Get Your Sim On

Let's talk about The Sims 4.

Firstly, let me just say that I am super excited to actually play the full game at some point in the future. The Create-a-Sim Demo was enough to send me into a fit of happy bounces.

So, from what I've heard, a lot has changed in the Sim world, the most notable being that there won't be pools and toddlers anymore. I get that this is upsetting. I am upset about this myself, but I can appreciate all the other details they've added by giving toddlers and pools a miss. I like the idea that my Sims will actually have personalities this time and that those personalities will dictate their lives in a way the previous games couldn't do. However, I'm really going to miss the toddlers. Changing straight into children from babies just seems weird... and painful. The pools I can get over, because drowning my Sims hasn't been my go-to murder method since the Sims 3 came out back in 2009. I'm looking forward to seeing what new ways of killing Sims there are in the new game, if there are any.

I also heard that there won't be create-a-style or a color wheel in the game, which is honestly going to suck, because I've gotten really used to that in the Sims 3. It only makes sense that some elements had to be cut for the new system to work though.

As far as the looks of the new Sims go, I've heard a lot of people complain about their cartoonishness. Personally, I like it. I've always been a fan of cartoons in general, so I don't mind my Sims being a little less realistic. They're not called humans for a reason. I feel that if people insist on having a more 'realistic' experience, they should just go outside and stare at people on the street. The Sims is just that. A simulation. For the hardcore Simmers who just won't be able to get over this, I've already seen mods pop up to change certain things, particularly the eyes. There were complaints that the available eye colors are too saturated, so there are mods available now to fix that. They replace the original colors and don't add to the pallet of colors for more variety though, which is kind of a bummer.

In the end it doesn't really matter. When the game comes out, I'm only going to play it for, like, the first few weeks and then forget about it. Alas, that is the life cycle of a Sims game.