The Sims 3

I don't usually write reviews, but in this case I feel the need to share how extremely disappointed I was with the Sims 3.

First off, I loved and enjoyed both TS1 & TS2. I really wanted to enjoy this game too. I've been looking forward to playing it for quite sometime now. Unfortunately, in my opinion it falls extremely short. I understand there are always going to be problems with a game, your not going to get the perfect game. However I don't want to feel like I got ripped off, which is what I felt when I played this game.

People are complaining about how horrible the Sims look. Yeah I agree they don't look all that great, but thinking back when TS2 came out, TS3 definitely is a huge improvement. The look of the Sims didn't really bother me all that much because with custom content all that can be fixed. I was disappointed they didn't have body builder like they did in TS2 though :(.

It was horribly lacking in any content for your Sim though. Barley any hairstyles for females and even worse for the guys! Selection for clothing was a bare minimum. Felt ripped off there.

I liked how you could choose voices for your sims. Your sims can have deep voices or high pitched helium ones, lol. The recolor tool was very nice.

It's the gameplay for me that I really love with the Sims. The ability to create a rich universe that you can customize and control, relationships, etc. Unfortunately I did not find this to be so in Sims 3.

(Just to let you know, I played the TS2 without any expansion packs for quite awhile and was entertained playing it. I only bought two expansion packs later for TS2 ( pets & seasons). I still found it addicting without all the other expansion packs.)

For me the Sims 3 got boring really fast. I played it for an hour and was beginning to tire of it. I even found my self leaving the game to go make something to eat because the ability to fast forward on the fastest speed while they were sleeping took forever! If I remember correctly, EA said that you wouldn't have to focus so much on going to the bathroom or hygiene. That's right, but now the amount of time they have to sleep for, makes up for that and more!

The "achievements" and "quests" were horribly dull and begin to feel repetitive. It began to feel like an RPG not a Sims game. That's great and all I guess if done properly, but it gets boring really fast in this game. It felt like they focused more on that than personality/emotion/moods. Sim's interactions were awful, shallow, and just bad. I find that really sad because personalities and emotions/moods were what made it fun for me. Yes they added about 60 different personality traits, and you could chose 5 of them. That was a great idea, but again just didn't live up to the hype to me. Actually I was really disappointed in it. Sims will do a few actions that go with their traits, nothing fantastic really. I read in a review and they were right, spouses that get cheated on no longer care, no "betrayed" moodlet. When my Sim stayed in the house to long, a crazy moodlet showed, but my Sim acted normal. It had no affect on them, no emotional break down, or going coo coo (I miss the bunny and the crazy doctor, lol). Sims that don't like children, will still be overjoyed to be pregnant. Evil Sims will give "friendly hugs". The memories that your sims had in TS2 are no more, nor is the numbers underneath the relationship bar.

The graphics weren't so great, but I guess its because they are able to sell more that way. What really peeved me was there was no seasons added. I think there is wind, but whoopee-do. I remember hearing when TS2 came out they wanted to put seasons in the original game, but were having trouble programming it so the rain didn't go through the roofs. What's the reason this time, squeeze every penny out of us they can get on expansion packs.

The big thing with this game was story progression. It sounded great but there is a HUGE flaw, the game will start deleting/moving out families at random, even the ones you create. Even if you uncheck the story progression, it won't turn off. So basically you can only play one family at a time, because if you leave a family to play another, they could be deleted. Not only that, families you've left and if they haven't been deleted, sometimes you'll go back and your single males have asexually popped out kids, same for the females XD. Why EA thought that would be a good idea is beyond me.

If you're into the architect part of the sims, my personal opinion, stick with TS2. Don't waste your money.
TS2 was far more superior for that. Plus it only comes with one neighborhood, you can download an extra one, but you don't have the option to create your own.

I don't mean to be so harsh, I apologize, but I dished out $70 for the collectors edition ( don't recommend buying that one. You get a coupon for 10% off prima guide for Sims 3, stickers, a downloadable car, USB drive, and $10 for the new online sim store. Not worth an extra $20 in my opinion).

People are saying, but this is only a "base" game...Are you kidding me! For $50-$70 dollars!! Plus expansion are still pricey, $20-$30 bucks! Sorry, I don't buy it. For example; When you purchase a movie DVD, you expect the entire movie to be on it! am I right? It would be like them taking the scene selections and putting each individual selection onto a bunch of DVD's, and you having to purchase them all at full price to get the full movie! I don't think soooo! Yes I understand expansion packs make them money, but what I'm saying is I just don't want to be ripped off.

Don't even get me started on the Sim's Store. I have no doubt that's why there is hardly any content in this game. Absolutely ridiculous, you buy Sim items with real money. If I wanted that type of game I'd get Second Life. I feel that they're nickel and dimming us, with a game that is so bare-bones as is.

To be honest, I was so extremely disappointed in this game I returned it. In my personal opinion, wait until its $20, don't waste your money.

With this game I find, people either hate it, or love it. Unfortunately, I'm part of the group that, well - hate it.

I never played the Sims 2 because I never really found the first one to be fun for long. You drown them in a pool, build a nice house and that was about it. I don't mind open-ended gameplay but general goals are nice. I got initially interested with this one after reading blog/stories of Sims. This one changed all my gripes with the first game, I now have a goal for my Sims, one I can slowly attain while having my own fun.

Like many, I do find there is less content but I don't mind, really. Skinning resolves the problem and is very easy to do. On the technical side though, it's not perfect, crashes happen and I could barely play at the start because I had set terrain detail too high. Lowering it helped but crashes still do happen.

You cannot go wrong with this game. I have been playing the Sims since the first installment in 2000. It's not for everyone, but if you like simulation games, this is a no brainer, you need to at least try it. The expansion packs are a little expensive but mostly worth it as well.