What you liked:
* Sims no longer look circle headed and bean-eyed, like in Sims 3. Much better now!
* Character creation works really well, except it was a bit difficult to figure out at first because UI elements tend to remain hidden!
* Juggling with emotions make managing sim actions pretty interesting, and once you realize the benefit of collectible auras it becomes even better!
* Aspirations and career advancement have their goals set up pretty well! It's fun to do them. Careers splitting up is also a fun idea!
What you didn't like:
* In char creation, the sim starts making fiddling around as soon as you try to zoom out a bit.
* Nearly no options for influencing actions of uncontrolled sims, which we already had in Sims 2 and it was nice. "Suggest that Sim X goes to bed" etc.
* After trying out the punching bag a bit my female sim became a buff muscle case, and nothing I've done seems to revert her. Sitting on the PC hacking all day, eating cake? Nope, still buff. It's not even apparent anywhere in the game how I can make her weaker again!
* There doesn't seem to be a convenient way to show off my screenshots / memory timelines online. No, I don't consider Facebook uploads convenient. They clutter everything else I have there.
* A few careers we've had in earlier Sims-games are missing, such as the Political/Economic careers.
* No swimming pools or hot tubs! After Sims 2 and 3, these felt like they should be part of the base game.
* No cars, but I'm expecting them in an expansion.
* Even though screenshots save at screen resolution, they display in a tiny window in-game!
* Loading screens between neighbour lots. I thought loading was divided by neighbourhoods?!
Suggestions?
* Please add the option in character creation to keep the Sim motionless when zoomed out.
* Sims 3 expansions are STILL grossly overpriced. Please try to keep expansions for Sims 4 at a more reasonable rate.
* Please add memory timeline stories to the gallery
* Please improve (default) sorting of items in the gallery. The way it is now, the popular items become more popular and unknown new items get zero downloads because they're never seen. Even when I choose to sort by New items, I don't see anything with zero or only a few downloads in the list! Everyone needs a fair chance!
* Please increase the size of the screenshot windows in-game.
* Please give the composer of Sul Sul a huge hug and two Internets. It's a truly awesome song!
Overall thoughts?
To me this feels like a great improvement from Sims 3, which I didn't like much. Sims 2 was great and this is even better. It's the rightful sequel to Sims 2 in my books.
EA Staff (Retired)
