Rate the Sims 4

[Carl]

To See Results Without Voting, Click View Results Under the Poll

Taking a day off from guide-writing, I saw some threads ranting on The Sims 4 at the official Forum. In response, I've written an article about hatred in gaming particularly as it affects franchises. Ranking or reviewing games (or any other product) as a user is to help guide others who are considering purchasing it. Yet, non-owners vote on retailers' sites and review sites in order to attempt to discredit or protest against games like The Sims 4. This is a relatively new phenomenon that is affecting the gaming industry.

People who love the franchise put a negative mark on the new game, making it more likely to fail, and they do this out of a love for the past titles. This can skew results permanently. Look at the difference in my article between Amazon.com, a frequent target of this type of protest, and Best Buy - which has more game owners reviewing the title. Notice the crazy amount of 1-star votes that Diablo 3 received when they had server trouble the first few days after launch. Only research and the opinions of other owners can help you decide if a game is right for you.

I believe that only owners of games should vote or review them, because if they have not played them, they do not know how enjoyable a game truly is. There are pros and cons to the Sims 4. Therefore,

Please only vote if you own the game!

No ranting here - if you want to give it a low score, just do so. If you'd like to give a balanced opinion, that would be welcome. Rants will be deleted without notice.

Many people will skip my big article, but here's one of the main points:


Amazon.com users voting without owning the game



Best Buy users who own the title reviewing The Sims 4

[grimsoul]

Once I got myself out of the mind set of comparing Sims 4 to Sims 3 and just looking at it as a total new and separate game I finding that I'm loving it more every time I play it. 

[Lunarpixels]

I did the same thing. And I love it! And I do know that it can only get better

[Marishkah]

You are right Grim, I was bad to compare the two games.  And once I quit doing that, then it was even more enjoyable.  Even with the "demon babies". lol 

[kymber13]

I'm doing my best to give it a fair chance. I keep reminding myself that this is a base game, and I really can't compare it to playing Sims 3 with all of the expansion packs. I'm bored already, though. My Sim met another Sim and they were wearing the exact same outfit, colors and all. I wish the neighborhoods were a little bigger - I would rather have had one large world with more empty lots than two small worlds. Not caring much for the screen loading, either - but the multi-tasking is awesome, and the word searchable catalog in Build/Buy is stellar. I really, really miss CASt, too. Hopefully I'll like it better the more I play.

[ladybug53]

I totally agree with grimsoul . In my opinion , both game are very different and should be treated that way . I've been playing since I received my copy and I love . I love how our new sims interact with each other instead of just looking like robots . I have absolutely nothing negative to say about the Sims4 . I'm very anxious to get expansion , new worlds and stuff packs if this is the way they are still going to release things . Plus , can't wait for their store to open . I have no regets in purchasing this game . 

[saltpastillen]

I think it's a solid game with a lot of fun animations and some unpredictability which is good in a sims game. There are a lot of careers and aspirations to explore and managing a large household can be a challenge, which I think is good. Not everything should be easy in gaming

The reason I don't think it's a 5 is that the "sky is the limit" feeling is missing for me. I think that the idea of making things un-lockable and giving sims and their watchers hoops to jump through to complete milestones, career advancement, unlocking objects and so on are great, but not true to a sandbox style game play. That does not mean I don't enjoy those aspects of the game, but the inability to both have things to achieve and to just play without caring about those things are what makes this a 4 rather than a 5 in my book.

[Carl]

I did go with a 3 as I stated in my article - this is not meant to mean a 60% or a D, but rather that I feel it's about average. I have experienced enough bugs to frustrate me, but I have dug into gameplay mechanics a lot more than the average player.

However, I do know we'll get a big patch that will address a lot of the bugs I've experienced, if not all. I am certain they are not going to leave skills broken, so will change my vote to a 4 at that time. There are things missing, but also a better base for future expansions that we expect as Sims players. It is only going to get better, and I'm happy with the performance on my PC. No lag whatsoever.

I have allowed people to change their vote on this Poll, as with time we will see improvements and people may feel differently. Guests may also vote, which is not something we typically do. This is so that visitors to the Sims 4 Guide can have a chance to vote if they'd like to. It should not harm results since if they're visiting that site, they likely own the game

[Lisa46]

I just don't like the game. It was a letdown for me. In a few years after more expansions come im sure I'll love it. But for now I agree with Saltpastillen, I'm really missing the sky's the limit feeling.

[Carl]

I edited the first post to show what sort of influenced me to make this poll, so that people don't have to read my rant about ranting and bad votes. Amazon is one of my go-tos for shopping, but they seriously need to alter their practices at least when it comes to games. It's franchises that end up treated this way, along with single player games with online-only requirements that people want to protest. 

[arimau]

I never played into The Sims series before, so I don't know what people look into the series. But, as the 'commoner' for the series and a newcomer myself, I never expected one thing: I really enjoyed it myself, I love it and it’s so addictive. I thought that The Sims just likes a doll house, and I admit that I’m wrong, it’s more than that. 

There lot of things to offer. The Sims franchise was well known as virtual life simulation and when I try myself, there’s more than that. You can be a storyteller, you can hone your photography skill, you also can be an interior designer, architecture even The Sims could be a stress relief for some people, creating the life that they’re truly want and they couldn't achieve it in reality. 

I never look into people review seriously before I try it myself.  People maybe have a higher expectation for the series and people have disappointment through the past series. I think they should move on, because this is a brand new series even there’s element that they carry over in this new game. But, c'mon no one could really please anyone. No one is perfect either. I think if people don’t like it, at least say something for their improvements.

Making game is not easy either, especially for maintain a good brand image the long running series. I think this game is a good start and this game has lot of things to offer in the future. I bet there's something more because this is just a base game. I hear that if this game is not successful, there will be no The Sims 5. I think that’s not good news for me as I’m still curious into what The Sims 4 could offer. 

The difference is Maxis is the one who into the series again, right?

[ManiSims]

While I do miss some of the features from The Sims 3, I am honestly enjoying The Sims 4 a lot more. TS3's base game was a bit dull for me and the TS4 base game just feels livelier and more "complete" in comparison. Of course there are some frustrating bugs that still need to be fixed and features I miss- that's why I only gave it 4 stars for now. But overall I'm satisfied with it.

[Devin]

I wrote a review on Amazon, which has received a lot of down-votes, presumably by those set on hating the game, since I believe I was fairly thorough in my commentary. I'll happily say that I gave the game 5 stars, both here on Carl's and on Amazon.

As to what I like the most about this game, I appreciate that The Sims 4 presents a greater challenge than The Sims 3, and I believe that it is truer to the roots of the game (dating back to The Sims 2 and even the OG). Once again, this is a game and it is meant to be played with a challenge in mind, not mastered immediately so that we move on to the next great big thing. I feel as though The Sims 4 has given me enough to discover between now and the first expansion pack that I won't get bored between now and then, and I could never say that for TS3.

I love this game.

[Indira]

I love this game. And I'm expecting better things to come with expansions packs and stuff. When I started playing it, I didn't have any expectations that it will be the same as TS3. I saw TS4 as a separate game and thus enjoyed it thoroughly! I have never been a builder in all other sims games. But in TS4, I surprised myself with the homes I could create with just the base game. I wait with bated breath for the next installments.

Although, I gave TS4 a rating of 4, as the loading time can sometimes be long especially when accessing the gallery or library. It might be due to the number of items in my library. Nonetheless, I'm more than satisfied with game. *Thumbs up!*

[Bri]

I'm afraid that at this point, I can only consider Sims 4 average and gave it a 3 (though I figure 3.5 would be more accurate).  It is not a bad game by any stretch, but too many features were not included that many, including me, figure should have been in there from the start.  I admit I'm a bit biased having gone through all the iterations from Sims 1 onward, and if one looks at just the base game, there were solid improvements/offerings for each iteration.  I'm positive as patches are made, and expansions come out, my own personal score will go up as well.