The Sims 4
TS4
Release Date: September 2, 2014
Simulation, free-to-play, sandbox, isometric view, life sim, Game Pass, EA Play, singleplayer
OpenCritic
Steam
The fourth installment in the best-selling life simulation series – The Sims. The Sims 4 was developed by Maxis Studios, also known for SimCity and Spore. The player, once again, controls the lifes of a virtual family. Character editor lets you set not only alter the physical appearance of each Sim, but also define their personality, character, and goals.
Last Update: November 7, 2014
Sims 4 Guide
The guide for Sims 4 and its expansions contains tips for building houses and CAS. You will find cheats, job descriptions, career paths, information about skills, relationships and expansions tips. Check which job is best, and learn the game's secrets.
Videos and Screens
[1:50] The Sims 4 The Sims 4 - Crystal Creations Stuff Pack Reveal Trailer
[1:53] The Sims 4 Home Chef Hustle Stuff Pack trailer
GamesBeat: 75 / 100 by Heather Newman
The Sims 4 is a beefy update for the series. The core game feels more smooth, more powerful, and more dynamic than its predecessors, if occasionally buggy.
Eurogamer: 7 / 10 by Paul Dean
The Sims 4 is both fresh and yet also predictable, pleasant, comfortable and rarely overstimulating. It's wobbly, and you can still see some of its joins, or hear the creaks as new parts settle into place. It's not likely to win over any new players, but it will satisfy a lot of its old ones. For many of its fans, it will feel like moving into a new home. They'll settle.
Destructoid: 6 / 10 by Chris Carter
The Sims 4 has room to grow, but right now you're better off continuing to play its predecessor. While certain features were axed in the name of progress, those features were a large reason why many have come to love the series in the first place.
The main pros of the game
- Creativity and Customization: Players appreciate the extensive customization options for creating Sims, building homes, and shaping their stories. The game allows for a high level of creativity.
- Fun Gameplay: Many users find the game enjoyable and entertaining, especially when using mods or expansion packs to enhance the experience.
- Free Base Game: The transition to a free base game has been positively received, making it more accessible to new players.
- Active Community: The Sims community is vibrant, with a wealth of mods and custom content available, enhancing gameplay options.
- Building Tools: Improved building tools are noted as a highlight, allowing for detailed home designs.
The main cons of the game
- Expensive DLCs: Users are frustrated with the high cost of expansion packs, often feeling that essential features are locked behind a paywall. The total cost for all DLCs can exceed $1000.
- Bugs and Technical Issues: Many players report persistent bugs, glitches, and performance issues, which detract from the overall experience.
- Shallow Gameplay: Critics argue that the gameplay is repetitive and lacks depth compared to previous titles in the series, with simplified systems and limited interactions.
- Limited Open World: The game features a limited open world with frequent loading screens, which some players find restrictive.
The features or elements that are missing from the game according to users
- Depth in Gameplay: Players miss the complexity and depth of previous Sims games, such as The Sims 2 and 3, particularly in terms of relationships, careers, and life events.
- More Realistic Emotions: The emotions system is perceived as shallow and repetitive, lacking the nuance seen in earlier titles.
- Story Progression: There is a desire for more dynamic neighborhoods with story progression, as many find the NPCs to be lifeless and unengaging.
- Expanded Customization Options: Some players express a wish for more detailed customization options for Sims, such as the ability to change hair color by category or more varied personality traits.
- Inclusion of Core Features: Features like seasons and pets are locked behind DLCs, which many feel should have been part of the base game.
Summary
- Overall, while The Sims 4 offers a fun and creative outlet for players, significant concerns regarding monetization, gameplay depth, and technical performance persist among the user base.
Summary generated on:
GAMERS Score
Average score from 6519 votes. 2850 players anticipated the game.
The Sims 4 Description
The Sims 4 is the next instalment of the popular worldwide series of life simulators. As in previous parts of the cycle, it was developed by an American studio Maxis.
The first The Sims was released back in 2000. Its creator was Will Wright, the founder of Maxis and the author of SimCity and other related games with Sim in the title, which were the most successful in the 1990s. The Sims quickly surpassed in popularity the other games from the developer's catalogue, becoming a phenomenon and one of the most popular brands in the electronic entertainment industry.
Gameplay
The Sims 4 doesn't introduce any revolutionary changes in gameplay model. In the course of the game the player takes care of the family of virtual Sims, taking care of all their spiritual and material needs, as well as providing a place to live, designing a house and a garden.
The entire game begins with the creation of your Sims. In The Sims 4 it was decided to remodel the character creation system. This time the face modification system was extended - sliders for changing a given element were replaced with mouse movements, at the same time increasing the scope of changes. The possibility to edit the entire character body was also added. The ability to freely customise hair and clothing colours has been removed, returning to predefined sets.
The character of the Sim also plays a huge role. Players choose a few of the dozens of personality traits available, as well as the character's long-term goals. These affect the character's subsequent behaviour and are part of the improved artificial intelligence system introduced in the game. Thanks to this system, Sims behave more naturally and react in a much more varied way to situations around them. Also new are the emotions felt by the virtual heroes. They are influenced not only by the needs currently fulfilled or not, or social interactions, but also by the household equipment used or clothes worn. Experiencing specific emotions will unlock new dialogue options, among other things.
After creating the Sims, the player has to bring them into the house. He can leave it in the form prepared by the developers or completely redesign it. This is because the game offers an extensive tool, allowing you to build and furnish your own flats. Compared to previous parts, the interface of the constructor has been improved. Among other things, ready-made rooms were introduced, which can be placed with a single click.
The Sims 4 also introduces the "Gallery", which allows sharing created houses and characters with other players.
DLC and add-ons
Over the years, The Sims 4 received a lot of additional content: from micro-add-ons introducing one or two novelties and packs of clothes (usually titled Accessories), to full-fledged expansions offering story campaigns and new attractive locations, and significantly expanding the gameplay. Full list of The Sims 4 expansions can be found here.
Mods
Paid expansions are not the only option for players who want to diversify their play. The Sims 4 also supports fan modifications. List of the most interesting mods we gathered here.
Last updated on August 14, 2015
11
GAMES
in The Sims Game Series
Game Series
The Sims Series
The Sims is a series of games created by Maxis studio and published by Electronics Arts since 2000. The games in the series can be described as life simulators, in which, directing the avatars we create, we act out scenes from everyday life, but also build them houses, which they can then furnish according to their own vision. The series has sold more than 200 million copies, making it one of the world's best-selling games, and has twice made it into the Guinness Book of World Records.
11 video games
The Sims 4 Summary
Platforms:
PC / Windows September 2, 2014
PlayStation 4 November 17, 2017
Xbox One November 17, 2017
Developer: EA Maxis / Maxis Software / Blind Squirrel Entertainment (PS4) / Blind Squirrel Entertainment (XONE)
Publisher: Electronic Arts Inc.
The Sims 4 System Requirements
PC / Windows
Minimum: Intel Core 2 Duo 1.8 GHz, 4 GB RAM, graphic card 128 MB GeForce 6600 / Radeon X1300 or better, 17 GB HDD, Windows 7/8/8.1/10 64-bit
Recommended: Intel Core i5 2.33 GHz, 8 GB RAM, graphic card 1 GB GeForce GTX 650 or better, 18 GB HDD, Windows 7/8/8.1/10 64-bit
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