This doesn't look good.

All I see are two people trying to stir up an unreasonable response. Had their been other warning signs I might have agreed with you but this isn't even all that uncommon these days. And it's a fairly established franchise that doesn't seem to be changing enough to "break."

Tell that to the SimCity fans.

At least they gave out free copies of Sims 2 + All DLC so can always fall back on that if Sims 4 is godawful.

People love them some Sims. There is a bunch of complaining going on right now amongst Sims fans, chiefly circulating around all the features that have been cut from the franchise for Sims 4.

It's not really a big deal...just stop preordering games and wait for reviews. It's only one day.

Why is it so hard for people not to lose their shit before a game comes out? Seriously, wait. It's not that hard and then if it's something worth being upset over, be upset. But in reality are video games ever worth being upset over?

I don't understand the point of this. Die hard Sims fans are going to get the game no matter what, and in general the Sims games are usually given high scores, so it confuses me as to why they would embargo reviews until AFTER the game comes out. Furthermore, game reviewers tend to side with publishers, so I really doubt the lack of swimming pools or toddlers is going to make them deduct any points.

I bet it's always online, and you can only control 1 sim, and there are no sims in your town unless you are playing with friends. No matchmaking.

:P

We'll see what it's like when it comes out.

Wait there are no swimming pools? How will I torture Sims now? Death by emotions is already boring.

I suppose there's the age-old sealing them in a room by removing the doors method. Unless they made that impossible, too.

Let me give you a review then:

It's more The Sims with features added that you can see in trailers/dev diaries for the game. It looks slightly better. They stripped out all of the expansion pack additions so that you'll be paying hundreds of dollars over time to recoup the same game that was The Sims, The Sims 2, and The Sims 3 over time. This includes both unnecessary drivel and key important features depending upon what your priorities are. Also the swimming pools. And apparently toddlers, but I only read that a couple comments up.

Three stars?

@hailinel: I found this alleged list of 89+ "missing" features from Sims 4...not that I care about the franchise at all, but it's interesting to watch how fans are reacting to it.

"32-bit executable - TS4 is not 64-bit, and cannot access more than 4GB of RAM. If you have more than 4GB then you are crippled."

How does this happen?

Maybe they have secretly made Sims 4: Urban Warfare and dont want to ruin the surprise.

Why, were people suddenly expecting a The Sims game to not be a terribly boring, half-broken, money-grubbing, shit-show for once? Because that seems unwise. Why would they start making something that wasn't ass this late in the franchise? And, really, are people who are still playing this franchise sophisticated and picky enough to notice and care about any lacking aspects?

@branthog: I think the big issue is that, for what I believe is the first time, mechanics from a base Sims game without expansion packs are not being included in the first shipping product. It's like buying an Early Access game - at between $60 and $70 USDs - except you also presumably get to pay more in the future for those features to return as well. Depends on how many of these features come back with a little more development time and a big patch.

@branthog: Now you've done it...standing by for the Sims Defense Force to start registering when this topic pops up on Google!

Consumers have conditioned EA to expect that they can release anything in any condition and they will still buy it. They'll bitch and complain and draw up choose.org petitions over it, but they'll still buy it. Given that, there's no reason not to release something as early as possible and worry about (maybe) updating it later. Cash today is better than cash tomorrow -- and it isn't like this is a particularly revered franchise with a history of excellence.

The players who are angry with this should have thought about the potential consequences when they bought the seventy three expansion packs for The Sims 3. And they shouldn't buy The Sims 4 (but they will).

I don't see this as EA setting a new precedence. I see this as EA carrying on with the their long-standing trend of behavior going back several years.

@mb said:

It's okay -- my homestead is well fortified against toddlers and middle aged women. :P

I would probably care if this was anything other than the Sims.

But come on guys, when did Maxis/EA last fuck up a game release............

Unless things have changed this game is entirely targeted at 12 - 30 year old women. They are buying it no matter what.

@branthog: Actually, going back to the recent release of Sim City. And I only give it any thought because, like I said, there was a baseline functionality to every Sims game which was additive over the first three games. At least you could expect to be upgrading to a better product by buying the first game if you never bought any of the previous expansion packs or marketplace items.

Believe me, I gave up on buying expansions to The Sims after the first game (and didn't end up buying all of the ones for that even). I used to enjoy what I got out of the base game enough to enjoy it, but then realized I barely even played The Sims 3 after the overly aggressive businessification of buying individual items with real money which, to me at least, is an insulting business model for a full priced game.

You're absolutely right that people will still buy it, though I guess the thing to remember is that, to some people who go crazy over The Sims, it's the kind of game they *could* waste away as their only game played and maybe that's worth the nickel and dime tactics that make free to play games work (except these are more macrotransactions than micro). They also probably haven't watched any coverage pre release to realize what's missing until it's too late. Maybe then they'll actually feel burned enough to remember it come The Sims 5, but I'm too cynical of the average person as well to believe that.

I didn't learn my lesson when I bought sim city and I also didn't learn my lesson when I bought Battlefield 4. I was excited for the sims 4, then they said there would be no pools or toddlers and I said to myself thats ok just 2 features gone. Now the sims community made a list of 89 features that were in sims 3 and wont be in sims 4 or are crippled. I've heard rumors of why all these things cant be part of the game. One popular theory I heard is that sims 4 was going to be online like sim city and that it uses the same engine so its easer for all computers to run. This game is actually going backwards if you compare it to the sims 3. No open world, no create a style, no editing to public spaces, much smaller spaces, all terrain is flat, worlds of less than 25 lots compared to 150 in sims 3, no story progression, buildings in background are not playable, floors limited to 3, map is one dimensional, no ghosts, no aliens, no cars, no swimming. These are just some of the many features that are missing from the sims 4. As a player of sims 2 and 3 I would suggest that Maxis and EA do everything possible to at least add some of these things to the game. If any of these features are possible to add and EA decides to add them via a payable expansion pack I would really be upset. They should delay it 2 or 3 months and work on it some more.

Are they really pushing the pre-order thing on the Sims 4? If so, that doesn't look very good. Otherwise it's not necessarily a big deal?

Eh, I was waiting on a review anyways. Could just be that it's coming in hot and maybe they need all the time they can get.

But... I'm a man!

Wow that sounds really crappy. Sims 2 remains the most satisfactory and enjoyable experience for me so far.

Just like every other Sims game, I'll probably wait three years until they release the Ultimate Extreme Game of the Year totally For Realsies This Time Complete Collection. The minute EA realized they could make huge bank by capitalizing on fan made objects, the series lost all hope.

I am curious if the Sims audience cares. The Sims 3 sold well even if most hardcore sites all reviewed it as "they took out features to sell in later DLC packs." I know a woman who's hospitialized, bed ridden, lives on a oxygen tank and just enjoyed building homes on Sims 3. Never even once letting the sims run around in it, into their wacky antics of lighting a stove on fire and befriending imaginary Bunnies. I'd imagine she will buy this game, regardless how bad the reviews will be.

Okay, first of all, crippled is the wrong word. You just can't use more of your ram.

Second of all, this is how games are. It's changing, but it's going to be a couple of years before 64 bit is something we can expect from every game. This is kind of silly to complain about, because a game like the Sims 4 should be FINE running 32bit with 4GB of memory. This is only a problem if the game isn't optimized for this reality.

I love 64bit and want every game to be 64bit but not every game needs it at this point.

I have no idea what to think about this list. For one, when you put stuff like the 32bit bullshit, and freakin "eyelash length slider" or whatever, I have to wonder if the other 87 are worth reading. For another, there doesn't seem to be any source provided for any of the information so I wonder where all of this very specific info was confirmed as not being in the shipping product. I'm sure some of this is true but I'd be surprised if a good bit of it wasn't just unimplemented as it seems like they are doing significant overhauls to the engine.

Some of the features on the list also have been replaced by enhanced features. Pretty sure that the "theme" thing for rooms has been way overhauled, didn't they put an entire trailer dedicated to the new ways you can customize your house?

The list of 89 things removed in the transition from Sims 3 to Sims 4 has already made it highly unlikely that I will get the game, so not having reviews before it is out doesn't matter. Not that I really need a new Sims anyway, as Sims 3 is pretty damn fun. I only got a few of the expansions, so instead of buying Sims 4 I can just as well buy one or two of those.
The fact that they do not allow early reviews do paint a sad picture. Looks like they have seen the fan reactions to the "89 features" list, and anticipate poor reviews because of it. It's SimCity all over again. Or there is nothing behind it, it's just business as usual. I don't know.

Great.

You probably shouldn't be preordering a game like this anyway, and with the media outlets not being beholden to EA (for junkets, coaching, etc.) means maybe we stand a better chance of getting useful reviews.

Yikes. I never got into these games (or SimCity for that matter), but it looks like they took out a ton of the fun stuff.

Well, "fun" stuff.

@jarmahead: So, as someone who loves the Sims series, the lack of 64 bit is discouraging. All the previous Sims games have had serious issues with optimization, Sims 3 specifically has horrible memory management issues that render most of my Sims 3 saves unplayable after a day or two or playing them (admittedly entire weekends of min/maxing my Sims to the extreme on cheetah speed almost the entire time, but still... the game should be able to handle at least 20 hours of playtime before any particular save becomes an unplayable mess).

Also, while this may be a problem specific to a small portion of the Sims playing population, (though it can't be that small considering the community that has formed around it) I personally get the most enjoyment out of designing "gorgeous" houses, and many of the "missing" features seem to directly detract from my ability to do that. I personally don't preorder many (if any since the advent of wide adoption of the digital download of AAA releases) games, I find many (if not all) of the recent announcements worrying as far as my personal appreciation of the series goes. While I understand that the information we have isn't in and of itself damning to the new game, it is worrying still quite worrying; even if I don't want to preorder the game (regardless of whether or not I think it will be good) I still want the game to be enjoyable.

My mom is a big fan of the series and has already pre-ordered the game off Amazon. I wonder if I should tell her about all the cuts. She was not a fan of Sims 3 because of the forced limitations. Sims 4 is looking to be even more of a truncated game. I am not surprised by EA doing this as they seem to be on a tear to destroy all their sim related franchises.

This doesn't surprise me. Everything I've read about The Sims 4 points to it being far inferior to the last two main games. If they let reviews go out before release, I'd wager they would lose a significant amount of sales from the "hardcore Sims audience."

Even those folks could be swayed by bad reviews, so why let them see said review before purchasing the game?

This sounds like Sim City all over again. A bunch of cool features and new visual flourishes hidden behind a crippled game without the soul that made the franchise popular.

I don't like this, but I won't trash a game or speculate that it bad simply because they won't allow reviews to come early. I guess we will all find out together.

It's the sims you basically know what your gonna get.

I don't really blame them. People are waiting to jump on the game for features they believe have to be in there or the game will be trash so on a market standpoint probably makes sense.

Also sims has always been about adding features with tons of expansions,

Kinda tired of this entitled game culture that has been happening lately . If the game feels whole and your having fun who cares if they are gonna have some expansions later.

Wait until the game comes put and make your deiscion then. No need to get scared about nothing,

I would really like a good Sims game. I have base Sims 3 and the free Sims 2 with everything they offered a while back. Both of them are fucking terrible with no graphics options and/or terrible UI

To me, this seems like a GOOD thing. I hated how complex the Sims got...to me it never got as good as the original Sims, there was too much to think about in later versions. I think if they strip the game down to something similar to the original game I'd be more into it.

I don't know how good/bad this game will be but looking at that "list of missing features"

Babies are mere objects

Is just a hilarious sentence

Don't care for the Sims either way, but man is it there going to be a fun shit-storm when this game comes out. Gonna get my popcorn order in now. Maybe I can order in bulk from Amazon.

Its looks like 1/3 of the 89+ missing things are about babies. There are no babies or toddlers as Sims, it appear they are just as objects in a bassinet. Thus why would there be highchairs , cribs, and baby objects if there is no baby phase, so they really cannot be missing if there is no mode for them to be useful... is what I would ask myself.

This will be my first Sims game, and it looks interesting even if I cannot imagine what it will be like. But as I read some of the comments about the 89 + things that are missing I see a trend of "simplifying" some weird minutia on Maxis' part. Some of these changes, like building on flat ground, seem there to cut down on math & calculations.

This game seems like it was built to be played on anything - consoles, PCs...maybe even 2015 smartphones or smart HDTVs. That is just wild speculation, but I think this new game is meant to cut some fat to make the base game much simpler to run on anything in the same way.

It's probably a case of "If you like The Sims then you'll probably like this, if you don't like The Sims you probably won't" so EA doesn't see reviews as a major factor. Sure it's somewhat foreboding, but there's a logic to it.

No terrain tools, no pools? Only two empty lots? No normal jobs? I'm a big fan of The Sims but they've taken out a few too many features here. It seems like the series is getting more and more into the realm of fantasy with each expansion. I wanted a game where you could simulate and control virtual people's lives. Sims 1 and 2 were perfect. The fun for me was in making relatively believable people and putting them into hilarious social situations (like grandpa making out with his young trophy wife as his grandkids react with sheer horror). If every sim is an astronaut, rockstar, or some other kind of unusual occupation, and everyone has weird sci-fi tech in their house that makes no sense to the setting of the game, then you totally lose the fun of simulating your own nightmarish vision of suburbia.

I think you are spot on there.

Man, Maxis is really shitting the bed lately isn't it? We need Will Wright to come back and whip these fools into shape. I don't know what EA does to suck the life out of every developer they own but it is very effective.