The Sims has regained its appeal
I loved the first Sims game, I played it solid for about 3 week and loved every moment of it. However, I eventually came to the realization that all I was playing with was a glorified virtual pet. If it needed the toilet I press on the toilet, if it was hungry I clicked on food. The monotonous nature and the simplicity of The Sims left it with a rather short life span, once all the novelty and glamour ripped away my interest in the game was pulled along with it.
When The Sims 2 was released I was interested to see if my initial experience with the first game could be maintained, 5 visits to the toilet later and it became apparent that the answer was a very clear 'no'. The Sims 2 felt to me like a graphical upgrade to the original and nothing else, I think I may have played it for an hour in total before putting it away at the back of my cupboard where it has been ever since.
It seems that a lot of what of what was new and exciting about The Sims 2 I completely missed because I got wrapped up in the same daily cycle that I had with the original. This is where the newest installment in the series has made the tweaks necessary to keep my interest. The Sims 3 manages to keep my Sims bladders in control enough that I can actually explore the world outside of my house and discover a lot of the content I most likely missed from The Sims 2. The town's not incredibly rich in diversity, there are plenty of different locations but it seems that what the Sims do at these locations is the same. It''s still easy to slip into a routine of work and sleep in this game but I feel that there is a lot more freedom now to go to different places and not have to worry that you're missing out on some much needed poop time.
The graphics seem to be about the same as The Sims 2 from what I can tell although I'm sure there are some significant improvements I may be missing. The whole town can be explored without any load screens in a similar fashion to Spore. As you zoom out the game loads in the rest of the town at a rate that doesn't hinder or slow things down, but lets you know what it has going on under the hood.
Overall I am liking the games so far, I'm not sure how long it will be able to appeal but it does provide a form of entertainment again instead of a second job.
