In 2002, my older brother brought home a new game, The Sims. I started it up on our old Windows 98 and once I started it, I was blown away. Something about managing and micro-managing a virtual person‟s life is so much fun. I was quick to nab most of the expansion packs which added new and exciting stuff. Putting a bunch of Sims in a house together only to remove all doors and gleefully watch what happens and to see who dies first was nine year old me’s sadistic tendencies bubbling up (which is why I’m such a charming fellow these days)
Then Sims 2 came along in 2004 but I only got it a few years after that and the fact that it was full on 3D was a big deal so of course, I got it but this time I was no longer a little demon and more interested in actually having my Sims live long, happy lives for the most part, anyway. Again, I got as many expansions as I possibly could. Invested countless hours in building up a blank neighbourhood with houses and community lots only to fill them up with my own Sims and tell their stories. One family, in particular, was The Simkenstink family. They were to me what the Royals are to Britain. I played it on and off until 2012 when I moved onto Sims 3.
Sadly, due to my neglect on my computer in favour of my Xbox 360, the old gal didn’t age well and it hardly ran Sims 3. It would crash and bug out more often than not and I ended up playing more Xbox than Sims 3. When Sims 3 released on Xbox 360 I was quick to snatch it up but only to be left as disappointed as a kid whose ice cream had fallen on the pavement. Sims 3 on 360 was my ice cream, melting away on the dirty pavement of life. I can t even begin to explain how mediocre it was compared to the little bit I managed to play on the PC. So I did what any Simmer would do. I endured the bugs and the crashing which brought frustration as I would lose a productive day or two to a crash.
When Sims 4 came out I turned away from my affair with Sims, I was now a full-on Xbox Gamer and the costs to do up my PC would eat into my XboxGames, plus the Xbox One was coming and I had all my friends on Xbox Live.
I lost interest in anything relating to Sims.
I was surprised when I stumbled upon Sims 4 on the “Coming Soon” panel on the Xbox Store. I will admit Sims 3 on 360 left a bitter taste in my mouth in regard to the idea of Sims on console. I was sceptical. When I saw it had a ten hour free trial for EA Access Members I was curious, having been contemplating becoming a member for a while, I decided to act and became a member and downloaded it that very night. I went into it with the same scepticism one would have watching a Ghost Hunters reality show. Could this revive the Sims for me? Could this finally be a decent port to console?
This is what happened…
I booted it up and was impressed by the slick menu. But menus alone aren’t going to ease my mind.
I clicked on play and was taken to the Create a Sim page. At first, I didn‟t know what I was doing. Why isn’t the cursor moving? Wait! It’s jumping around the screen like a jackrabbit! Is this thing tripping?! The tutorial gave some useful hints but it still took me one and a half hours to make one Sim. Normally I take my time in any game’s character customisation to make sure each detail is perfect but with this, I took my time because I had to familiarise myself with all the controls. Luckily there is a bright icon near the top right corner of the screen saying “L” To View Controls. I pressed the Left stick in and all the controls and where they are mapped on the controller appeared on screen which is, in my opinion, one of the best features. Near the tail end of creating my Sim, I looked at the control page less frequently and eventually, I was done.
(After an hour and a half, Jared Simkenstink, the first of his name, was ready to live)
I chose a small little house as a starting place and went through a tutorial about the controls. I still checked out the Controls page regularly to see how to micro-manage my Sim more efficiently. But after a little while, I stopped opening it. By the time I found him a job as a Writer’s assistant, I already knew how to navigate this version of The Sims.
His neighbours came to visit and brought fruitcake. He seemed to hit it off with this pretty blonde from next door so I guided him while he laid down his charm (wish I had a guide like that) and after a few Sim days of hanging out with her, they were engaged. She moved in and I started helping her progress through her culinary career. I missed how satisfying it is to make a Sim achieve greatness in life.
(A Writer never sleeps. I know this to be true)
Being so immersed in these people’s lives made me forget that I was playing on an Xbox. Promotion after promotion, emotion after emotion and toilet repair after toilet repair had me busy constantly (you were expecting me to say woohoo after woohoo weren’t you?) I tried to pace myself but I just couldn’t. I woke up early to get back to my Sims. I found myself lying in bed thinking about the next milestone in their virtual lives to achieve.
(Awwwh)
I remembered the lengthy load screens in the older Sims on my PC but with this version of Sims, it was as if it had been struck by the Speedforce. I did encounter at least two game breaking bugs. I once entered build mode to buy my Sims a good old braai and when I returned to live mode, Jared stood in the doorway of the house with his arms spread out like the Sims version of da Vinci’s Vitruvian Man (or Simruvian Man in this case?) and I had to quit back to the main menu to reset him back to normal. This only happened once though. Another bug, which I actually think was due to a signal issue on my side, was that when I tried to save once it just refused to and a message popped up but before I could read it, it would disappear. I managed to make out something about EA Severs. After rebooting the game I was able to save again. This only happened twice.
(Multitasking for the win! Ironically she fell right after I took this shot)
(That’s right Summer. Think about all the money you will make once you get promoted, just have to get that Mixology to level four)
As I was helping my Sims become great I couldn’t escape from one simple fact that was slowly but surely creeping up on me. They needed a bigger house. So I decided to give the build mode a go. I left their household, clicked on the “Manage Worlds” button and browsed all the available neighbours. There was one neighbourhood that is completely empty. So players who just want to build will have ample space to build their dream houses without the restrictions of limited money…ah, isn’t that a nice thought?
At first, I was expecting the building to be overwhelming, there was a tutorial but I accidently skipped it. I only looked at the controls once and everything just came to me. Luckily, the building is very easy to learn. I could just drag a wall to make an overly big room smaller or copy an item with a button. I can easily see how those players who love building will have a blast with this, myself being one of them. The building was a lot easier than I initially expected it to be.
(Don’t like how big a room is? Click and hold an Arrow with “A” and drag it!)
(As I started)
(As I ended)
I found myself saddened as my trial ended as it will be a while before I am able to buy the full version. I’m eager to see how the future plans for expansion packs play out on console.
I went into the Sims 4 on console without much hope. In fact, I was expecting it to fail miserably but I am so happy that I was proven wrong. What gamers will find here is a full, polished and fun version of The Sims that they are familiar with. The Sims retains its charm and it hasn’t been hindered on console at all. Yes, this is The Sims in its full simming glory! The Simkenstink family has been revived though I will always remember the good times I had and the fond memories I made with Jared Simkenstink’s long-lost extended family on the PC back in the day, but now I am able to make new memories with the Sims that I came to know and love on the console that I love. That right there is what it’s all about.
It feels good to be back.
(Until we meet again, Jared Simkenstink)
2017-12-01
2017-11-24
2017-11-13
