Hmmm, what I like so far.
I like that the Sims can multi-task. Relationships seem to build faster, and stay stronger over time. There doesn't seem to be as much work involved if you set up a household with a married couple to maintain the closeness if you start them off with a lot of communication and flirty/romantic interactions. Friends and acquaintances tend to build up based on real interests as opposed to 'tell joke, play game' ad nauseum model which was the previous way. Conversations seem to be more natural (I still don't understand Simlish after nearly 14 years of play) but there are fewer pauses and fewer needs for me to keep queuing social interactions if two sims start chatting. Also, I like that if you have high Free-Will on, other Sims will autonomously start talking with your sim if they happen to know the sim your sim is chatting with. Very easy to get to know new sims if you are just starting out.
I like that the babies look like babies and not some weird pod creature. I also like the increased interactions with babies. I DO NOT like that there are no toddlers. C'mon, EA, you couldn't include toddlers after having them in Sims 2 and 3? That was one of the more fun aspects of the game for me, teaching the little ones walking, talking, and ok, not so much the potty training. (But the enthusiasm of the parents when the toddlers got it was hilarious to watch) I do like that children are given an aspiration within childhood. That is realistic (I haven't played the game enough to have a child grow into a teen yet.) I like that there are options to have the neighbourhood age along with the household you are playing or not as was in the Sims 3. I also like that Sims can travel between the worlds and can know each other between worlds.
Why aren't there any swimming pools? That was a feature that was in the game since the original? Why are the neighbourhoods so tiny? I get that we can go between worlds, but I really like to build houses and I feel really constrained by the miniscule number of lots that we are allowed to build on. Are worlds going to be larger with the expansions? Can we expand the existing worlds? It's frustrating that there are so few lots to build on. I have a lot of interesting ideas and I really like the build tools (once I got used to the new format) and I would like to be able to use them rather than be so limited.
Why aren't there any stores? It seems odd that the sims aren't going grocery shopping or book shopping anymore. Yes I know you can purchase the items by clicking on the bookshelf. I also realize the fridge has the perpetual bank machine, but it's weird that the sims can't go shopping.
I really like how the sims get to know each other once I place them into neighbourhoods and play different households and then go back to visit. I had had two that I hadn't 'introduced' but they apparently knew each other quite well by the time I got back to one household.
After having the neighbourhood you could walk around and explore in the Sims 3, it seems like a big step backwards to go back to load screens between lots. I am going to say that at least the load times are lightning fast and not extremely slow between worlds so there isn't a great loss without a gain there.
I like how the sims can be truly fat/thin, mean/kind and a lot of work was definitely done there, but the community aspect seems a bit constrained. I hope this can be addressed with expansions. Otherwise I don't see myself playing as much as I have with Sims, Sims 2 and Sims 3.
EA Staff (Retired)
