The problem is that if you put the CAS from 4 onto the bare bones Sims3 base game, and gave back the style mode (god that was perfect) then you have an enormously better game... and that's just not something you want from a sequel. All but one feature a huge step backwards. Everything in the emotion system has near equivalents in moodlets. Why they would let us get so detailed with faces then make those faces constantly pulled into exaggerated, distorted expressions is beyond me—getting our friends just right and setting them loose on each other was MOST of what we were anticipating. I had really hoped they were mugging like that in the CAS demo because animations were unfinished. Everything about 4 is more tedious, from housework to gardening to fishing to cooking to even LOOKING AROUND THE MAP.
On top of all that, the fact that defocusing one sim on a lot to control another on a different lot halts and drops everything… this is even a step backwards from Sims *1*!
I don't even know if this can be fixed. We're already back to playing 3 until something improves. I'll likely attempt to like it a few more times, but right now we just feel like we got ripped off for the world's most expensive demo.
EA Staff (Retired)
