A great game to new Sims players, but leaves old Sims players unimpressed.
First players of The Sims 3 - everything's new!
Old players, not happy. A great game as a base, sure, but not enough to live up to the thrills, funniness, and overall quality of older ones.
The Sims 3 has it's 3 main points:
-No loading screens, easily accessible neighborhood.
-New Create-A-Sim style, changeable hair colors, shoes, changing various textures/colors of clothing, etc.
-Traits & wishes/promises.
-New Sim interaction system.
-Rounder, smoother clay-like graphics.
-New work/school system.
The bad points:
-Cartoony graphics.
-No memories.
-Wants/fears gone. Traits, wishes/promises.
-Different skill system.
-Sim interaction with other Sims is strange.
All in all, from an experienced Sims player, these are great changes. But not enough.
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Good:
Everyone who's played the game has their own opinion on the graphics. Personally I find them to be great, though cartoony. Smooth and interesting new looks change things up! They aren't for most, but in reality.. The Sims 2 & 1 graphics aren't as nice as them. The Sims 2 had more simply shapes to it.
These graphics are also going to be funner and prettier to the younger players, which The Sims is known for being played by.
CAS (create-a-sim) has it's charm, certainly. For those with a love for complete customization such as myself, and a want to make them look the best to your taste. Not much needs to be said, as everywhere you look at The Sims CAS is brought up. It's fun and new, I like it! (Wish there was more things to choose from though, very few hairs, etc).
Befriending other Sims is new and fun, but pretty weird. Keeping the interactions going and being sure to have fun, but don't reuse the same actions too much or they'll get bored of you! New twist, I like it and I don't. No comment on it really.
Going to school and work is a whole new thing in The Sims 3. Your job/school performance raises depending on mood, homework (for school), co-worker relationships, meetings held, boss relationship, etc.
There's also new choices on how your Sim will work for the day. Business as usual, Slack off, work hard, suck up to boss, talk with co-workers, meet co-workers, work out/train skills, etc.
I enjoy it, it makes your involvement in their work more entertaining than previous games.
And, no.. You don't go to work with them (I'm sad about that too).
You can finally GO OVER to other Sim's houses! :) And if you're a kleptomaniac, snatching stuff from your best friend's house at night can be pretty amusing... If you don't get caught.
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Bad:
A very irritating part of the game is their needs. In many videos and interviews they say "their needs are less demanding, so you spend less time filling them and more time playing the game" which really proves to be the opposite to me. You spend most of the time to their needs to make them have a good day at work, but something is always low and needs to be worked on twice as much. Bringing the other needs down.
Traits, wishes and promises are another irritating part of the game. In The Sims 2 with your wants and fears, whenever you completed a want you felt fulfilled. But with all these basic wants you get in The Sims 3, that even though are MORE fulfilling than The Sims 2, it doesn't feel like it. They feel thrown in and hardly worked on, while The Sims 2 memories, wants and fears were the big new thing that added a ton of flair to it.
Which brings me to another thing, memories. After playing for a few days, I've found they have no memory tab! They may remember things themselves, but if you wanted to look back and see how their adult years have been compared to teen... You can't. What a loss.
MAJOR pathfinding issues still, I was really expecting fluent great movements in this one. Very disappointing. Don't be surprised if your Sim stands in front of the fridge for an hour or 2 when you tried to make them get juice.
It's the same as The Sims 2, but completely different. Not in the way you're thinking with the "duh, it's The Sims. You live them." I'm talking while there's lots outside the household new, there isn't anything all that new.
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So new Simmers will have tons of fun with this, everything's new and open for them!
Old Simmers, don't get your hopes too high up or low. It's good for a base game, but the changes won't impress you too much.
Also, a warning:
EA - I despise. I find the lose of Will Wright to be tragic, and the game's changes greatly reflect on that. EA is about money, and the Collector's Edition isn't worth what it's sold for (from personal experience).... Even though the adorable Plumbob USB Drive is the greatest thing ever.
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I've rated it with an 8.5 in views of a new Sims player.
Being a 9 year player, I would rate it a 7 with my other long term Simmers.
I have more opinions but they escape my mind at the moment.
Happy Simming! ♦³