Delayed for over three months and four years apart from its last iteration, The Sims 3 is finally available. In many ways, it remains the same polarizing game that you’ll either love or abhor – both with passion.
This version of the game sees a widely expanded world with plenty of the old boundaries broken down. You can go pretty much anywhere you please and travel in whichever manner you choose. Even more importantly, the environment has been changed to a persistent and interactive one, allowing you to perform activities like traveling without forcing the town around you to put their lives on hold. As such, life cycles become more natural, with a world of possibilities (involving you with the rest of the community) opening up at every turn. As with the last game in the series, it’s still too easy to get stuck in a rut, although the consequences seem less severe and much more attuned to real life.
Visually, the game offers a lot more detail although it doesn’t create that much of a departure. The ever-changing town will be bustling and vibrant, however, requiring ever-updating renders that could slow down you clunky computer.
Apart from the environment and the barriers, there are various gameplay tweaks that make the game more engaging, notably the traits system (which endows your Sims, from birth, with traits they will carry throughout their lives that could lead to anything from psychotic episodes to a more fruitful existence), a new Young Adult phase (post-teen) and a more realistic model for the benefits of being social (having lots of friends and similar stuff). Character customizations, as expected, are more expansive than before, with a lot more options for the fashion-addled to play around with.
The online component of the game continues to be rich, although I can’t help but shake the feeling that the God-type standalone play has suffered some. Maybe my affection for this type of game is just waning, but I really couldn’t find myself caring too much about my Sims the same way as I did back in the last game. There is something about the way the characters interact now that just seems impersonal, perhaps as a direct result of the active world around them.
Regardless, The Sims 3 is an undoubtedly better version of the last game, with plenty more things happening and a lot more options for the virtually-addicted among us. Fortunately for me, I don’t think I belong to that group anymore. At least, I don’t think I do.
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