Sims 4 Review

If you never played Sims 1/2/3 before and just want to have a taste of the series, then you might enjoy Sims 4. There are certainly some nice things in this new installment: Building a house is now easier (with the sacrifice of some creativities though); the game loads faster than Sims3 with lower computer requriement; Many of the new animations are quite well done(e.g., cooking); the facial expressions on sims are more lively; also IMHO Sims4 sims looks better than in previous versions. So for sure this game will keep you entertained for a couple of days, or maybe weeks.

Those being said, I still believe the price is steep for what it offers. For $60 I am expecting a lot more, or else I prefer the money spent on other big titles (like the new Civ game). Besides, with the same amount of money you can get Sims3 + most (if not all) expansion packs, and EA just offered the complete collection of Sims2 for free a few weeks ago. I guarantee that you will get much, much more fun out of these.

For long time Sims fans (like me), I would definitely not recommend this game. During the first few hours of gameplay, I found myself discovering more missing features from Sims1/2/3, rather than enjoying the new features (not too many) that Sims4 offers. Sure, I've heard about the lack of toddler/pool/open world and I'm mentally prepared for it, but still there are things that caught me as surprise. There is no dishwasher and recycle bins, no fireman (though we do have fire alarm, but what for?), no nanny either; the maximum lot size has been reduced to 50x50; adding more windows won't make your room brighter; your sims can no longer paint portraits; quite a few objects (like some high end beds and computers) are locked until you fulfill certain requirments (which doesn't make any sense to me). The lack of changing the color/texture of any furniture is sad, because as usual, EA don't provide you furniture sets with matching colors. Also I really hate the "teleport everywhere", more than I thought I would be. The loading screen takes about 10 seconds on my mid-end computer (Intel I7, 8G memory, and a decent graphic card). Not too bad, but still longer than my liking, and I'm afraid it will get worse after a few EP installed (which I'm not going to buy though).

Many people says that things will be fixed/improved and new features will be added. But seriously, for how many years and how much more money? After going through that cycle with Sims 1/2/3, I don't think I'm ready to do it all over again at this point. In the end, I returned the game (Origin has a 24hour "Great game guarantee"), and happily went back to my Sims3 playing.

Verdict: 40/100