There is SO much in want to say with regards to sims 4, a game which I and the whole simming community have looked forward to for years. In short, I'm speechless. I've never posted on a forum in my life yet feel compelled to in this case. Hopefully ea/maxis are reading these reviews and owning what a mistake they've made. Where to start:
1. Immediately when loading the game I started to notice telltale signs that something was not right. At all. It was all just a massive throwback to the Xbox/playstation versions of sims 2. Overly cartoonish graphics and a complete lack of reality when playing. The graphics just feel like a dumbed down version of ts2 let alone sims 3! It's so simplistic and feels like a step back.
2. I will happily admit I was completely sold by the sims 3. It had noticeably superior features to previous games, which all appear to have been either removed or simplified in this latest instalment.
3. Complete lack of realistic play. No 'actual' career paths. Doctor, teacher even business have all been cut out. I've always steered clear of expansions that bring in too much unrealistic content (eg supernatural, show time) but in sims 4 all the careers seem to be centred around the obscure and down right stupid. Also if you accidentally cancel the go to work action there's no way of redoing it. An even more obvious inferiority from sims 3.
4. Weather should have been included as default. Hands down.
5. Loading screens between walking across the road ??? And even between going to map view of the town. Reinstalling the most irritating aspect of sims 2. You can't lull us into a sense of security with the ease of travelling round a neighbourhood in sims 3 only to take it away.
6. No custom colours/patterns?? Small bugs and loading times for different colour sets was a small price to pay in my opinion for a highly personable game.
7. No toddlers. Weird. Some people don't like them sure but how am I supposed to play real life families when there aren't even the full life stages?????
8. Time goes so fast. You can't get anything done in a day. Showering takes well over an hour. As standard you used to be able to shower and eat a bowl of cereal in little over an hour in sims 3.
9. I've only tried playing with 3 sims in a household but it all felt so chaotic. It's hard for them to go anywhere all together, you can't just zoom out and see on the map where they all are. I already miss the ease of complexity of sims 3. Mum would be walking the dog in the park, dad at work, son at a friends house after school and daughter at a ballet class.
10. Yes you can jump through neighbourhoods but the small maps of each basically eradicate this feature. It just feel like one small map.
11. All the quirky map lots have gone. The fishing pond, parks, beach, graveyard to name but a FEW.
12. What is with the fact that you can't click on any sim options when they're at work? Unnecessary. Also no car pool, they literally teleport off.
13. Many other users have seemed to settle their dislike with the fact that ea will provide an extensive range of expansions with additional features. But how can any expansion add to the game when the base product is so dire. Whatever qualms people may have over the sims 3 , it has to be said that it made a perfectly acceptable stand alone game, without the need for expansions. Yes the lack of weather/worlds was far from ideal but there was still a load of content and fun things to do!
14. Also just another money making scam. At least with previous expansions the quality of the original base game gave the expectation they'd be worth buying. With the sims 4 as it is now can you imagine this style being translated well into expansions such as university?? No.
15. The worst thing is it's a boring game. Once you've visited the 4 crappy and uncustomisable community lots and talked to a few people you find yourself lulling.
16. Perhaps my worst hate of all!!! The reintroduction of friend requirements for jobs. So what if my sim is a lazy beast and hates people. Not everyone schmoozes.
17. I'm losing my mind here.
IN CONCLUSION: if you were to hold up the base games of sims 2, 3 and 4 you would definitely rank 4 as the lowest. In many respects I think you can even find more enjoyment from the original sims 1. Something needs to be done but I don't even know what. The whole concept seems flawed. Back to the drawing board.
EA Staff (Retired)
