We’ve been teased with pre-release screenshots. We’ve been awarded with a sampler. There’d probably be a riot if it wasn’t released any sooner. And the good news is, it was released on time come June 2nd, 2009.
An excellent title from the great guys over at Electronic Arts, this premium $9.99 title is a must-have for any fans of The Sims series of games. If you must know, I personally own a copy of the original The Sims for my Mac (can’t play it on my new Intel Mac), as well as The Sims Bustin’ Out for my (now abandoned) GameBoy Advance console. This is my third Sims game, playable on my iPod touch – and I’m loving it so far.
If you come to expect a full-blown Sims title on your iPhone, then you’re probably in for some disappointment. The Sims 3 for the iPhone (and iPod touch) are slightly scaled-down version of the larger games. C’mon, you can’t seriously want a full fledged Sims game on the iPhone, would you? Not possible at this moment, but sometime in the future, perhaps?
First, The Sims 3 promises over 10 hours of gameplay filled with hysterical antics and unexpected moments of surprise. (Yes, I took that line from EA’s promo copywriting.) I vouch that I’ve personally spent more than 10 hours on my copy and I’m still going back for more.
You start off by creating a character thru simple customisations like gender, skin tone, eye color, hair style and clothing. You know, the typical new character portion of most games.
Next, you get to define your new Sim’s persona. Select from: Jack of All Trades, Nice Guy/Girl, Jerk, Sleaze, Power Seeker or Maniac. Before you complete the Create-a-Sim process, choose five basic personality traits. There are a total of 17 different traits like: shy, conversationalist, good/no sense of humor, easily impressed/bored, vain, modest and friendly, to name quite a few. Some of these traits negate each other, so you won’t be able to, say, choose easily bored if you chose easily impressed in the first place.
Try creating a Sim that mimics yourself in real life. I made mine a nice guy with conversationalist, good sense of humor, genius, friendly and active as his traits. Finally, name your Sim and the game then begins, officially. I found that my new Sim had two personal goals, first being to get married, while the second, being liked by all the Sims in town when the game begin. I did not set these goals, so I assume it was set by the game randomly.
As with any Sims game, your task in managing your Sim includes making sure that his needs are taken care for and (most importantly) that he doesn’t die of hunger. Fortunately, you are given about §700 Simoleans (Sims currency) when you begin a new game. It will probably last your Sim for quite some time going thru junk food from the cheap fridge that you get by default, but eventually, your Sim will need to get a job and start earning some Simoleans to feed him/herself.
Getting a job is quite simple. In fact, if you must, it can be just a phone call away. But it’s much better if your Sim goes out of the house and start exploring the little Sims town. Aside to houses that other Sims called home, you’ll also find a mart, a pawn shop, a hobby shop, a laboratory, a town hall and a bistro in the town. Other than the hobby and pawn shop, any other buildings here are fair game when it comes to getting a job, so go ahead and sign that contract that will seal in your Sims daily life for good (or bad, depending on how you look at it). Your Sim will start from the bottom of the corporate ladder and (hopefully) climb up the stairs pretty fast. Speaking of landing jobs, it’s best that you make friends with whoever’s the boss of your job so as to get promotions easier and faster.
And that brings us to the chapter of interaction. Your Sim interacts with basically anyone. Even those currently commuting in their limosines. Tap any other Sim while you are in the home or town screen and the other Sim will wait for your approach. Things you can do when interacting include chatting, cracking jokes, being nice, rude and being romantic. I find it quite easy for my own Sim to interact with the rest, but that’s probably because of the trait that I chose. I made sure that my Sim is friends with every other Sim, thus fulfilling my second personal goal of being liked by all the Sims in town. My Sim got married with the first lady Sim he found, so that explains how easy it is to make friends and become partners in life. Gee, if its that easy in real life.
The Sims 3 is more than just interaction and making sure that your Sim wakes up on time and go to his/her day job. There are three mini-games as well – repairing, cooking, fishing and gardening. That’s four I listed, but gardening doesn’t actually qualify to be a mini-game as it simply involves tapping around to get things done.
Repairing occurs when your Sims’ electronic devices break down. In this mini-game, you are tasked to pull the burnt-out capacitors and replace them with new ones; the faster you get this done the better. Cooking involves cooling down the pots by shaking your device. Fishing, on the other hand is the most challenging. You will need to tilt your device to align your Sim’s fishing line with the fish and yank the device in order to successfully fish. Pretty straightforward, if you ask me.
One thing I found from these mini-games is that you could basically earn a living by just fishing at the lake, which makes up a large part of the little town, then selling it over at the local Quickmart. Trust me, those tuna fish you caught is worth more than spending eight to nine hours in the office/workplace for a measly §100 – §300 Simoleans. Again, if its that easy in real life, I’d probably be fishing during the day now.
All-in-all, The Sims 3 puts a lot of focus on the goals list. In fact, the goals checklist is available right in the main menu, before you even start a game! There’s a total of 73 goals to be discovered and hopefully, completed. I managed to discover about 58 goals so far, with 45 of them being completed. Your Sims will occassionally have some new goals to achieve, so it’s quite easy to discover these goals and complete them.
Some goals example include: gaining a skill point at repairing – this can be achieved thru the mini-game, stay rested for three days – simply make sure your Sim gets enough sleep, and kick over a trash can – you could try kicking yours, or you could do it on another Sim’s trash can and irritate them at the same time. In my case, I guess I’ll probably need to start a new game in order to complete some of the goals, like Meet a New Sim – my current Sim have basically met each and every Sim in the town, so that goal can’t possibly be completed.
There are some other goals – some being quite interesting and mischievous. I guess I’ll not spoil your game and leave it to you to discover them yourselves.
Presentation-wise, don’t freak out if you see a lot of loading screens. The game has got a loading screen when you go visit another Sim at their place, meet them by the road side or when you visit the town. Its fair, since the game is designed for a mobile platform. There are some quirks with the game, like slowdowns but having said that, I’m sure this game pushes the hardware to its edge. On the other hand, I have had the game crash on me on certain occassions but its definitely not a showstopper. Remember to always save your game often.
Throughout my time spent playing (reviewing) the game, I’ve noticed one weirdness so far. The pawn shop remains closed throughout. There’s some discussion on the internet saying that it will be open once you discover and complete all the goals – so go ahead, play the game and complete it!
Also, as exhibited earlier during the iPhone OS 3.0 announcement by Apple, The Sims 3 will definitely support in-app purchases. However, it’s not mentioned anywhere currently, but I am sure EA has something under their sleeve once iPhone OS 3.0 is in the wild.
Again, at $9.99, The Sims 3 may be quite steep a price to be owned. However, if you were to compare this version against the original release, it obviously feels way better. If you have never tried any of The Sims game, then this game is an easy pickup. Fans would definitely want the capability to bring their Sims with them everywhere they go.
Go ahead and get your copy of The Sims 3 from the iTunes App Store. I highly recommend it. In fact, many others agree and have made The Sims 3, the #1 paid app in just less than 24-hours after launch!
Rating: 4.5/5.0 Taps
App Data
App Name: The Sims 3 v1.0.85 | Developer: Electronic Arts | Purchase via: iTunes App Store @ $9.99 | Released: May 29, 2009 | Reviewed on: iPod touch v2.2.1
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June 8th, 2009 at 5:48 pm
Good game I can’t get the pawn shop to open get the game