I was so so excited to get the Sims 4 since I've been playing since the very first Sims came out. I grew up with the Mortimers, the soundtrack is a piece of my childhood. I got the Sims 4 early for my birthday and I watched every trailer and video available multiple times. I have to say all in all I'm a little disappointed. While some features are a great improvement, I feel overall the game has been very stripped down. While I'm still exploring so I may not have figured out everything and the game may have certain features that I just haven't found yet, but I will say the learning process has been more frustrating than fun. I will also add that the pointer device on my laptop isn't working correctly so I've had to poke around my keyboard for simple functions like zoom in and out so that may have something to do with it. With that being said here is a my feedback
Things I've enjoyed:
-Not having to switch between build and buy modes. It makes it simple to quickly throw in a dining room table to see if I need to adjust the size of the room or window placement.
-The build tools. While there are some glitches (building out wall nooks, it doesn't register as the room when placing floor or paint) I have been waiting to move whole rooms for as long as I can remember. I'm looking to building my own house in "real life" and so it's been a fun tool to pick up rooms and move them around to find a good floor plan that I like.
-Height options- Good and Bad- I love that I can select different sizes for my walls however I hate that it limits my door and window choices. I wish all door and windows were adjustable.
-Emotions- While I have played the game for over 10 hours tonight and only the last half hour was played in live mode, I love the role playing aspect of the game which is why I play it. I create very in depth back stories to my characters and the emotions really help me bring them to life.
-Create a Sim functions- One.word.Awesome However I feel like clothing is VERY limited. My only other complaint is that for necklaces and earrings, you have to switch from clothes to the head and then select accessories again. Also when certain clothing items are selected, it limits the accessory options like tights and what not. But the actual push and pull features are beyond words.
MULTITASKING- Hallelujah
Detail- The detail is amazing. Rugs actually have trim and things look very real. The decor is awesome. I actually want to live in my kitchen.
Things that I've disliked-
-No Camera control- You can't change the camera angle other than birds eye view or a very weird top angle. HATE IT!!! The most frustrating part.
-Buy mode- I hate the drop down list for functions. I don't know why they would have rooms listed in grid form and then give a drop down list for features.
-Limited features- I know I'm beating a dead horse here....but no pools. Which means no swimwear. I don't care much about toddlers, however I didn't know there would be no cars or forms of transportation of any kind? Not even bicycles? Granted I haven't left my house yet so I don't know how they travel but I built a garage and then searched aimlessly forever through drop down menus, to find a "model" car and get very excited then get very confused why it was so small. I feel like the game is extremely stripped down, no doubt to make expansions necessary and cost fans a lot of money. I don't feel like they are very loyal to their fans. Give us something without giving us a nose bleed. For real.
-Very limited decor- There are like 4 counter options. I mean really?
-Limited personality traits- I don't like only being able to select (3 or 4, can't remember) They added emotions but stripped down other crucial parts of the human make up.
-Time- it seems to go EXTREMELY fast, or maybe the sims are faster? It makes having more than one family member pretty difficult. I had free will turned on but they kept ignoring my actions to do their own so I turned it off. However actions are completed so fast I can't keep up with three people and their emotions and wants. It leads to playing most of the game in pause lining up actions and then playing for a few seconds only to pause again and do it again.
-Locked features- I can't get an upgraded pots and pans set unless I get my character to level 10 as a painter? Say what???
-Small neighborhoods- Teeny tiny, miniature. You only have 3 lot options and a few houses. It's completely ridiculous. I haven't explored it in live mode but just having to select my house was a huge let down.
-Buttons- While I love being able to play on a less crowded screen, I feel like I'm constantly trying to find everything in individual drop down menus. Took me forever to find out if my Sim was hungry or not.
-No basements
-Limited life time wishes- I wanted my Sim to be athletic but the only aspiration that went with it was being a body builder. Nothing about sports.
-Can't adjust Sim height- With all the push and pull features I really thought you could make them short or tall.
-Walk styles- While I like the idea of being able to select a walk, I feel that most of them are really strange looking. The goofy walk looks like a rabid warewolf.
It's now 11am, and I haven't slept yet because I've been playing this game so obviously it isn't terrible. However I don't know how long it will keep me occupied without expansion packs. I'm sure I'm forgetting a ton more things I had thought about, but this is it for now.
EA Staff (Retired)
