Rate the Sims 4

[Dellena]

I'm very much enjoying Sims 4.  Not that it doesn't have it's faults, but I'm finding something new each day - little things but they make it all so much richer.  The multitasking is really wonderful and I love seeing what all I can get them doing at once.  For those who are saying they're bored already, I'm wondering if they've really delved into all the aspirations.  If I have a couple that I'm playing and they have kids, then I'm usually working on 3-4 aspirations at once.  It's quite a challenge.  When you count the tasks for aspirations and for careers, there's a lot to accomplish.  I can't wait to see what they bring out in expansions to build on the base game which has a surprising amount of objects - particularly in the decorations.  I used to despair with paintings in EA basegame Sims 3, even with some expansion additions.  Sims 4 actually came out with a wide variety and what I'm able to make with painting is just astounding.  Throw some parties and see how you do on the medals.  I have a male friend who's playing sims 4 and decided to have his sim couple get married.  He picked the park but hadn't thought about the cake or the venue or anything.  Needless to say, he failed and they didn't even get married.  I told him to consider it a rehearsal dinner LOL.  And the next time, he'd be prepared (haven't talked to him yet to see how to second went).  The tasks make it more fun for me rather than just setting up pretty screenshots (btw, I posted my version of the Magnolia Blossom Park including a wedding 'room' - feel free to add it to your game if you're looking for a ready made venue - you'll need to remove two hedge fencing pieces to open it to the public.  I keep mine blocked off to keep regular park visitors from leaving it a mess! - search #dellena).  There seems to be a lot of thought in the interactions.  I noticed that people who live in my own neighbourhood offer new interactions like "Discuss current property values."  It's the little things that made it more real to me.  Like my couple sitting on the couch chatting and she's hungry, so I queue up to get a quick meal.  She keeps chatting to hubby while going in the kitchen, getting the yogurt, and then returning to the couch to keep chatting.  Just like my husband and I do all the time! LOL  It's all these little things.

[wkoziol]

What irks me are the ones that try to compare 3 to 4 and you just can't do that.  That's like comparing Ford Pinto Wagon to a Ford Shelby Cobra.  Sure both cars can get you from point A but if you want to get their fast well then....I also like to know how many of these people who gripe how bad 4 is if they are the ones that started out when Sims 3 first released.  It took Sims 3 five years to get to where it is and I'll admit Maxis ended that series with a bang with the Future pack.  This game has been out for only a couple of weeks.  Sure it has bugs, and it loads to "dang" often, and if its not this then its the other thing.  Also, those who were expecting the game play to be just like 3 but with only a lot better graphics and smarter sims you'll even grow tired faster of the game.  It's like putting a Ford Pinto Wagon's engine under the hood of a Ford Shelby Cobra.  Sure it looks like a Cobra but its going to move like a Pinto.  I give this game 4 out of 5 myself cause of the bugs.  I actually like it a little better cause to me it seems like the needs are better in 4 than in 3.  Anyways, I can't wait to see what the first xpac going to be like.

There is one thing I find kinda annoying and that is when you go into changing a part of town and decide to build a new gym or bar or whatever that you still can't get access to everything and at least when doing commercial property they at least unlock for that.  But oh well.

As for 3 I was really getting extremely tired at the constant slow downs on my system.  How I had to constantly clean stuff out or back it up or even delete some of the stuff.  But to coin Stan Lee.....NUFF SAID!

[Saltypaws]

I went back and forth about this before I voted.  There are some areas that I would rate a 4 or 5.  I think it is an awesome game in itself.  I probably gave it a 3 because of the bugs, like Carl said.  That doesn't mean that the game is not good.  I love the emotions and the little things the sims do while talking or doing certain things.  I was also one of the people that really got kind of angry when they kept telling us what they were leaving out, but like other members have said about a new game is the only way to think about it.  It is impossible to compare sims3 and all EP's to sims4.  I was fortunate enough not to have a lot of the issues with sims3 as some people have had and to be honest, I have not had any of the issues with sims4 as others are having, now that being said, I will now, lol.  The only things that I have happen is the fork issue staying in the hand, but not very long and of course the plant glitch with the grafting.  All in all, it is a good game and I have not gave a review yet on Amazon, but I intend to.

Edit:  Spoke to soon.  Seems I started having vanishing sims, so if I was to rate it now, it would drop to a 2.  Oh well, back to sims3.

[Flynn Arrowstarr]

I gave The Sims 4 a 4 vote. The game feels like a breath of fresh air after The Sims 3 began bogging down from expansion after expansion and requiring ever more computing power to run the game with everything and the supporting "necessary" mods. While I like the open neighborhoods from The Sims 3, I didn't realize how much I missed the lot-focused gameplay from The Sims 1 and 2. To me, The Sims 4 strikes a good balance between completely open neighborhoods and lot-focused gameplay by offering focused micro-neighborhoods that are open for exploration.

I've had some pretty good experiences so far with the emotion system. I tend to play "goody-goody" Sims, so most have been experiencing Happy, Enthused, Energized, etc. However, they do experience Uncomfortable and Extremely Uncomfortable when I neglect their needs too much. I haven't really had any of them get too angry or embarrassed yet, though that may change for one of my Sims as he's currently trying to romance a cute red-headed townie, heh.

While I've had the game since launch, I haven't "played" much of the game yet. I tend to focus more on the building aspect of the game. Therefore, I haven't run into the skill bugs others have mentioned. On the other hand, I'm really enjoying the new building tools. I'm currently doing some remakes of houses from The Sims 3, including the Desert House. I do hope we'll get some more variety in lot sizes in the future, and also some more wall and floor styles. But I have to say I've been pretty impressed with how the house came out with the base game objects.

I've also dug into some of the technical aspects of the game in order to update some of my articles here, and this is where I have to ding the game a little for its crummy save and sharing system. Trying to back up saves isn't as easy as it could be, and neither is backing up houses, Sims, etc. to local archives. So, I do hope something will change in that respect. Also, the edge scrolling needs to be fixed. It's been so bad I pretty much switched it off.

One other thing missing is the normal UI for controlling the camera. I know there's some controls hidden in the Camera menu at the top, but there's no tilt controls, for example. Having a small circle with the controls in one of the corners would have been nice for people that aren't used to using the mouse for that. At least have it as option if you switch to The Sims 3 camera controls, for example.

As the game improves with patches and expansions, I expect I'll like it more. Right now, the Build mode is great, the actual Sims gameplay is good. An easy 4 for now and a potential for a 5 in the future depending on how they handle expansions and patches.

Flynn

[JengaHare]

Hey I'm a new to the forum and would like give my voice to the discussion.

I really enjoy the game. The things that I absolutely love such as the collectibles and building houses are fantastic and they keep me coming back to play the game.

The Create-A-Sim is a slight disappointment. Because of the lack of options in terms of colour I find myself limited in what I can make. The click-and-drag mechanics of creating a sim can be a little finicky and I would prefer to have sliders for any fine tuning, but the traits and aspirations system (I prefer it over the lifetime wishes) is really good.

The Building tools are absolutely to die for in my opinion. They're very intuitive and its now so easy to build a house as you cna move rooms together or the entire house. I can't count how many times in earlier games where I have misplaced my house and have to go back and adjust the entire house with furniture. I admit that there are some problems with the higher levels of a house, particularly with the third floor as the camera has a habit of sinking.

The game play as well is really enjoyable. I like the emotion system and whims are much improved over the wishes as I never have to decide on what wishes to go for. I also like the fact that the whims are more concurrent with the sim's emotion and actual skills and goals. I also like the unlocking mechanic and the career splits.

Some minor issues are with not being able to opt out of some skills (I'm talking about you charisma and comedy) and the numerous loading screens can be bothersome at times. Also the game suffers from memory leaks on higher qualities and I have noticed some errors (the music playing really loudly on start up and never stopping or the texture misplaces), but they're relatively minor.

I would like to point out that though The Sims 3 open world was really good I found my computer could rarely handle it even on the lowest settings whereas now with The Sims 4 my computer can actually play it, and play it well.

Overall I look forward to the new content as I inch closer and closer to the hundred hour mark.

Cheers, JengaHare

[Carl]

We have 184 votes at this moment, and that's a good sample size. Just to give an idea of how this is going, so far the game averages 4.1 from Sims fans and people who've bought the game. That is a huge difference when compared to the Amazon score, and likely a score it deserves. When we have more like 3-400 votes I'll run it again, but this was what I was hoping to see. It looks more like Best Buy's results than Amazon's eh?

I have read every single review people have shared here and like hearing what people appreciate about the game, and think the disappointments are rational. Omissions do not make an entire game bad, and some are happy with the new features when compared with what's been left out. Even when people don't like it, they're not flaming and we're avoiding the kind of negativity that plagues other Forums.

Share on, I just wanted to do some maths and show how it's going

[Ellenser]

I'd say somewhere between a 4 and 5, though I voted for five.

I'm really appreciating all of the new changes and the surprising amount of depth to the Sims that I did not see in previous games. I love the CAS, build/buy mode and the live mode so much, which I can say is a first to enjoy all 3 in one Sims games. I have noticed some bugs, but nothing major and certainly nothing (so far) that would discourage me from playing or put the game down in frustration. Loading screens are a bit so-so, but they're fine.

I may be a bit biased because I've been playing since the Sims 1, and I've also played a bunch of spin offs from the main series and have thoroughly enjoyed a wide variety of Sim gameplay. I love seeing the way the game evolves over time and such.

I'm glad you mentioned the whole review rating thing, especially in regards to Amazon. I know of too many games whose ratings have been destroyed because of a bad launch day, like Diablo 3, and just generally people not playing the game/only playing for 5 minutes or the like. It's so easy to focus on the negatives and so easy to diminish the positives.

[Playalot]

I gave a rating of 4 though for me it's really a 4.5. I really, really love the multi-tasking. In fact it still catches me out as times I'll be fast forwarding eating so they can go skill up watching cooking tv... to realize wait, they can do both, and chat! The bottom line for me is that it is fun. I appreciate all the little things in the game like -

The quarter placement on grid
Holding alt down for placement of pictures and wall items,
Having range hoods
Chopping/cooking actions the sims do
Kitchen counters and corner (auto placement off) shapes, wall cabinets, all the shapes/sizes
NanoCan Touchless Trash Can (love that!)
How the wall cabinets disappear when the walls are down for live mode, makes it easy to play in little kitchens
The blurb on the books (some are really funny)
How the foundation sticks out until you colour it
Sims making bed each day
When you visit a neighbour you don’t get kicked out at 3am etc

I could go on, but I won't. For me the game is a great start and I can't wait to see where it goes next. It is different enough from previous sims games to have changed my game play and that's great, I like changing things up and thinking about new ways of doing things.

[slightlyaddicted]

Sims 4 has both good and bad points. I love the new build mode, CAS, and emotion system. But, it is missing many parts that I loved in previous games such as toddlers, cars, pools, and create a style. I can understand that there must be some changes. I feel that a car system like the one in sims 2 (with the car pulling out of the driveway) and create a style from sims 2 (customize parts of an item from preselected styles) would both fit in well with this game. Another thing I have an issue with is the fact that this game is not as easy to pick up as previous games. I still can't figure the emotion system out. If the developers create expansion packs with the missing features I feel that this game can live up to its full potentential.
Overall I would rate this game at about 3.5 stars.

[LucyLove]

I am loving Sims 4! I have been playing Sims since my old PS 2 days, after that, I knew if I got it on the computer it would be so much better, I've been a fan since then.  What I love about Sims 4 is that they seem more emotional than before. I created a family I've been playing for a week now, and every time he comes home he breathes a sigh of relief and finds his wife and children to hug them LOL, I think this is so sweet. Other little things I noticed were my Sims can eat and have their drink with the meal. I like that when my mom Sims are in labor they can move around and take care of their needs.  There are many more things I love, but they have already been mentioned, especially the trash can that recycles the food LOL. The only thing that annoyed me about Sims 4 is there aren't any dishwashers and I was having some problems with saving and exiting my game, where my saved game would completely disappear after I finished playing, other than that, I am hooked and I can't wait to see the future expansion packs. 

[Dvdh]

I rated ts4 4 stars.
When I first played the game, I was a little dissappointed. I'm used to having so many options in the sims, from careers to clothing to objects, and I took all those options for granted in the sims 3. Ofcourse I have to remember that this is just the base game (I played the other sims games with all the expansions and many downloads) and that all of those things I miss now will come in the future.

That being said: I love the sims 4! In my opinion ts4 is so much better than previous sims games. I'm amazed at how well everthing 'flows' in the game. In previous games I would fast forward time a lot but in ts4 everything just looks so great and my sims move so much more natural that I actually enjoy just watching my sims get out of bed!

An other feature I wish to applaud is multitasking! I hated how in previous sim games I would make my sims eat together as a family, and they would just eat and get on with other stuff afterwards. Now sims are animately talking to each other while at the dinner table, a great way to boost relationships on a daily basis. And just last night, my sim was reading a book and had to go to the toilet. But he didn't put the book away, no, he just took it with him and continued to read on the toilet! Great!

But what i love most about ts4 is how easy and natural being social has become. It's so easy to start a conversation, and other sims can easily join the group. Socializing was something I didn't do much in previous sims games because it just took so much time and it just wasn't interesting to me. But with ts4 socializing has become one of my favorite things to do.

One thing I'm sad to say is no more in ts4: no more create a style. That's really too bad, I loved being able to completely personalize my clothes and furniture.

So if you can keep in mind that this is just the base game for now without the expansions many of us will be used to, you'll see that this is actually a far better game than previous sims games. At least, that's my opinion!

[Manicanikum]

I am really enjoying the game. Before it was released I read a lot of articles, most if not all of them were really negative. I also read reviews on amazon and a lot of them were negative too and left by people who had not even played the game. One comment was left because the person was annoyed that it wasn't available on xbox. To be honest it actually put me off buying it. I then had a think and release day came around. I thought to myself "what the heck, I'm going to bite the bullet and buy it" So I did. and since starting a legacy challenge and getting my head around the controls I am really loving the game. I believe it will get better but for me even without any expansion packs it's great. I just feel that it is so unfair that it has been given such a bad reputation already. I am planing on leaving a review on amazon. But I have become an addict pretty much overnight.

[MarianT]

After playing the Sims 4 101 hours (according to Origin), I'm giving  it a 5 -- more of a 4.5, but I decided to round up. I truly love this game, and am amazed at what the developers have accomplished. I really enjoy the depth in some areas -- the book titles, the variety of paintings, the cooking animations that your sim picks up as he gets better, the little adventures you get with the rocket ship. I love it that my sims can have different outfits to choose from, and that they pick them autonomously.

Some people are complaining that TS4 is too "goal-oriented," with its tasks for aspirations, careers, and skills, but I'm playing a challenge in which you can control only one person in a family, and am enjoying that. It's unlikely that anyone will complete an aspiration or reach the top of a career, but it's fun watching what the sims do on their own. The children hug each other spontaneously, the husband and wife flirt, and they're all picking up points in mischief and video-gaming skills.

The main question to ask about a game is whether it's fun. Unless the main thing you enjoy about the Sims is creating worlds, I think that TS4 offers plenty of opportunity for fun.

[Katluvr]

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.

Exactly this!  I would actually rate it between a 4 and 5, but I had to pick one and, since I'm excited to see where it goes next, I chose 5. 

At first I was comparing TS4 to TS3, which already had several EPs and SPs available when I started playing in 2011.  I had to remind myself that I have never, ever played just a base sims game before.  Once I wrapped my head around that concept I fell in love with TS4.  It definitely takes some getting used to and there are some features of TS3 (primarily around camera control and user interface) that I prefer to what the developers put into TS4.  That being said, this is an amazing game.  The new build mode and CAS alone are worth the price of admission.  Yes, I wish there were more items to choose from and that I could recolor items easily, but despite these inconveniences it is pretty easy to build and decorate some amazing lots and rooms.  The more I play the game the more I appreciate just how loaded with features it really is for a base game.  And since we all know EA's business model is to add EPs and SPs in quick succession, I know this game is going to be amazing in another 6-18 months.

Carl, I read your entire article and it was incredibly well thought out, researched, and written.  It is a compelling reminder to all of us to consider the source of online reviews of any product, not just video games.  It is a good idea to actually read the reviews rather than just look at the summary information (e.g., # of stars, # of reviews) because you never know when a reviewer has a hidden agenda.  The internet allows anyone with a computer or smart phone to review just about anything - whether they own/use/play it or not.   It is up to us as consumer of products and information to consider everything we read critically and then make up our own minds.

[junkbarbarian]

I love the new Sims, but hate the world. I could go on, but that about sums it up. So, for me it's a 3.