EA's latest cash cow will leave gamers feeling milked, but it's definitely an improvement over Sims 2.
The Sims 3 biggest attraction is the ability to go where ever you wish in the neighborhood without a fun crippling load screen. It's a massive blessing & makes the experience of the Sims so much more satisfying straight from the off. The town your sims live in now feels much more vibrant and alive. So much so that the Sims 2 is no longer installed on my PC.
Graphically Sims 3's is not a huge leap forward in terms of environment detail but the sims themselves have been vastly improved. Also when you throw a party you can invite more sims than before & there is no drop in performance when a dozen or so sims are on the screen at once. Another massive plus.
Another bonus is how the Sims 3 makes more sense than ts2. Paying bills is no longer a chore & sims no longer need a specific surface to put a coffee cup down on. Remember that bug?
Skill building is vastly improved to. You can pay for classes now or get to the bookstore and buy skill books, music sheets or just fiction books. You can still use old fashioned methods if you please like chess board for logic or treadmill for the athletic skill.
Simlish is back voiced by different actors but like ts2 theres not that many so all your sims will sound similar. Shame. I did notice that the songs in the game are normal english this time & the music that comes with the game is quite weak. I bunged a few gigs of my own tunes and mixes in the custom folder.
Another improvement I found was sims do as their told a lot more. It's not perfect but most of my orders are met when issued. Ts2 used to frustrate the hell out of me with it's dumbass AI. Like when a sim lived in a mansion with so much fun at their disposal and they thrill themselves by...making the bed. Never noticed that in Ts3.
Relationship AI is better to. No sims falling in love with family members anymore. The process feels more natural & unless theres a bug my 1st sim was able to have numerous one night stands and not have the hassle of falling in love with the 1st sim they woohoo with. In fact you have to work hard for true love in this game it seems.
Ts3 does have a rip off element feel to it though. The games a bit low on content when you 1st install & EA make sure you know their store is open. EA games are the Mcdonalds of the computer game world for sure. Prices for items are way overpriced. Maybe this will be the way instead of expansions.
So in my opinion Ts3 is a big improvement over Ts2 minus a lot of content & theres no weather cycle which I do miss. The best pet available will be any fish you catch and plonk in a bowl. No cats or dogs. But for me the sandbox style town & huge performance improvements make this a must for fans who are unsure whether to ditch their beloved Sims 2 for this one. Just do the right thing and uninstall. You'll never go back once Ts3 sucks you in.