I have been playing The Sims since the very first game came out well over a decade ago. I have owned every game, every expansion pack, and have played them all to death and still wanted more. I guess I’m just crazy like that. Still, I admit I was worried. There’s been so much hype about The Sims 4. It’s new and different, and while I was excited, I honestly wasn’t sure I was going to like it very much. A lot of what I’d heard made me sceptical. All the same, the day after its release date I went out to buy it.
Adult Sims now only have three traits, though they get one extra from their choice of aspiration (I’ll get to that in a minute), and you can buy as many more as you like using aspiration points. For every completed aspiration you also get an extra trait.
Having finished Lynne and Jennifer, I moved them into a pre-built starter home and assigned them careers. Jennifer is a musician in the Entertainer career track, while Lynne is in the Tech Guru career as a start-up entrepreneur. All career tracks in The Sims 4 split into two at some point. As an entertainer you can be a musician or comedian, as a writer you can be a journalist or an author, as a secret agent you can stick with the good guys or become a super villain instead, and so on.
And speaking of moods, there are so many! Your Sims now have emotions. We’ve been hearing that for over a year now, but just what this entails might have some people confused. The Simple explanation is that what your Sims do affects their feelings. Having a hard day at work makes your Sim tense, and they may need to have some fun to relax. Really needing to pee makes your Sim uncomfortable. The death of a relative makes your Sim sad, and having a fight with a friend makes them angry.
Other emotions include focused, which is good for the brainiacs, playful, for when you want to mess around with your friends and crack jokes, flirty, for when you want to get your woohoo on, energized, which is great for when you want to work out and lose some weight, and the list goes on.
Being in a particular mood unlocks new social interactions, ways to play your instruments, painting styles, recipes to cook, and so on. And advancing in your career unlocks special items, such as furniture and decorations, that have particular emotional auras that will put you in the best mood to complete tasks related to your job.
Things that make your Sim happy, such as nice décor or a tasty meal, can boost other positive emotions, enabling them to drown out negative ones, such as anger or embarrassment, until they pass on their own.
All in all it's a a highly varied system with plenty to explore for those who like to explore the complete ins and outs of the game; while those who prefer just to watch and see how your sims develop will find that they are more human than ever before.
Simming is a serious business...
Part two is coming up soon where we will take a look at the life around the neighbourhood and exactly what you can get up to around the town.
Are you an avid Sim player? What other games help satiate your god-like need to rule over others? Let us know in the comments below.