One of the best selling PC series of all time, “The Sims” has a legacy unmatched by any other with new installments coming out only once every 4 to 5 years. Yet the wait is always worth it, as each new installment brings new changes and refinements built off the previous games. “The Sims 4” certainly fits this mold… for better or worse.
Ever since the announcement of “The Sims 4” in early 2013, fans have been keen to lay their hands on one of gaming’s finest franchises and for good reason. Trailers and E3 demo’s touted a new, HD and an almost cartoon-like character engine, as well as more detailed characterization for Sims. The way they walk, the way they act and even down to how one character type reacts to another; a jock and a nerd character may not hit it off, but an intellectually inclined athlete and a sports loving scientist most likely will be best friends.
This characterization also plays into the Sims emotions, allowing for certain perks and options dependent upon the current emotions, like doing push-ups when angry. Even the building customization allows for new in-depth creation, from rounded walls, foundation layers as well as custom windows. It is astonishing the lengths EA Maxis, the developer, has gone to reach a truly immersive experience, where emotions based on personality are the driving force. In this manor, “The Sims 4” is a greatly innovative game. The same, however, cannot be said for the rest of the game.
The world system is now separated into neighborhood segments, which essentially eliminates the open overwold from “The Sims 3.” Now, rather than being able to drive or walk to the local restaurants or library, you have to go to a generic white map, select the segment you want to go to, wait through a loading screen, then finally arrive at your destination. To be fair, the loading isn’t as long as compared to the initial world loading screen in “The Sims 3,” but once that was over the whole map was your oyster; this segmenting breaks up the immersion, which is a bit jarring when your Sim heads to a neighbors house just to meet a loading screen.
The whole game feels like a downgrade, not really in the sense of tech, since the graphics are beautiful, the animations smooth and in the way of glitch’s they are at least less prevalent than in “The Sims 3.” But with the lack of toddler characters, lack of an overworld and overall lack of any immersion leaves one longing for one of the previous installments. And yes, that argument could be made that the multitude of expansions expected of all “The Sims” games will bring improvements to these issues, but the fact that this is in the base game, which is already priced at $70, it is completely inexcusable to expect gamers to shell out that much cash. This could be the case as EA has always focused on profit over quality, what with the abundance of sports and licensed titles being pushed onto the shelves.
At its current price, “The Sims 4” is certainly not worth it. You’d be better off just buying “The Sims 3” with some of its many expansions, or looking for an old copy of the loved “The Sims 2,” or even the original “The Sims.” Any would be worth playing, at least until “The Sims 4” goes on sale.
