From The Sims 2 to The Sims 3. But (apart from styling almost everything) is it really much of an improvement?
There are a few new features and enhancements that make The Sims 3 more realistic looking than The Sims 2. The graphics, although not much of an improvement, are better with realistic shadows and much more realistic looking neighborhoods. The new styling feature added to the game will now make your homes feel more matched up. Now each room can definitely look color coordinated. If this styler wasn't in the game then The Sims 3 wouldn't have been a pointless sequel.
About the build mode. I could just imagine The Sims 3 without the styling function and realize that it is, to me, more frustrating to build a house now. I can't place a wall directly behind the fireplace anymore. I want to because The Sims 3 doesn't allow you to recolor that cliche brick pattern almost every fireplace has. And that's just the problem, which is associated with the railings, fences, gates, and stairs. YOU CAN'T STYLE THEM! What is with that? I hardly use that stuff because I want my house to match and look more real. It is exactly what I've wanted all these years to build a house that can finally match and we get this! Cannot be styled! It is stupid! Yeah, in The Sims 2 you could change the color of the stairs because it had preset recolors featured with a few of them. But not in The Sims 3. And there is now recolors for the flowers and trees either! Also, I can't quite believe now that you can't place a diagonal door next to a straight door like you could do in The Sims 2. I had to reconstruct the walls so I could place the door. Pathetic!
The positives of build mode is the fact that you can stretch a room along with the wallpaper and flooring without having to remove an area of the wall and build a new one then add the flooring and wallpaper. Easier and better. Styling the floors and walls is quite fun too, and the windows and doors too.
Is there much else I can say good about build mode? Not really. Overall build mode is not as advanced as I thought. Take the styler out and build mode seems less advanced than The Sims 2's. Plus it is more frustrating.
About buy mode. There is not much to buy but the styler saves that. I couldn't quite get over the fact that there is hardly any furniture. But I'm sure once the expansions come along then it will become more fun. The new 45 degree angle rotation is a biggie as well as the smaller squares. Now my homes seem more real and color coordinated. I can say that if the styler wasn't here buy mode is still an improvement from The Sims 2 even though the furniture is quite limited, for now. And finally you can move the mailbox to where you want it to be. Plus you could stick that garbage can behind a fence so nobody can look at a dirty trash can in front of a mansion or something.
About the Create-A-Sim. It is way better than The Sims 2 even though I'm not much for the personality bars being replaced with traits. But now you can make a fat sim or a skinny sim. You can make you sim different colors like a green alien or a pale zombie. There is loads more to do with your sim's facial features than in The Sims 2 (Even though I got quite bizarre with their faces in 2. Like, "Oh my gosh! That guy's face is so darn ugly! Put a bag over it!) You can do even more with sims in the Sims 3.
About the styler. Now this is what makes up for most of the game and without it this game would be worthless (I think I said that already!). Even though styles seem to take forever to load the end result for most of the furniture, wallpapers and floors are quite amazing. You can click on the objects current colors and drag them onto another object to match. Like now you can have a spotted television set or a striped refrigerator. Plus you can change the color inside the color if you know what I mean. You can also drag one individual color onto another object and select which color you want to replace. Endless coloring techniques. This styler is the main ingredient of the game.
Well, I must say that it seems that the game is still somewhat of an improvement over the Sims 2 but I couldn't help but notice that some of the graphics lack realism that you could find in The Sims 2. Lighting for instance. I place a light outside and most of the time there is no light glaring on anything. Plus light is supposed to shine through the windows on the ground but that isn't the case here. Sometimes it works but most of the time it doesn't. The graphics are glitchy in this game, especially in the styler.
Neighborhoods! What about the neighborhoods? Well, I'll tell you. It is stupid! You can't create your own so you have to go in and bulldoze every house so you can start building. Plus you can't add another lot. That's a downgrade from the Sims 2 such as going into Simcity 4 and creating your own neighborhood. But that doesn't mean that The Sims 2's neighborhoods are more realistic than The Sims 3's neighborhoods. In The Sims 3 the neighborhoods feel more vibrant and more alive than the predecessors. I put up with it now. Now what they should do is give us the neighborhood from The Sims with all its original homes with Sims 3 upgrades. That would be fun.
Now I love the fact that you can turn aging off or make the sims age slower than in 2 so you can have more fun with them. And, even though at first I opposed the idea of a continuously running neighborhood, it is quite fun to see things change while you play one family and the other families live on their own now. Story progression makes Live Mode a wonderfully real experience. Seeing people get married, have children, move out and all that. The neighborhood is shining with life and yet you still know what to do with your family. It's quite awesome. More real.
AND PLUS NO LOAD TIMES! The best thing to come from it. No more impatience.
Overall, as much as I think of The Sims 3 as a bit of an upgrade it still somewhat fails to wow me. As of now, I will settle for what is in the game right now and hopefully