Been playing for about a good few hours now and I have to say right off the bat I'm enjoying this far more than Sims 3 and I'm a HUGE Sims fan (especially 3.) I think the emotions are the perfect addition to the game mechanics that freshens the experience and doesn't have you focusing all day long (like I had to in Sims 3) with menial Needs tasks. Graphically it's very underrated, and people who think it looks bad have never actually played the game because at 1080p on max settings this game look phenomenal with super smooth textures and fantastically fluid character movements. Oh boohoo, there's no pools, get over it. The house customization is really well re-built. You have all the options as before with taking liberties on all different parts of the home (as far as I've played) but now you can actually search for parts which is convenient, or choose pre-made rooms altogether. I don't even need to go into how amazing the character customization is. The ONLY criticism I'd have with it is that you can no longer choose specific material/color/pattern combos like in Sims 3, but there's still plenty of options to choose from. It's overall an easier experience to get into than its predecessors, but keeps the complexity and usual game mechanics we all came to love (or hate?) about the series. I highly suggest to anyone who may be skeptical to at least TRY the game for a couple hours before you knock because of some stupid review one random guy made on some random website. If having no pools or more aesthetically pleasing visuals is not your thing, then I guess you can stick with Sims 3, not like I care..
Visuals: 8.5/10 | Sound: 8.5/10 | Gameplay: 9/10 | Story: ? | Overall: 9/10
Don't hate on the game till you actually play it. If it was never your thing to begin with, just go somewhere else!