The Sims 4: A day in the life of a Sim
The Sims 4 was released this past week, the latest addition in one of the world’s best-selling PC titles. The game first came out in 2000, and over the last 14 years has resulted in 4 main titles plus dozens of add-on versions. I for one have spent many hundreds of dollars (and also hundreds of hours) on this series over the last decade and a half!
The latest version doesn’t seem to be a significant visual upgrade to the Sims 3 (aside from the EA promo videos, those always look SO much better than the actual gameplay). But then again, the game is designed to be accessible to all, not just those with high end gaming rigs (Editor’s note: Is this a dig at those of us from the PC master race Chris???). Despite the incremental bump in graphics, there are multiple significant gameplay and “under the hood” changes that make this title really worth your time to play even if you have put in hundreds of hours in the other Sims games!
The interface overall is much more clean and simple than prior versions of the game, which were cluttered with buttons, dials, and icons covering the entire border of the screen. Now the Sims’ menus are more intuitive and streamlined, displaying relevant information when needed and then fading away. Even the familiar “live, build, buy” menus are streamlined. It’s now “live” and “build”. Where the heck is the buy menu, you ask? It’s in the build menu now. This threw me initially but now makes sense: Anything you buy for your home or your sims is now in one menu. From windows and doors to virtual video game systems and smoke detectors, it’s all in one place.
And here is a brilliant concept: Search! No longer do you need to get carpal tunnel by scrolling and clicking through hundreds of menus over and over again to find what you are looking for. Just type “fountain” and there they are. Or “video game” and voila! A long overdue and very useful addition to the game. Another great feature is the ability to add fully furnished rooms to your lots with ease. If you need a 2nd bathroom just click, click, plop – done! If you want to update your kitchen or add an outside dining area just click, click, plop – done! In prior games something as simple as adding a bare bones bathroom required dozens of clicks and drags.
To better illustrate the changes in the Sims 4 from prior versions, let’s follow a day of the life in a Sim:
My Sim, Julio Hernandez, is a cute single guy living in a giant house (hint: some of the cheat codes from the Sims 3 still work!). He is new in town and doesn’t know anybody, nor does he have any real skills. He’s a nice guy looking to make friends and maybe find “the one”.
He starts his day by rolling out of bed, using the bathroom, and playing a game of chess. Not a bad way to spend a quiet morning at home. He did this entirely on his own without any prompting by me.
After a quiet game of chess, we (really, I) decide to make some upgrades to his home. How about a new bathroom upstairs, a new garden, or perhaps a lovely outdoor fountain? After playing with multiple objects (and accidentally deleting all of the doors/windows in my house – oops!) we end up with a pretty outdoor fountain surrounded by flowers. What a great place to meditate or just take in the beauty of the garden!
After that we decide to go for a walk and maybe meet some people in town. One thing about the towns in The sims 4: they seem very small, and empty. The Sims 3 towns were large and sprawling, and very much alive with activity. Not so much in the Sims 4. I looked around and could barely find any other sims, until I finally saw some people strolling along the river.
The actual Sims in the newest version of the game experience a broader range of emotions, making for fun and sometimes unexpected gameplay. My sim met a perfectly lovely stranger on our walk along the river, only to quickly turn vile and throw insult after insult at the poor guy. Apparently being a vile jerk is exhausting because my Sim was so beat after he passed out on a park bench. Didn’t see that one coming!
After a quick nap on a park bench like a hobo, we stopped to talk to some other neighbors. In an odd coincidence or perhaps a bug, the only other sims in the entire neighborhood were kids, leading to a somewhat “children of the corn” feeling.
After chatting up the local neighbor kids, Julio decided to go back to his large, opulent house and play some video games. One of the strangest parts of the game is playing video games within the context of a video game. Woahhh! Julio bought and played a fun virtual reality version of tetris meets candy crush (see video) until it was time for bed.
After a rousing game of tetri-crush (or whatever the heck its called) Julio decided to call it a day and head to bed. Whew! What a day. I’m beat!
Overall, the Sims 4 is a worthy addition to the series. The gameplay additions are great (search! Why did that take so long?) and the characters are fun and engaging. One gripe whenever a new Sims main title is released is that your previous collection of 100s of objects, saved games, and custom-tailored homes that you spent hours and lots of dollars on are now gone. The object inventory and clothing options in the Sims 4 feels very limited. However I’m sure there will be plenty of $20-40 expansion packs in the near future to fix that. If there is one thing EA does well its milking more money out of its Sims players.
For those who might think the Sims is just a silly grown up version of a doll-house, check out this interesting video from Gamespot about why hard core gamers might want to give The Sims 4 a chance. You should too!
