What you liked?
1. The game plays smoothly, a few stuttering issues and a slight lag every so often, but nothing horrible. It's got a nice clean style about it too. The detail is really stunning.
2. Multitasking is by far my favorite aspect of the game. It is single handily the best thing to happen to the Sims since the addition of weather in Sims 2.
3. CAS is pretty easy to use, though I wish we had sliders to refine more features.
4. The emotions are a nice addition to the game. They add a new dynamic that is a lot of fun.
5. Switching between houses and neighbors has never been easier and I love it.
6. The friendships and relationships are better in Sims 4.
7. The careers are a lot better, though I miss having the Sims go to work.
8. No more pudgy faces.
What you didn't like?
I followed the progress of the Sims 4 so I knew of some of the limitations, (No CASt, no toddlers, no pools, no cars, etc) but still it did not prepare me for the near gutting of one of my fav franchises.
1. Closed world. I really miss my Sims just walking around the world, especially downtown like in Sims 3.
2. No CASt. No CASt ever. :(
3. No cars.
4. Teens the same height as adults. Didn't think this would bother me to be honest, but it does ... a lot.
5. Terrain is all flat.
6. Time goes by a bit too fast.
7. Can't carry around babies and no toddlers.
8. Camera controls, even with the Sims 3 controls on can be very frustrating. This is mostly due to the fact that the mouse curser will not scroll when on the UI. In live play it's workable, but in build mode it is very aggravating.
9. Hair could look better. it's not hard to make a fairly realistic looking sim, but the hair takes away from it.
10. My #1 Complaint about the Sims 4 is that I can't recolor anything the way I want. This does go back to the lack of CASt, but lack of color choices in some things are simply unforgivable (wooden floors and carpets are the worst). It makes me think the game is only partly finished.
Suggestions?
Go back in time, give Sims 4 another year or year and a half of development time. Seriously, the game is lacking so much that it does not feel finished. Failing that, put in a color wheel or at the very least many, many more colors for everything. I love what modders can do w/ Sims games, but they shouldn't be doing your work for you. No CASt = Mass Effect 3 ending and BioWare gave away free DLC to fix it. Just saying.
Sims 4 is a base game and I expect it to be a little bare bones, but 4 feels a little more bare than usual. My biggest suggestion would be to add a little more content than usual for the expansions that we know are coming. And please free the Sims up a bit more. Let them get out and walk around the neighborhood. Please.
Overall thoughts?
Love and hate. That's what I feel about the game. There are some truly wonderful things about this game. It's beautiful, the multitasking is brilliant, the emotions are fun. The Sims look great, but for every wonderful thing about this game there is something annoying, frustrating or downright unforgivable. I love the Sims 4 and I hate the Sims 4 and I'm still debating which one trumps the other.
EA Staff (Retired)
