of the series, and for good reason.
The Sims 3 is, as you may have already guessed, the third sequential installment in a series originally developed by Maxis as the single requirement needed to fulfill their wish to legally print money. Given that The Sims 2 and its subsequent expansion packs have consistently placed highly on monthly PC sales charts since 2004, I think it'd be an understatement to say that a lot was and is expected of this highly anticipated sequel.
After spending many hours with The Sims 3 I can safely say that, while the game certainly maintains a fundamental familiarity with its predecessors, a lot has changed. It's not easy to differentiate from the immediate outset, as the initial presentation hasn't changed much at all. Given just a few minutes with the game, however, it becomes abundantly clear that while the series' outer shell remains intact, the contents have been drastically altered.
Before actually getting into the actual game of this package, it's necessary to jump into Create-A-Sim. It's from this essential step in enjoying the experience that you'll get your first taste of what exactly you're in for with The Sims 3. Though this game's predecessor played host to a deluge of clothing and appearance options for creating these virtual dolls, this title is arguably unrivaled in the area of customization. Dozens of click-and-drag sliders are provided to adapt everything from a Sim's facial bone structure, to the slope of their eyes, to the width of their head. Clothes can be customized to an even further degree with the ability to change both the color and texture of every little partition of the article.
Create-A-Sim also brings forth another startling revelation. Remember those point-allocable attributes featured in the first two games? Those have been done away with in favor of a vastly superior Trait system, allowing for any five of several dozen traits (Absent-minded, Evil, Clean, Loser, etc.) to be assigned to each individual Sim, allowing for further personalization on the part of the creator. These traits decide things such as career goals, wishes (think Aspirations from the previous game) and unique interactions. This system allows for a more diverse approach to gameplay, allowing anyone and everyone to play each Sim in the way that they want to, rather than being forced to play the straight arrow to avoid detrimental events.
There's also a new Lifetime Rewards system. Just by leading them about their lives, you can earn points for your Sims, completing various wishes along the way to give that number a little boost. As these points accumulate, they can be used as currency to purchase upgrades such as Steel Bladder (Sims rarely have to use the bathroom) or Long-distance Friend (Sims never lose friends due to infrequent contact). In some situations these perks are useful and relieving, though if too many are acquired, the overall management portion of the game can become glaringly dull. Playing a Sim with nothing but free time might sound appealing, and it initially feels that way, but things go downhill quite fast.
The basics of navigating the game and controlling Sims is admittedly much the same. In all reality, it's the dynamic range of events happening around your personal experience that make this game stand out amongst the previous two titles in the franchise. Whereas before you were limited to the scenery surrounding one household, the entire neighborhood and all of its residents are now available for the discerning eye. Sims can now freely travel between their homes, the homes of their friends, and the various downtown locations in a seamless fashion. This radically different approach to the way the game is played certainly has an adjustment period, but before long it feels as if this was the way that the series should have been presented all along.
Another significant difference between this title and The Sims 2 is neighborhood progression. As the entire experience has taken more of an open-world approach with things, the Sims around yours will now also get married, have children, earn promotions and eventually grow old and die. This really helps in keeping things fresh, ensuring that your Sims' children's children won't be interacting with the same old neighbors from a hundred years ago.
For some, there's a downside to all of this. Though the option to alternate between active families in a single neighborhood is still intact, doing so leaves those controlled before to advance on their own whilst you're off directing the lives of another set of gibberish-speaking virtual dolls. What this means is that you can swap back to a previous family, only to find that one of your beloved Sims has tragically died, or that your gold-hearted businessman's wife is now carrying the baby of the computer geek across the street. Luckily for those whom would rather not deal with such grievances, the natural life progression of the collective neighborhood can be switched off as easily as unchecking a selection on the Options menu.
The open-world dynamic of The Sims 3 really adds a bit more variety to your Sims' everyday lives. Sims can travel to the grocery store to find bargains on produce for cheaper meals, or they can fill their bookshelves with an array of literature from the local bookstore. They can make new friends in the park, or bump into old ones on the street. It's a whole new way to see things, but at the same time it feels very natural.
To more experienced gamers, portions of The Sims 3 will feel a little too similar to a real-time strategy title. Micro-managing your Sims' needs, especially in large numbers when they're all individually spread out across the playing field, can get overwhelming very quickly. Interactions such as going to work, attending a sporting event or seeing a movie happen out-of-sight and are tracked using only an event progress bar. None of these things are overly distressing in terms of the seamlessness of the experience, but they are a bit off-putting, at least to this reviewer.
Along with a sort of RTS-like approach to handling certain events, there are a certain number of seemingly MMO-influenced additions to gameplay. Many of the actions performed by your Sims will grant them either a negative of positive "Moodlet," which improve the Sim's mood meter in a way resembling classic MMO buffs. Also present are special, skill and career-based Opportunities. These are often assigned at random and offer dismal-to-extravagant rewards in exchange for the completion of a task, adding a bit more objectification and structure to your Sims' free time.
There are just a few issues with glitches and the like with this release. On a few occasions, I experienced the visual disappearance of a Sim or two, though incidents such as self-washing dishes and levitating babies gave evidence to their continued existence. The few bugs I encountered weren't at all game-breaking, most of them easily fixed with a quick save-and-restart of the game itself. There have been reports of compatibility and crash-to-desktop issues, though I suspect that the majority of these come from machines that aren't quite up to snuff with the game's required system specifications.
The Sims series has always been one of quality and entertainment, but those to whom the series has never appealed to likely won't find anything here to change their minds. Most of the substantial improvements over the last game have been made with those already enjoying their time spent babysitting virtual families in mind. It's for those people that it has never been a better time to be a fan, and given the franchise's history of expansion and content packs, this game is sure to have a long, healthy life ahead of it.
