LOVE IT!! I used to live playing the Sims 2 and when the Sims 3 came out I was so disappointed! The Sims 4 however is great-just need to find some time to play it.
Such an amazing product. I was skeptics because of the reviews but it is very good and the download only took around an hour and was very simple. I will be going on it a lot during lockdown!
Perfect code, just follow steps and type into origin. All worked fine and was cheating than if I bought the game from them directly.
I have loved the sims since I was 15 and it’s still as good 15 years later (especially if you know the money cheats)
Good game to kill some boredom in lockdown.
So much fun creating sims and then making their lives mayhem
I was worried about getting a key via Amazon rather than through Origin but it was very straightforward to use! Would recommend as a method of getting the game.
Easily the best sims game so far now that the lack of toddlers issue is fixed. Buying from amazon was the best value I could find. Usually around half the price of other places.
I don’t know who love’s the Sims 4 more my son or me. I ordered the download code for his Christmas and got it pretty much straight away. I downloaded it no problems. We have a family each. When we’re stuck on how to for example flip the furniture (which I spent a lot of angry moments trying to figure it out) check on the web for the keys to press (saves alot of time). Everything with the game is great and we love it. It’s not the same as it used to be when I got the very first Sims I was obsessed with it. It was much more like a home and family and you could do way more in terms of designing your home. You could add realistic stair cases and wallpaper etc. Now it feels to computerized Xbox Playstation graphics and that’s not where the Sims started. It was a desktop computer game before laptops where about. That was the best Sims in terms of graphic design and the feeling we all got when we played it. I still have the Sims and I prefer that 1 to this 1 as I feel like this is the PC version of the Xbox or Playstation game that was released for that format. Instead of what the Sims is. The Xbox game is a game version of the PC version we have swapped over and gone all console graphics instead of the PC version graphic that are supposed to be different alot different that is why people play PC version and not console games. Also the storage this takes is ridiculous to the point there’s not much room for my son to add another game on. He’s only 10 so I’m not getting him extra storage device just for a game. So yeah I think your just better to buy the console version and save alot of memory on your PC.
How much effort it took to redeem it was horrible, as I had to download “origin” to download sims, and after it took that long, I found out that if I wanted the link of the sims on my desktop or I wanted it on my PC rather than the app, then I had to download it AGAIN onto my pc. Well, after the long time, it finally worked so I’m happy.
I’ve wanted to try one of the Sims games for years now, and finally decided to go for it. At first I thought of looking on auction sites for a used disc, but when I realised about the product key being valid for only one computer I decided against that. I came to Amazon to look for the game new, and found that they sell the product keys themselves – much more trustworthy than an unknown seller on other sites!
I did read the reviews before purchasing, and from those it did concern me that the code may not be valid, or the game might not work well on my computer (a Windows 10, i3 processor laptop). However, I decided to go for it as the price was too good to miss out on.
I downloaded the Origin client to my laptop which was quick and simple. From there I entered the product key Amazon gave me, and it went through without a hitch. Then the game was to be downloaded to my PC – from some reviews I thought this would take anything up to nine hours (especially as my internet connection isn’t strong in this particular room), but it took less than an hour.
I’ve since had a couple of hours playing on the game for the first time, and I’m hooked! There are no issues with lagging or freezing, and the game settings have a dedicated ‘laptop mode’ which I have enabled, this reduces rendering for lower performance computers. I chose to have the Sims high quality so that interactions together look good, and everything else down to medium quality, and it works perfectly. I could probably up the quality to high without any less performance but I’m happy with it like this, it doesn’t look pixelated at all.
As regards gameplay, as I’ve only just started playing the game in earnest I can’t comment on as much as others can, and I can’t compare between other versions of The Sims – but I am really impressed with the game and how much there is to explore within it, lots of different avenues and missions I can explore before I even need to start on any expansion packs!
Overall, as a new Sims player, I highly recommend both the game itself and purchasing the download code from Amazon. It was all a smooth and easy experience to download and install, and I’m looking forward to developing lots of stories in my new Sim town!
Decent game, still not as good as The Sims 3 but a lot of the glaring faults at release, like the lack of toddlers and pools have been fixed. It still has a lot of small annoyances, like the tiny town size without the ability to roam freely, the lack of story progression, the strange lack of full sets of many furniture items & the lack of anything remotely like Create A Style, or even the ability to mix and match colour swatches like in TS2.
However there are many improvements. Create A Sim is impressive, even without the ability to fully recolour items. As is Build mode, despite some odd limitations compared to TS3 & TS2. But these would probably only bother hardcore biulders, not your average simmer.
One major advantage is that is is far less buggy and much less stressful on your computer than The Sims 3 is.
So, a good game that has improved vastly since release, but not a great game. But you will still get many hours of fun out of i
I love this game, so much fun to play and great deal when bought on sale too. The online product key download is very easy to use and works on PC and MAC. Endless hours of fun and creativity! Great for casual gamer as you can pick up the game when you choose to. Great addition to the sims collection.
I’m addicted to this game. The only problem is downloading it onto your computer, its a lot of faff. You have to download an app named origin then create an account before trying to download the game. All the downloading takes a lot of time (9hrs to be exact) so its best to download it overnight. Exept for that it is a very good game, worth the money.
Really great game, as always the Sims just keeps getting better and better.
I bought the P.C disc even though my laptop doesn’t have a disc player, but inside the case there is a code that you usually put in once you’ve inserted the disc. However I just went online to Origin, downloaded Origin to my laptop and then downloaded the Sims from Origin, when it asks to entre the code, just enter the code that’s on the leaflet inside the case. Save your 20!!
Bought last night and took 5 HOURS to download but think that was down to the internet speed. Was well worth the wait, I love it and I’m addicted to it already. Wasnt sure if my game card would be good enough but just had to change the graphics settings in the game then worked perfectly and I cant tell much of difference, doesnt seem to be a huge loss in the detail. If you love the other Sims games then you’d love this or even if you’ve never played it, its good fun! I would recommend i
Yes messy, yes flawed, but brimming with energy and ideas.
One of my favourite memories of the first ever Sims was of a bunch of people coming round for a party and sitting round a surrealist creation called something like a bubble machine blowing bubbles. Ever since that magical moment the series has moved further towards a tidier, more suburban reality. The Sims 3’s open world was the low point for me – a sterile, picket fence Truman Show of literalness. The Sims had walked itself into a blind alley, becoming a simulacrum.
Well, when critics say Sims 4 has ‘gone backwards’ from 3 and lost its persistent neighbourhood, my guess is this is because it’s no longer supposed to ape real life. It’s gone back to the series’ roots: caricature, surrealism, parody, slapstick, soap opera, sleaze, cheeze, silent comedy and totally addictive storytelling. Yes, when a woman didn’t like my character’s joke he asked her when her baby was due. Yes, when he was about to make a move on his best friend, his on-off girlfriend turned up at the door. Yes, he told a knock knock joke (he tells a lot of jokes) to a genius in a bathroom and nearly got into a fight. It’s like everything’s amped up. Everyone’s sexier, angrier, cooler, funnier, geekier, smarter. This is in most part because of the moods system, which is really exciting. Moods can be exploited, with a little care (despite what some reviewers say), but they are a bit chaotic, and the games gets this breathless pace as a result. In fact it’s hard to rein in people’s emotions at all. You can hardly have any conversation that is in any way pleasant without being given the option to flirt, touch cheek, whisper in ear and so on. And when they don’t like you, they *really* don’t like you. So the characters burst with life.
It’s a shame, then, that there isn’t more life in the world. I don’t mean the persistent world – I mean there just aren’t enough people or venues. If you go to the nightclub, there might be six people there, five of whom might be middle-aged. Worse: when you put on the performance you’ve prepared, no-one listens. A nightclub with 5 middle-aged people ignoring your comedy routine sounds like Phoenix Nights.
There’s also is a sense of unbalanced implementation in the game. The work day isn’t handled nearly as well as in 3 – you have to find and click the tiny superscript icon in you character’s ‘at work’ icon to access his ‘at work’ profile, and even then choices are limited. There are absolutely not enough things to redeem with the rewards system. And you can’t lock in a wish like you can in 3.
And, because there are very few places to go and people to meet, you run out of options pretty quickly.
So, I’d probably want, perhaps not refinements, but greater and more thought through ambition. But it really is fun. On my first date my Energy was *completely* in the red, but the game let the date go until dawn because the date was going so well. I got a special ‘up all nighter’ award, and the couple got a special memory. It was a fantastic moment. And it’s just that loopy charm and willingness to go with it and not be such a nanny that marks it out from the previous versions. This is my go-to Sims, and I think it will only get better.
UPDATE: I’v played some more and now I realise the wants/desires are now replaced by Whims: three little thought bubbles over your character’s pic. As the name suggests, these are short-term desires, very situational. Two are in grey and are quite random – they can relate to the environment, or your long-term goals (which you can change if they don’t suit your vision of your character as you go along), or nothing at all, and they are fleeting. The third is coloured the same colour as your existing mood and relates to that mood – if you are happy it might be to greet someone new etc. Some people have criticised this mechanic for being too swift to use properly, and to an extent that’s true, but I also think that this criticism misses the point. You’re not supposed to act on all or even most of the thought bubbles. Some won’t even fit your personality at all. But usually I’ve found that I can act on them if I’ve really want to, and you can always prolong moods with potions at a pinch. The idea is to have fun with them, not desperately race against the clock to satisfy them.
The other (hopefully final!) point I want to make is about play styles. I’ve watched a couple of Lets Plays and I am amazed at how the game can be shaped around people’s styles, suggesting a pretty sophisticated core. My character is Insane and sociable and self-confident – he’s either flirting, telling jokes or making mischief, and the games burns along at a tremendous rate. But I’ve seen it played by a reclusive geek grinding through promotions at a Lenten pace. My overall feeling, then, is this is a deceptively sophisticated game.
I don’t know why people have gave this a dull review, I’ve played this for over 25 hours and still ain’t annoyed or frustrated. Missing swimming isn’t a problem for me as it bored me in the rest of the sims game. The animations are superb and ability of multitasking explains alot on why the game takes it time but it needs too. So I would advise don’t be a sheep following the herd and decide for your self
I’m writing this review as someone who has now logged over 100 hours on the Sims 4. Also, I’ve played all versions of the Sims (1-4). First, I want to say I LOVE this game. And here’s why:
Multitasking – This is one of the best features of the game and makes the gameplay flow as never before in any Sims game. In Sims 3, your sim could do one task at a time. In Sims 4, you can be doing at least up to 3 things at once and I’m pretty sure I’ve pushed that to 4. Example: Sitting on the sofa chatting to several friends watching a TV channel and eating some food. And I’ll say that once you start a conversation, you don’t have to keep directing what your sim says next. They’ll just keep the conversation going on their own. So in that example, my sim is gaining cooking skill from watching the cooking channel, earning relationship with all the sims she’s talking to and in those conversations (depending on what she does) she can be earning charisma, mischief, comedy (all skills in Sims 4). There are so many examples of multitasking that I could fill an entire review.
Pathing/Routing – They’ve fixed SO many of the problems sims had in the past with routing. No more having to build houses with a lot of space around objects to avoid pathing issues. They are 95% gone. No more having to build a 2 squares wide stair case so that two sims can use the stairs at the same time (one going up and one going down). In Sims 4, two sims can be going up and down a single width stair at the same time. My mouth dropped open the first time I saw this.
Socializing – In past versions of the Sims, I’ve cheated my way through building relationships because I hated the social aspect of the game. Click for this interaction, click for that interaction, etc. just to keep the conversation going. And getting a group conversation going was just as tedious. With Sims 4, I LOVE socializing. I can direct the conversations if I want to or just sit back and let them chatter to their heart’s content.
Neighbourhoods – Many people don’t like the idea that Sims 4 is no longer an ‘open world’ game. I, on the other hand, after playing it, LOVE it. The neighbourhoods are vibrant with sims wandering about, stopping to talk to one another, jogging (which you can just click your sim to go jogging and they’ll do it all about your neighbourhood without having to click and “Jog Here” crap), use the objects available in the spacious public areas like gardening, children’s play equipment, etc. This is a huge performance enhancement, in my opinion. The game isn’t trying to render and keep up with an entire world, making it laggy. Now, it runs smoothly and graphically, it’s lovely. Yes, there are loading screens between neighbourhoods and even residential lots. But I’ll trade that for a massive improvement in game performance.
CAS – Yes, we lost Create-A-Style. But we gained a much faster and more responsive Create-A-Sim (CAS). No more waiting for each clothing category catalogue to generate to change that one thing (like a wedding ring). Now, you can make minor changes in a snap and whether you use a mirror or a dresser, both go straight into CAS. You can also create up to five outfits per clothing category and your sim will autonomously choose one whenever they switch into one of those categories. Now your sim won’t always be wearing the same stuff day in and day out because going into CAS was such a pain in Sims 3.
Build Mode – The new tools can take some getting used to if you’re coming from Sims 3. However, after a few builds you should get the hang of it and for those who were intimidated by building in the past, the new build mode makes it easy for a novice to build a decent house. And did I mention you can move the whole house? The number of times I’ve built a large home only to discover late in the build that I should have started it further back or further forward, etc. Now, it doesn’t matter where I start, I can just move it when I’m ready for the correct placement. There are lots and lots of build videos out there, as well, for Sims 4. So you can easily get educated on the new tools.
Yes, we’re missing toddlers, pools and cars. But I’m confident they will be coming in future expansions and will be better than we’ve ever seen before. Seeing what they did with jogging, I’m hopeful that when pools come and you send them swimming, they actually swim and not just tread water (boring!). Meanwhile, I have plenty to do with the base game – careers yet to explore, aspirations yet to complete (and by the way, you can be working on as many aspirations as you like as opposed to one Lifetime Wish).
Please don’t listen to all the haters who’ve posted reviews who haven’t even TRIED it yet or those who’ve tried it for one day. If you’re looking for a NEW Sims game, Sims 4 is it. If you’re looking for a Sims 3 game with better graphics, then you’ll be disappointed as that’s not what Sims 4 is about. Nor should you compare a new base game with an end content version of Sims 3 with a boat load of expansions and stuff packs.
Ignore the ‘haters’ blabbering on about no pools and toddlers. I’ve had this game a week now and just can’t stop playing, the graphics are beautiful, the Sims are charming and funny and it’s taken The Sims franchise back to it’s heart.
If you are stuck like I was you need to redeem your code then you need to download the EA app and it should be in your collection hope this helped
It is a download code for the Sims 4 base game. Works exactly as it should
The Sims is great fun, hours of entertainment. Great if you’re bossy like me.
LOVE IT!! I used to live playing the Sims 2 and when the Sims 3 came out I was so disappointed! The Sims 4 however is great-just need to find some time to play it.
bought it for my kids but ended up me playing it a lot, feel bad about myself
Such an amazing product. I was skeptics because of the reviews but it is very good and the download only took around an hour and was very simple. I will be going on it a lot during lockdown!
Item as described, good value for money and instant download to pc
as soon i ordered i received the code and once entered into orgins website it downloaded sims 4 and worked perfectly
Got the product key pretty fast and activated no problem on Origin.
Easy to download and get set up on the computer!
Great game all around
who cant enjoy a sims game, excellent service and delivery, thank you amazon, my daughter loves i
This game was very cheap and for the price, I am very satisfied. I have spend hours playing it, especially during lockdown!
Love this game! Very simple to order and install. Will definitely purchase again!
Perfect code, just follow steps and type into origin. All worked fine and was cheating than if I bought the game from them directly.
I have loved the sims since I was 15 and it’s still as good 15 years later (especially if you know the money cheats)
Good game to kill some boredom in lockdown.
So much fun creating sims and then making their lives mayhem
10/10 was cheaper than elsewhere but next day EA dropped the price however code came into my inbox within a few minutes
Did have to download and install the Legacy edition but love playing this game
Been a huge fan of the Sims Series of games forever…. Personally I think the best is Sims 3, but sims 4 is pretty good too
I was worried about getting a key via Amazon rather than through Origin but it was very straightforward to use! Would recommend as a method of getting the game.
I am Fan of Sims, i played it from Sims 1 to 4. Waiting the university one.
Easily the best sims game so far now that the lack of toddlers issue is fixed. Buying from amazon was the best value I could find. Usually around half the price of other places.
Code worked great and we all know how good sims 4 is so great purchase!
I always liked the previous sims game, and i bought this one and I have not been disappointed great game for those who like the sims.
Purchased for daughter. She adores it. Easy to download and install.
How much effort it took to redeem it was horrible, as I had to download “origin” to download sims, and after it took that long, I found out that if I wanted the link of the sims on my desktop or I wanted it on my PC rather than the app, then I had to download it AGAIN onto my pc. Well, after the long time, it finally worked so I’m happy.
i bought the game and it took the money but declind the orde
My daughter loves creating characters and building her own world in Sims 4, the only problem is getting her off it!
Bought for my daughter. Seems to be just what she wanted. Easy to access as download code
I did read the reviews before purchasing, and from those it did concern me that the code may not be valid, or the game might not work well on my computer (a Windows 10, i3 processor laptop). However, I decided to go for it as the price was too good to miss out on.
I downloaded the Origin client to my laptop which was quick and simple. From there I entered the product key Amazon gave me, and it went through without a hitch. Then the game was to be downloaded to my PC – from some reviews I thought this would take anything up to nine hours (especially as my internet connection isn’t strong in this particular room), but it took less than an hour.
I’ve since had a couple of hours playing on the game for the first time, and I’m hooked! There are no issues with lagging or freezing, and the game settings have a dedicated ‘laptop mode’ which I have enabled, this reduces rendering for lower performance computers. I chose to have the Sims high quality so that interactions together look good, and everything else down to medium quality, and it works perfectly. I could probably up the quality to high without any less performance but I’m happy with it like this, it doesn’t look pixelated at all.
As regards gameplay, as I’ve only just started playing the game in earnest I can’t comment on as much as others can, and I can’t compare between other versions of The Sims – but I am really impressed with the game and how much there is to explore within it, lots of different avenues and missions I can explore before I even need to start on any expansion packs!
Overall, as a new Sims player, I highly recommend both the game itself and purchasing the download code from Amazon. It was all a smooth and easy experience to download and install, and I’m looking forward to developing lots of stories in my new Sim town!
Bought for my daughter. She loves it. Took 14 hours to download so i guess there must be alot of content.
We bought this on Amazon and used the download code on our gaming PC. It worked very well and children are fully immersed in the game.
As good as ever, we’ll done to The Sims team.
However there are many improvements. Create A Sim is impressive, even without the ability to fully recolour items. As is Build mode, despite some odd limitations compared to TS3 & TS2. But these would probably only bother hardcore biulders, not your average simmer.
One major advantage is that is is far less buggy and much less stressful on your computer than The Sims 3 is.
So, a good game that has improved vastly since release, but not a great game. But you will still get many hours of fun out of i
Received code, entered in origin, worked fine and started downloading within minutes. Game is OK not best in series but fair.
I love this game, so much fun to play and great deal when bought on sale too. The online product key download is very easy to use and works on PC and MAC. Endless hours of fun and creativity! Great for casual gamer as you can pick up the game when you choose to. Great addition to the sims collection.
Lots of cool new ways to build and design a house. However, the game has lost a lot of great features from sims 3.
Bought for my granddaughter who is more than happy with i
Code arrived very fast easy to install thanks only had this game a about 6 hours ago and I’m already hooked lol
Love the game. Quire slow on my computer tho? Could just be an issue with my computer.
Hours of fun instant download. no waiting for the game to arrive.
Lots of fun, my wife loves it. It works well on 2012 entry level gaming laptop from lenovo. So we are all happy.
Very entertaining and fun game. Received code instantly after purchase. Nothing bad about this product at all!
I bought the P.C disc even though my laptop doesn’t have a disc player, but inside the case there is a code that you usually put in once you’ve inserted the disc. However I just went online to Origin, downloaded Origin to my laptop and then downloaded the Sims from Origin, when it asks to entre the code, just enter the code that’s on the leaflet inside the case. Save your 20!!
Bought as a gift and they haven’t stopped playing since. The code works instantly!
Nothing wrong with the product but i wasnt keen on the game
Oldschool sims 2 for me
Good game – purchased for someone elses birthday (but they like it)
Awesome game got the pc download, easy to do just had to create an origin account on their website and enter the game product key and sorted 🙂
Brilliant, kept my son occupied he thought it was great. Highly recommended!
fantastic game! Lots of new features including the create a sim upgrade which is very good. Definitely worth the buy!
very happy – simple to use and much cheaper to buy than going direc
very happy with item arrived on time value for money would recomend
Took a while to manage the different modes disappointed about not having toddlers anymore. Hopefully as with sims 3 it will improve with add ons
One of my favourite memories of the first ever Sims was of a bunch of people coming round for a party and sitting round a surrealist creation called something like a bubble machine blowing bubbles. Ever since that magical moment the series has moved further towards a tidier, more suburban reality. The Sims 3’s open world was the low point for me – a sterile, picket fence Truman Show of literalness. The Sims had walked itself into a blind alley, becoming a simulacrum.
Well, when critics say Sims 4 has ‘gone backwards’ from 3 and lost its persistent neighbourhood, my guess is this is because it’s no longer supposed to ape real life. It’s gone back to the series’ roots: caricature, surrealism, parody, slapstick, soap opera, sleaze, cheeze, silent comedy and totally addictive storytelling. Yes, when a woman didn’t like my character’s joke he asked her when her baby was due. Yes, when he was about to make a move on his best friend, his on-off girlfriend turned up at the door. Yes, he told a knock knock joke (he tells a lot of jokes) to a genius in a bathroom and nearly got into a fight. It’s like everything’s amped up. Everyone’s sexier, angrier, cooler, funnier, geekier, smarter. This is in most part because of the moods system, which is really exciting. Moods can be exploited, with a little care (despite what some reviewers say), but they are a bit chaotic, and the games gets this breathless pace as a result. In fact it’s hard to rein in people’s emotions at all. You can hardly have any conversation that is in any way pleasant without being given the option to flirt, touch cheek, whisper in ear and so on. And when they don’t like you, they *really* don’t like you. So the characters burst with life.
It’s a shame, then, that there isn’t more life in the world. I don’t mean the persistent world – I mean there just aren’t enough people or venues. If you go to the nightclub, there might be six people there, five of whom might be middle-aged. Worse: when you put on the performance you’ve prepared, no-one listens. A nightclub with 5 middle-aged people ignoring your comedy routine sounds like Phoenix Nights.
There’s also is a sense of unbalanced implementation in the game. The work day isn’t handled nearly as well as in 3 – you have to find and click the tiny superscript icon in you character’s ‘at work’ icon to access his ‘at work’ profile, and even then choices are limited. There are absolutely not enough things to redeem with the rewards system. And you can’t lock in a wish like you can in 3.
And, because there are very few places to go and people to meet, you run out of options pretty quickly.
So, I’d probably want, perhaps not refinements, but greater and more thought through ambition. But it really is fun. On my first date my Energy was *completely* in the red, but the game let the date go until dawn because the date was going so well. I got a special ‘up all nighter’ award, and the couple got a special memory. It was a fantastic moment. And it’s just that loopy charm and willingness to go with it and not be such a nanny that marks it out from the previous versions. This is my go-to Sims, and I think it will only get better.
UPDATE: I’v played some more and now I realise the wants/desires are now replaced by Whims: three little thought bubbles over your character’s pic. As the name suggests, these are short-term desires, very situational. Two are in grey and are quite random – they can relate to the environment, or your long-term goals (which you can change if they don’t suit your vision of your character as you go along), or nothing at all, and they are fleeting. The third is coloured the same colour as your existing mood and relates to that mood – if you are happy it might be to greet someone new etc. Some people have criticised this mechanic for being too swift to use properly, and to an extent that’s true, but I also think that this criticism misses the point. You’re not supposed to act on all or even most of the thought bubbles. Some won’t even fit your personality at all. But usually I’ve found that I can act on them if I’ve really want to, and you can always prolong moods with potions at a pinch. The idea is to have fun with them, not desperately race against the clock to satisfy them.
The other (hopefully final!) point I want to make is about play styles. I’ve watched a couple of Lets Plays and I am amazed at how the game can be shaped around people’s styles, suggesting a pretty sophisticated core. My character is Insane and sociable and self-confident – he’s either flirting, telling jokes or making mischief, and the games burns along at a tremendous rate. But I’ve seen it played by a reclusive geek grinding through promotions at a Lenten pace. My overall feeling, then, is this is a deceptively sophisticated game.
Another winner from EA, been playing Sims since the original version, always glad to see a new versio
I don’t know why people have gave this a dull review, I’ve played this for over 25 hours and still ain’t annoyed or frustrated. Missing swimming isn’t a problem for me as it bored me in the rest of the sims game. The animations are superb and ability of multitasking explains alot on why the game takes it time but it needs too. So I would advise don’t be a sheep following the herd and decide for your self
Multitasking – This is one of the best features of the game and makes the gameplay flow as never before in any Sims game. In Sims 3, your sim could do one task at a time. In Sims 4, you can be doing at least up to 3 things at once and I’m pretty sure I’ve pushed that to 4. Example: Sitting on the sofa chatting to several friends watching a TV channel and eating some food. And I’ll say that once you start a conversation, you don’t have to keep directing what your sim says next. They’ll just keep the conversation going on their own. So in that example, my sim is gaining cooking skill from watching the cooking channel, earning relationship with all the sims she’s talking to and in those conversations (depending on what she does) she can be earning charisma, mischief, comedy (all skills in Sims 4). There are so many examples of multitasking that I could fill an entire review.
Pathing/Routing – They’ve fixed SO many of the problems sims had in the past with routing. No more having to build houses with a lot of space around objects to avoid pathing issues. They are 95% gone. No more having to build a 2 squares wide stair case so that two sims can use the stairs at the same time (one going up and one going down). In Sims 4, two sims can be going up and down a single width stair at the same time. My mouth dropped open the first time I saw this.
Socializing – In past versions of the Sims, I’ve cheated my way through building relationships because I hated the social aspect of the game. Click for this interaction, click for that interaction, etc. just to keep the conversation going. And getting a group conversation going was just as tedious. With Sims 4, I LOVE socializing. I can direct the conversations if I want to or just sit back and let them chatter to their heart’s content.
Neighbourhoods – Many people don’t like the idea that Sims 4 is no longer an ‘open world’ game. I, on the other hand, after playing it, LOVE it. The neighbourhoods are vibrant with sims wandering about, stopping to talk to one another, jogging (which you can just click your sim to go jogging and they’ll do it all about your neighbourhood without having to click and “Jog Here” crap), use the objects available in the spacious public areas like gardening, children’s play equipment, etc. This is a huge performance enhancement, in my opinion. The game isn’t trying to render and keep up with an entire world, making it laggy. Now, it runs smoothly and graphically, it’s lovely. Yes, there are loading screens between neighbourhoods and even residential lots. But I’ll trade that for a massive improvement in game performance.
CAS – Yes, we lost Create-A-Style. But we gained a much faster and more responsive Create-A-Sim (CAS). No more waiting for each clothing category catalogue to generate to change that one thing (like a wedding ring). Now, you can make minor changes in a snap and whether you use a mirror or a dresser, both go straight into CAS. You can also create up to five outfits per clothing category and your sim will autonomously choose one whenever they switch into one of those categories. Now your sim won’t always be wearing the same stuff day in and day out because going into CAS was such a pain in Sims 3.
Build Mode – The new tools can take some getting used to if you’re coming from Sims 3. However, after a few builds you should get the hang of it and for those who were intimidated by building in the past, the new build mode makes it easy for a novice to build a decent house. And did I mention you can move the whole house? The number of times I’ve built a large home only to discover late in the build that I should have started it further back or further forward, etc. Now, it doesn’t matter where I start, I can just move it when I’m ready for the correct placement. There are lots and lots of build videos out there, as well, for Sims 4. So you can easily get educated on the new tools.
Yes, we’re missing toddlers, pools and cars. But I’m confident they will be coming in future expansions and will be better than we’ve ever seen before. Seeing what they did with jogging, I’m hopeful that when pools come and you send them swimming, they actually swim and not just tread water (boring!). Meanwhile, I have plenty to do with the base game – careers yet to explore, aspirations yet to complete (and by the way, you can be working on as many aspirations as you like as opposed to one Lifetime Wish).
Please don’t listen to all the haters who’ve posted reviews who haven’t even TRIED it yet or those who’ve tried it for one day. If you’re looking for a NEW Sims game, Sims 4 is it. If you’re looking for a Sims 3 game with better graphics, then you’ll be disappointed as that’s not what Sims 4 is about. Nor should you compare a new base game with an end content version of Sims 3 with a boat load of expansions and stuff packs.