Create Life

If you’re like me, a The Sims addict, then you already know that the new The Sims 4 is planned for a Fall release date. Now, we finally have a date: September 2nd. I, of course, have not played it yet (or you wouldn’t be getting this write-up because I would be too busy playing), but from what I can tell, I might as well just take the release week off of work. At the core, The Sims 4 is still the same game, with some major improvements.

First off, let’s look at the characters. You know that the first time you played The Sims, you tried to make a character that looks as close to yourself as you could. Or maybe you tried to recreate a lover and relationship. Whatever you tried, it involved going back and forth between the different face areas, eyes, mouth, nose, hair, etc. until you finally got as close as you could. Character creation could take an hour, depending on how precise and detailed you wanted to get. If this described you, The Sims 4 is going to make you extremely happy. If you watch the videos linked below, you’ll see what I mean. Character creation is now done all on one screen. You can click and drag to make things bigger or smaller. Rather than make your entire Sim fat or skinny, you can pick specific areas, just to imitate that guy at the gym who only works out their upper body or that woman you know who is totally bootylicious! Once you get used to the controls, I am hopeful that you will be able to create anyone you want in under 10 minutes, giving you a town full of your friends (or enemies, if you prefer) if that’s what you want.

Another thing that was a bit lacking before were the NPCs. Yes, you interacted with them, but most likely you just used them to get where you wanted your Sim to go, a promotion, marriage, money, or something else. You really didn’t get invested in their stories much. From what I can tell, you’re about to care a LOT more about those people around you. The story is that everyone is going to have more detailed emotions and stories. Their interactions with you and with other Sims can affect everyone around them. It sounds like it might be a bit harder to manipulate everyone around you, but maybe with those emotions, it’ll be easier. I can’t wait to see how smart the computer is this time. Wasn’t there a story earlier this week about a computer that passed the Turing test? Hmm….. Well, I can’t promise that your Sims will pass a Turing test, but they’re going to be a lot closer than they ever were before.

If you can’t tell, I am extremely excited to play The Sims 4. When I first heard about the new character creation, I thought that was going to be my favorite part of the game, but now I am quite intrigued to find out how the new, more intelligent, Sims are going to fare in the new stories and situations that the game provides. September 2nd is now a big red circle on my calendar and hopefully yours too!

Check out the trailers and screens below to see just what The Sims 4 has in store for you this Fall. You might even spot a few familiar faces... Remember, you can create anyone you want.