Geek Kingdom: Sims 3 v. 4
Liam Lavoie
My name is Liam Lavoie, and I’m here to bring you another issue of…
GEEK KINGDOM!
In this issue, we’ll be taking a step back from more modern games and media to go back to 2009 to talk about The Sims 3, and how it compares to its modern counterpart, The Sims 4.
WHAT IS THE SIMS?
The Sims is a video game series developed by Will Right, founder of the game company Maxis, which was, unfortunately, acquired by EA in 1997. Before The Sims was first released, he started the popular city building game, Simcity, all the way back in 1989. The Sims first released in 2000, building a massive following, and spawning several sequels and even spin offs, like The Sims Castaways, and The Urbz. In The Sims, you create a family of people, build them a house, and make sure they live long, happy lives without burning themselves to death (did they ever learn to leave the house when it’s on FIRE?).
WHY IS THE SIMS 3 SO SPECIAL?
Now, you might be asking yourself why I’m talking about the 3rd game, and not the 4th. Well, you see, The Sims 4 lacks the soul of the previous games. There’s very little to do, and many features have been eliminated, such as cars, toddlers, open worlds (we’ll get to those later) and even swimming pools. Yes, the one thing that everyone experiences in life, was missing until they added it in November 2014, 9 months after the game's release. Comparing all this to the previous entry, The Sims 3, there is so much more content and life in the game. Let's get started!
REASON 1: TRAITS ACTUALLY DEFINE YOUR SIMS!
The Sims 3 Create-A-Sim
The Sims 4 Create-A-Sim
When you create Sims, one of the most important aspects is giving them traits. This gives them more personality and depth. For example, Computer Whiz Sims gain logic skills faster on the computer, and Evil Sims can donate to undermine charities. In total, there are 63 traits available in the base game, and 99 total if you have every expansion. The Sims 4? 38 in the base game, and 57 with all the expansions so far.
See what I mean? Even with these few traits, the characters rarely do anything at all. They might change your Sim’s mood randomly, or provide new interactions, but that's it.
REASON 2: THE OPEN WORLD IS ASTOUNDING!
Open worlds are quite a common thing to see in games nowadays, but back in 2009, save for the Elder Scrolls and Fallout series, there weren’t a lot of open-world games, let alone in simulation games. Yet, The Sims 3 broke the mold, by providing a massive open world, filled with secrets and collectibles! In previous games, if you wanted to go to the park, you would have to sit through a long, tedious loading screen, but with The Sims 3, it only takes a few seconds for your Sim to call a cab and get to the park. Also added in are something known as “rabbit holes” in the community. These are buildings which you can see, such as schools, office buildings, or stores which your Sim can enter, but you don’t control. It’s a love it or hate it thing, but I think it’s a nice touch, even if you can’t see them.
The Sims 3 'Open' World Map
The Sims 4 'Closed' World Map
REASON 3: THE EXPANSIONS ACTUALLY HAVE SUBSTANCE!
A major part of The Sims series is the expansion packs (or EP’s for short). Being made by EA, you can expect these to be pumped out with every entry in the series. However, most of these packs are well developed, and add a lot to the game, like magic, new interactive careers, university and even vacations. However, with The Sims 4, the EP’s have gotten increasingly lazy. They add little to the game and become boring quite quickly. Yet, compared to The Sims 3, there’s so much stuff it might take you years to find. Let’s compare the University EP’s from both games. In The Sims 3 version, you have the university, new smartphones, 2 new skills, the ability to make a blog, plantsims (weird plant people - who said it was easy being green?), 3 social groups, 3 new careers based on those social groups, new furniture, new clothing and hairstyles. That’s quite a bit of content. However, with The Sims 4, you get 2 universities, 1 new skill, 2 new jobs, some new furniture, plantsims, new clothes and hairstyles. Get my drift? There's nothing going on in The Sims 4 EP’s. Now, some Sims 3 EP’s are duds, like “Showtime” and “Into the Future”, and some Sims 4 EP’s are winners, like “Seasons” and “Get Together”; however, overall The Sims 3 has more bang for your buck in terms of expansions.
The Sims 3 'Juice Keg' that came with the University Life pack
The Sims 4 'Juice Keg' that came with the Discover University pack
REASON 4: IT’S JUST PLAIN CHEAPER!
This rant is going a bit long, so let me sum this up: it’s cheaper to purchase The Sims 3 than The Sims 4. The Sims 3 base game costs around $20, while The Sims 4 is around $30. However, The Sims 4 goes on sale for as low as $2, so if you’re interested, go for that first, then head to the 3rd game when you're bored with it. EP’s, however, are where you see the biggest difference. All EP’s, stuff packs and extra worlds for The Sims 3 cost $20 a pop, and go on sale for around $8, while The Sims 4 EP’s go for $40 each, going down to $25 on sale. There are also game packs and stuff packs. Game packs cost around $25, and drop to $15 on sale, while Stuff packs go for around $8, and can go for maybe $4 on sale. The most surprising thing is that it would cost over $900 to own everything for The Sims 4, and only around $400 to own everything for The Sims 3 (excluding the stuff from the online store, then it could be over $70,000!). If you’re on a budget, The Sims 3 will save you a lot of money in the long run.
IN CONCLUSION
To sum up everything I’ve said, The Sims 3 has more value than The Sims 4. However, it’s not all sunshine and rainbows in The Sims 3. Long loading times and game breaking glitches drag the game down quite a bit. However, reflecting all of the comparisons, The Sims 3 is the best choice for any new Sim-er, due to its pricing, customization and a large array of gameplay options for you to choose from.
I hope you enjoyed this review, and I’ll see you for next month’s issue of…
GEEK KINGDOM!