Everyone has heard about The Sims developed by Maxis and The Sims Studio, published by Electronic Arts it’s been around since the year 2000 but I have found many over the years who have not played – including myself. Often I’ve been curious, especially in the last 5 years as the quality of development around building in games has also increased but something always got in the way, placing Sims at the bottom of my wishlist every time I made a game purchase. Maybe I felt I was too old and maybe I felt like it wasn’t engaging enough after years of mainly raiding and PvP in games? This month the tug of war on my curiosity with the Sims is finally over as the opportunity arrived to get in and see if I’ve been putting this game off for all the wrong reasons. This is a gaming experience years in the making and our review of The The Sims 4 – Seasons.
Dramatic conversation starter right? It had to be so I can paint an accurate picture with words of how little I know about the full spectrum of a title that has been around for almost two decades. The Sims is a lifestyle, not just a game. There is so much you can do and to be completely honest I thought I would be incredibly overwhelmed jumping in at this time in the game for the first time but I have been “in the zone” since day two, building a ton of different scenarios ever since.
The Intern
On day one I spent three hours in character creation mode! This isn’t new, I live for custom creation in games! However, it surprised me how much fun I would have doing so in the Sims. Yes, there is an expected “above average” amount of visual choices Sims is renowned for but it’s the Aspirations and Traits that offer this extra depth of how your character might interact, hold itself or evolve. You get four opportunities to add these to your character before completing it. At the end of that three hours I created “Chloe” – a wealthy must-have-the-biggest-house, ambitious, romantic, bookworm. She started off in a sweet two bedroom home and applied for an intern job as an astronaut so I can live out my SpaceX fantasy. Thankfully my plot was right next to a public bathroom so I didn’t have to go building crazy straight off the bat. Chloe welcomed the Autumn season, in the city of Newcrest and I learned how to begin resources immediately by following quest prompts interacting with automated Sims.
It wouldn’t take too long before I felt the itch to build and enjoyed our humble beginnings but I was curious. Does the Sims have mods, is there a mode where I can just build to my heart’s content? Scouring the internet it doesn’t take long to find cheats are not only available but encouraged by Electronic Arts. Yes, bye Chloe!
The Brothers
Enter Ray and Leon. Yes, you can attach Sims together in relationships from the character creation screen so they live in the same home and I decided I wanted twins to explore the game even further kitted out with all the aspirations and traits of wealth where Ray was also a gardener one of the exclusive new professions with Seasons which also brings:
• Impactful Weather
• Seasonal Activities
• Holiday Celebrations
Which might not seem like much but again we revisit that word layers. The Sims 4 – Seasons offers more realism, more creativity and more customization based around weather and the activities that come with them. On top of this are the character and decor extensions, plus the ability to also create your own events. Back to the careers, with gardening you can breed bee’s, become a florist or plant your way to level 10 gardening via grafting, collecting plants around the town and obviously tending your gardens. I am still at beginning stages but extensive guides already exist for you to see how in-depth the crafting systems in The Sims 4 – Seasons truly are.
Ray and Leon also started in my favorite season of Autumn but we opted for Oasis Springs, desert terrain. Bought the biggest plot, “motherloaded” all the cash I could possibly have and went for it while also questing. On our first day, we went to the local bar, met a ton of folks in town, organized a house party, danced for hours which tired Leon out sending him home while Ray romantically pursued the girl making taco’s in the food trailer outside. Over the next few days, I would change their house a lot. In fact tonight it’s missing its yard, kitchen, and lounge again as I expand. Plotting all the while how to get the biggest and best. Alongside this, my imagination is running wild with how the Sims are going to help me polish some characters I’m creating for short stories I’m writing, as well as some retail spaces I’m curious if I can build – among numerous other creative ventures. Ray and Leon will continue to develop, completely appreciating I can come and go as I please – picking up where I left off like any good simulator. It’s so good I’ve already created 6 other characters since! Outside of aspirations and traits along with themes to each character so all have specific looks, only one has begun it’s adventure as I build my actual house on her but now I must get two puppies like I also have and everything else! Oh man, looks like I need to save to buy every expansion – exciting stuff!
Note: Our review was done on PC with a code provided by the developer.
