P4

LESSON 17 - REVIEW PRODUCTION

THE SIMS 3

INTRODUCTION

Ever wondered what it would be like to organise a mass murder? Maybe invite the Grim Reaper for dinner- kill him, then take over his role. Perhaps you fancy teleporting across town or skinny dipping in the oceans and finding a mermaid to fall in love with along the way. Heck, if you want you can even live the rest of your 'life' as a ghost- creating a whole family tree of ghost babies to accompany you in your misery - OR just get abducted by aliens.

Anything is possible when it comes to The Sims 3. 

Developed by the Sims Studio and published by Electronic Arts, the third instalment of 'The Sims' franchise comes with an exponential list of expansion packs to...well, 'expand' your gaming experience. It is the perfect way to waste hours from your real life to fund the time you need in creating the fake life you wish you had. 

PLATFORMS

In terms of platforms and accessibility, the original version of the game is available on Windows and MacOS whilst the alternate versions of the game are also available on IOS, Android, Blackberry, Bada (whatever that is), Microsoft Windows, Windows Phone, Nintendo 3DS, PlayStation 3, XBOX 360 and Wii. This means that the game can be easily accessed by anyone- may it be if you're a casual gamer who prefers to play on their phone, or if you're an avid supporter who prefers to have a more in-depth experience with playing the game on their PC. Either way, you'll have plenty of platforms to choose from.

GENRE

The gameplay in The Sims 3 fits into the 'sandbox, life-simulation' genre. Within the game you are given a wide-range of choices to create and customise your own avatar(s) and place them on a neighbourhood map of your choice where you will also be able to pick a house or lot that you can also customise. Pretty much, the game just consists of us players customising until our hearts content. 

NARRATIVE

As for the storyline...well, the game doesn't have one. At least, they don't have one that's definitive. Instead it relies on the gamer to carve out their own story with the resources and the crap ton of options you are given all throughout the game. 

CHARACTERS

As previously mentioned, right off the bat you are given the option to create your own avatar(s) in the game which you can control within and around the open world map that is given to you at the start of your 'Sims 3 journey'- and yes, believe me when I say that it's one hell of a ride once you get the engines going. From their hair, tattoos, peculiar interactions, clothes, traits, eccentric ways of dying, favourite food and music -all the way to the colour of their eyes, superpowers and the shape of their eyebrows! I kid you not when I say that you will fall into a deep and endless pit of customisation (see, there's that word again). In fact there have been countless times where I've sat at the computer planning to only play the game for 2 hours -only to find myself actually playing the game for 6 hours plus! I'm not even exaggerating that statement, that HAS happened to me multiple times before and the only reason why I would stop playing is if the game CRASHED; which other than the word 'customisation', is ALSO another prevalent 'component' within the game.

GAMEPLAY 

Despite having to follow the same premise of creating and controlling a Sim throughout a 3-dimensional and free-roaming world, no matter what you try to do, each player still gets the chance to follow through their own way of playing the game; there's those who try to play as if it was an actual person's life they're controlling and there's those who spend countless hours blowing up statues, travelling through time, dressing up as Duke Nukem or a Llama and just generally testing out the extremities of the game. 

TARGET AUDIENCE

Now just as a side-note, currently the game is rated as TEEN by the ESRB and a PEGI 12, which means that for the younger fans of the game you do need to get consent and assistance from an adult when buying the game- but for those like me who have grown up with the game and is now at the appropriate buying age, or if you're just an adult that's a kid at heart- WE CAN ALL BUY THE GAME!

RECOMMENDATION

Now if you're looking for an exact explanation for how the game fully functions, well look elsewhere, because personally I think that part of the charm that comes with playing the Sims 3 is the experience of figuring out all of the things that are actually possible and not realising that what you've been wanting to do has actually been right under you nose all along. The game is about exploration, experimentation, experience and expansion. Therefore there's no fun in figuring it all out from the start, unless you use cheats which I guess (depending on the player) can enhance the gaming experience for you. 

Fun fact though, the franchise gets a renewal every 5 years- with The Sims 4 as its current flagship game. However, despite the clear advancements in the UI design and overall mechanics of the game, to me The Sims 3 will still be the epitome of the The Sims franchise.

RATINGS FOR AT LEAST THREE DIFFERENT ASPECTS

IMMERSIVE GAMEPLAY 

 4/5 STARS

VISUALS 

3/5 STARS

REPLAYABILITY 

5/5 STARS