Fantastic Game... But Are We Being Ripped Off?
HOWEVER (and here beginneth the rant) I have only decided to review this game after this length of time in response to something I have just seen in The Sims 3 online store: the "Ultra Lounge" furniture set: which is basically a set of modern furnishings that can be purchased and added to the main game. Modern furnishings like these are something that were conspicuously absent from the game as it is when you pick it up off the shelf, but all is well now that they're available from the store... right? Not really. One is beginning to wonder that certain things may have been left out of the game deliberately to allow for EA to do the same as with the Sims 2 and bring out expansion pack after expansion pack (of which the Sims 2 had no less than 15 - retailing between £5 and £15). Are we seriously to believe that all of the items available in the previous games could not have been updated graphically and thrown into The Sims 3? No creative process required, just a simple instruction to the guys and gals in the animation department to take item x and re-do it.
Its a bit disapointing to go from having about a thousand items in The Sims 2 to only a few hundred in the Sims 3. Seems to me like a major step back. And since creating an uber-cool house is a large part of the appeal of the game: I'd say its a pretty big step back.