Normally for each calendar year, The Sims 4 would gain two expansion packs, and three other releases, either consisting of two game packs and one stuff pack or two stuff packs and one game pack. These are “bite-sized” packs at just 5 dollars per pack, meant to hold players over as they await the bigger releases. Kits, which were released just last year either have clothing items, building items, or gameplay items. Game packs contain a smaller version of this at around 20 dollars per pack, and stuff packs have even less, maybe a handful of CAS items or an added aspect of gameplay at 10 dollars. In these packs players gain additional gameplay options, more customization in create-a-sim (CAS), and more build/buy items to decorate their lots. Expansion packs are the largest and enter the market at around 60 dollars. In the Sims 4 there are four types of downloadable content: expansion packs, game packs, stuff packs, and the newly not-so-well-received kits. Unfortunately, these small and lost details are what make The Sims 4 so continually disappointing.
These components may seem small, but they’re huge to a loyal fanbase of almost twenty years, and each added game is supposed to be an improvement upon the franchise.
In The Sims 3, teens could learn how to drive with their parents, the car’s jolty movements slowly becoming smoother as they gained skill. Sims had a loaded animation for getting in and out of the car, which even included letting in or out pets. In addition to this, The Sims 2 contained probably the most animated car gameplay in the entire franchise. This could be justified with the fact that The Sims 4 is a closed world game (meaning players hit a loading screen to travel anywhere), but The Sims 2, another closed world Sims game, contained cars as well. This is just one key component of the game that was lost in Sims 4, and fans have much more to complain about.įor one, The Sims 4 was released without cars.
This crucial component that the other Sims games originally had was lost in the Sims 4, but luckily with an update almost three years after release, toddlers were finally brought into the game, along with a brand new Toddler Stuff pack. This received a lot of backlash– many players speculated that toddlers would have to be DLC, or essentially bought into the game. When the Sims 4 was originally released there were only six age progressions from infant to elder, where EA had nixxed the entire toddler age group. For one, players have been complaining about the base game for years. The Sims 4 is different in many aspects than the rest of the franchise. Whether that takes the form of ghost hunting or going to college, the player can do whatever they please as long as they are willing to buy more DLC. As long as the player is willing to spend money on downloadable content (DLC), the player can do almost anything in the game. The Sims is so popular because it gives players the chance to play with life, that means that the bounds are limitless– well, almost limitless. Electronic Arts, the producer of The Sims, has employed a genius business model. But somehow the Sims has garnered over 200 million sales, ranking as the 10th best-selling video game franchise of all time.
The Sims is a simple concept: the ability to play with life. The Sims franchise has been around for over twenty years now and has thrived ever since. Where did the franchise go so wrong? And how come Simmers are still around? Let’s talk about it.
As the longest running Sims game in the franchise- older than its predecessor by three years- The Sims 4 is still chock full of bugs, and Simmers across the world are beginning to get unruly. On the shelf, in neat plastic wrapping, is the newest version of the game that you’ve already poured hundreds of hours into, The Sims 4.Ĭut to present day, almost a decade later, and The Sims 4 no longer holds the incandescence it once did. Your little feet scamper across the white linoleum as you race to the back of the building, your heart slams against the sides of your chest, and you can almost taste the excitement in your gums. It is crisp and plastic, the lights a bright white-almost green. The glass doors slide open and you smell the air. The year is 2014, the month is September, and the air is thick and impenetrable as you drag your reluctant father’s hand through the parking lot of Walmart.