I think I'm definitely neutral on this game.
Don't get me wrong, I play for hours on TS4 and I actually enjoy it, but something definitely feels 'off' about the game. Yes, we all know its little history on how it was supposed to be an online game; therefore, most interactions and animations are visibly shortcutted. But these small details in animation are what made TS2 (even just its base game) so lovable.
For example, TS4 has multiple 'joke', 'discuss', and other '... about ' interactions, but in actuality, it's the same animation and the speech bubble has no correlation to at all, so why make it so complex with the multiple interactions?
Speaking of animations, I'm sorry, but some interactions such as kissing are just sloppily put together. I mean, the sims' lips don't touch most of the time! Also, I gotta admit, but I miss the sinful and over-the-top romantic animations in TS2 (I mean come on, you laughed at least once at the debauchery of the 'make out on couch' and 'goose' animations!) To me, I feel like the sims in the second game showed more emotion than these sims in this recent game!
I miss how the kids would run up and hug their parent after they got back to work, the popping of pimples on teenagers (and that nasty splat on the mirror), the pulled out knives/spoons from the counter drawers when preparing meals, the comical animation of the 'slap' interaction, how surrounding sims would laugh at your shy sim if they can't dance, the jumping of joy and excitement your kid/teen would get after receiving an A at school, the closing of your sim's car door twice just because it's a cheap car and it can't close properly, the wafting of a delicious meal's aroma, the nonchalant fanning of your burning sim (THAT was funny), the wide and surprised eyes of the reciprocating sim who is being 'smooched' then moaning in approval mid-kiss, kids waving goodbye to their bus driver after disembarking, the occasional yawn of a sim watching TV (while relaxing on the couch might I add), the little stool that pops out of nowhere for children who barely can reach washing their hands in the sink, the finger-brushing along the words of a book along with the silent lip reading of your sims followed by the silent gasp of intrigue when your sims read, the intense swaying of your sim's body when they play a video game along with the both-hands-push-slowly-out- and-breathe frustration animation when they lose, the backflips made when jumping on the couch/bed if you're a child, and the evil and cunning rubbing of the hands of a sim just about to perform a mean interaction...
The list can go on (sorry nostalgia hit me pretty hard there hahah) but I'm pretty sure most can agree that if TS4 had these small details in its animation, paired with an improved emotion system, the gameplay would be 10x better than what it has now.
Six Flags may have the big coasters, but Disneyland's small details are what draws the crowd...
