This review will look at some interesting new elements in TSM, and discuss why it is not so successful amongst Sims fans
It is a completely branched off standalone game from the original, and this review will look at the interesting-but-not-very-amazing changes.
Basic game play:
The Sims Medieval is a game with objectives, so called "Quests" in game. You are "the Watcher", the "person" who will guide the Sims to a new golden age of ruler-ship. You will need to create a king before you can see the empty lands of your new kingdom.
The game starts off with a tutorial of some basic Sims control and some new elements introduced in TSM.
Roles: The Sims you can control in this game are called Heroes. Every hero comes with 2 traits and 1 fatal personality (bad trait). This is a good change because back when I was playing the Sims 3 I usually will only give good traits to my Sims.
The first hero you create (or choose) will be the Monarch. And as you progress with quests you will be granted resources and money. With resources, you can expand your empty land with preset-buildings like the church, or barracks. There are around 10 different buildings for you to choose from. And each building you will need to create (or choose) a hero for it. They all have their own finance and level. Leveling up with grant you more features and usually a higher chance of successful specific interactions (such as potion-creation for wizards, or buttering up customers for merchants).
Quests: The flow of your kingdom is controlled by quests. Without quests, you cannot play the game. As in, you choose a hero every time you start a quest. And the hero (or secondary hero) you chose will be the only Sim you can control before the quest is over. A quest generally lasts about 20-30 minutes.
When you choose the quest, you can choose your approach to finish the quest. Such as, on a quest about a found genie bottle, you can approach as a Wizard which will like to free the genie; or as the Monarch himself to use up the two wishes. And different approach limits you with certain heroes. Without the specific building expansion, the heroes will not appear in your kingdom and the approach will be blocked out.
Each quest tells its own different story. The good thing is you don't have time limit to finish the quests. So if you want you can always spend your time on anything interesting, and come back and complete the quest when you feel like it.
Needs: You now only have two needs, hunger and sleep. At first it might seem lacking a lot of the original Sims' needs. But once you started playing you will find out that there might be a bit too much to play around for you to handle any extra needs.
Minor-quests: They are like opportunities in the Sims 3. The character you are controlling will receive two opportunities at 9 am every day. Accomplishing them will grant you extra focus but no penalty will be given if you just leave them aside.
Focus: These are like the moodlets in the Sims 3. Any extra "opportunities" done will contribute to the focus meter. The higher the meter, the more successful you will be in certain interactions, and vice versa. Other things like taking a shower, well-rested or bad memories also contribute to the meter.
This feature although similar to the mood in Sims 3, it affects even more in TSM. This is because when your focus is low, you can barely succeed in anything. Though it is the same when you have bad mood in the Sims 3, your Sims will just go mental. But since this is a game which you have to complete objectives, sometimes your focus can really affect much. Good things is that as mention before, there is no time limit to quests (but not for opportunities).
Map: Although you start out with a kingdom with only a castle and nothing else. You can still wander into the wilderness. Such as the cave for some minerals or the forest to do some hunting. These are interactions which your Sims will just disappear for some time and come back with the result. It seems a little bit lazy as well when the village shoppe is also in this form.
Kingdom management: There are four attributes to manage with your kingdom: Well-being, security, knowledge and culture. When you complete quests certain attributes will rise up and it is essential to keep them high enough to stop your kingdom from rioting. The attributes won't stay high forever as well and you will need to balance out your effort on each of the four attributes. For example, a low security meter will cause thiefs roaming the streets.
There are other neighboring kingdoms as well and you all share some political interests.
Customization:
Unlike the usual Sims games, you can't build your own buildings. But you can still create your own controllable Heroes, and add furniture or changing the patterns on floors and walls on existing buildings. The powerful tool "Create-a-style" remains. But apart from that there isn't anything much to "create".
Visuals and audio:
The graphics are basically the same as TS3.
While the game inserts a lot of "medieval drawings" to tell the stories, they are really well drawn and the music is so medieval that it fits the game so greatly.
Others:
Like every Sims game, there are also hidden stuff for you to find out. For example, there is a trait called "Hopeful orphan". Which it describes that your Sim has been trying to find his long lost parents. Or maps to remote islands which you can set sail on a ship and venture to (though I haven't tried this out yet and I doubt you can really "see" the island).
To conclude, this is not a bad game. Seeing that the game is set in a completely different time line, there are lots of new items and functions. The problem is that the Sims series has been famous for its FREEDOM and choices of CUSTOMIZATION and a ground to express your CREATIVITY.
The Sims Medieval is a game that focuses on the completion of objectives and quests, which kills half of the freedom (since you can still venture around as long as you want); it doesn't allow you to build your own buildings from scratch, which kills the creativity.
However, it is really refreshing to see the Sims mechanism to be put in a way like this. Those who enjoy Castaway stories (I haven't played it) would probably enjoy this game as well. If you can't live without the freedom like in the Sims 3, you might want to reconsider before playing this game.
Though it won't be bad at all if the game could include a free sandbox mode to play with.
Overall, I think this game really worth a play through for its unique time line. The team still put a lot of effort in the story (quests) and the presentation.