The Sims 3 PC Mac DVD

The SIMS 3 is one of the most anticipated video games of the year and with its new features it's set to impress. SIMS 3 is the product of the develops wish to push the game forwards and many requests and suggestions from the fans. In this instalment of the smash hit, SIMS franchise, users will be treated to improved customisation, deeper personalities, wants and goals, continuous neighbourhoods that you can travel through seamlessly and adjusted gameplay.

• Corinne September 14, 2012 PC

  ****

  I only got the Sims 3 a few months ago, but I wasn't completely sure what to expect, since I had never really played any version before. The 'desire' to get it came from playing it on my phone , which I happened to get for free. It was a day when I was particular bored and thought, why not have a little mess around. Goodness, it was addictive, but after a few days I started to see it's limitations. So after talking with my sister, we decided to go get the full on PC version.
  
  CREATE A SIM
  After picking a town to live in (the more add on's the more town's) Create a Sim is the first thing you do. It basically does what it says, you create your sim/sim's. I especially enjoyed this, it's a lot of fun and the process can be easy or advance, the good thing being, you choose. You start off with a page with the following options- Gender, Name, Age, Skin Tone (yes, there are some wild colours) and of course depending on gender, Breast Size, Muscle Size, Muscle Tone and Size (aka Thin or Fat), all fun to mess around with and then eventually make your perfect (in your eyes) looking sim. Then come many other options for editing - Hair and for men Facial Hair and Body Hair (yeah I know, kinda odd) - Then you can completely redesign the face, from picking simple templates to full blown details. So if you think your Sims cheek bones aren't quite right, yes, you can edit them! After all that, you choose your Sims clothing, with 5 themes - Everyday, Formal, Athletic, Sleepwear and Swimwear. Again you can go for the simple-just-pick-the-clothes or if your a fashion designer at heart, change the colours and textures. Then last but not least, you pick your Sims personality which includes - Favorites (food, colour, music) Star Sign, Voice and Traits which leads to your Sims Life Wish. The traits, depending on age depends on how many, but the max you can have is 5, is your sims personality, so things like 'Good' 'Genius' 'Unlucky' 'Neurotic' and the list goes on. After picking them, you choose their life wish, what they want to achieve before their life ends. All of them are things that are progressive, so don't expect to do it fast. Oh my goodness, yes, we have reached the end. But to be honest, depending on how complicated you go into making your sims, that will effect how long it takes to make them. But, it is fun to do, and by the time your done, you can't wait to see your sim come to life!
  
  PICK A HOUSE OR BUILD
  So after a brief air view of your town, you get the option to - Pick a pre-built house or Pick a lot. Choosing the first option is simple, you get a small, decent house which you can decide to buy furnished or un-furnished and off you go into play mode. Second is more creative, you buy a plot of land and build your house from scratch, from foundations to the roof, almost everything being customizable.
  The building mode is extremely fun and relatively simple once you know where everything is and how it works. But, pre-warning, this can be very time consuming! And when you start a new game you have little money, so you can't go mad.
  Anyway, when it comes to building, there is a page for building foundations, walls, floors and so on and sculpting the landscape, then another page for all furniture and extras. Once you know the layout, everything is easy to access and it's good fun to decorate and arrange your house look. But I do recommend you do this when you have a bit more cash, it's a lot more enjoyable. Also, when in-game you can access build mode anytime you want, so you can upgrade your sofa or add another room when you fancy and of course, if you have the money.
  
  GAMEPLAY
  We were able to buy the Sims 3 + Pets, so we started of with a lot to explore and experiment with. But I will focus on the sims. It was very easy to get to grips with the basic movement on the screen and how to look after your sim, since anytime you do something new, a little pop-up would appear with an option to read a simple tutorial. For me, I often skipped them, preferring to figure things out myself, but I did look at one or two, and they were very clear and understandable.
  
  Looking after your sim isn't hard, but it isn't completely easy either, which is best I think. You have to make sure their needs are always accessible. There are 6 bars which go up and down according to what they do, Hunger, Bladder, Sleep, Hygiene, Social and Fun. Most of the time they will do what the need to do when they have to. Of course, you have to make them do something on occasion, for instance if they worked, you would make sure are well fed, rested and had a shower before they went. Also, it is best to keep in mind, they can survive for quite a while even if, let's say the hunger bar, went quite low, there is no need to panic. But don't be to relaxed either. Be balanced.
  'Needs' require different things to make sure they stay quite high, some with one option, e.g Bladder - Go to the Toilet - Others more varied e.g Fun - Watch T.V, Play Games and so on. But even when satisfying their hunger, there are many different foods you can cook, or even order a pizza! So overall, satisfying there needs is not boring or repetitive, just a good part of the game play.
  
  When your settled, you may get some resident sims come over and welcome you, so this is a good way of getting some friends early on. When it comes to interaction with other sims, a whole bunch of interesting options come up when you click to interact, with there being different ways to speak, so you can be Friendly, Rude, Funny, Romantic, and once you go into one of these, there are a variety of ways to talk, e.g If you clicked Friendly, you can, Chat, Get to know, Ask how there day has been, ect. If you have played a previous Sims before you will know this, but if not, once they start talking, no don't worry, your language settings have not suddenly changed to dutch, they speak Simlish. I'll get straight to the point, I LOVE it! Why? 1 - What a great way to overcome recording loads of voices according to language
  2. I do believe it makes the game feel a lot more friendlier and cheerful. But another Warning - You may be walking around sometime and just about hear someone talking in the distance and swear they were speaking Simlish....
  
  EXPLORING/MEETING OTHER SIMS
  So, as you may have assumed, there are many other sims living in your town, and many have there own story to tell and backgrounds. Most of the time you meet them if you are out and about. There are many, many places for you to visit, such as, shops, parks, swimming pools and (personal favorite) a gym. I believe that one of the improvements from The Sims 2 was the way you got around town. Instead of clicking somewhere and waiting for it to load, you have access to a map, and you choose where you wish to visit then, getting in a taxi or, when you can afford one, a car, you drive to the location. Its makes the game flow very nicely. When you get more add-on's a lot more places are added, but there is still enough in this one game to keep you occupied. As I said, when out enjoying the fresh air, you tend to meet other sims, its the best way to meet and start off a friendship. I won't say much more, in case you decide to get it, because otherwise there would not be much point in exploring. In-fact, to be honest, I don't know every place where I live anyway!
  
  RELATIONSHIPS
  When you meet a sim and talk to them, its reasonable your not there friend straight away, this is another progressive thing, but it doesn't take to long.
  The order goes Acquaintance, Friend, Good Friend, and then Best Friend. The higher the Friend status, you can, so to speak, get away with more. And the more friends, the better the parties!
  Of course, your sim may find a special somebody, you may then try being romantic. Usually its best to do this when your at least a Good Friend with them. You must remember to take it easy, because if you try certain things when your not close enough they may reject it. So, after admitting one has feelings for the other, you can go on dates and then if you like the person enough, you can get married.
  If you don't want the hullabaloo of that, when creating a sim, you can make another and make them a spouse.
  When your in a high romantic relationship, you may decide to have kids. You can have up to 8 sims in a household, so if there are just 2, then you can have 6 little ones in a short space of time if you really wanted to. Again, you might not want to do all that, so you could make a family in Create A Sim.
  There is the other end of the spectrum as-well, becoming ones enemy. If you can't stand someone there is always the rude chat option, the more you do that, you eventually dislike each other completely. Although, don't be surprised if a random sim sometimes comes up to you and fights with you.....they usually have the grumpy trait or perhaps just plain weird.
  
  OVERALL
  
  Bad Points:
  .When you start playing, all the different buttons and that may seem a little overwhelming
  
  .On slow or not powerful computers it can be a little glitchy
  
  .The more Sims you have, the more trickier it becomes to keep all happy
  
  .There is no sandbox mode
  
  .The maternity clothes are not really nice or editable, unless you do it the hard way
  
  .There are always more things you wish you could do (Not really a bad point, heh)
  
  Good Points:
  
  .You get used to handling it quite fast
  
  .The Graphics are very Good
  
  .With cheats it almost becomes like a sandbox mode
  
  .The Customization is really good, lots of variation
  
  .The Gameplay can go on for a very long time
  
  .Its incredibly fun and enjoyable
  
  So in Conclusion, I find The Sims 3 a very additive, easy, fun game that I totally love to play! And with all the add-on's out there, you will not run out of things to do quickly. ***** Stars
  

• Deanna Crook May 18, 2012 PC

  ****

  I love a good simulation game, But I have never bought the Sims itself, manly because my dad thought I was to young for it in the past, but Now I am older, I decided to buy it myself! And well, It is the worlds most addictive game, and It is now my Favourite!
  
  Gameplay:
  Well as most people know, this game has no real storyline for you to follow, as you create the story yourself as you go along in life, and this game is never ending, and has infinite replay value.
  
  You start off by picking the town you wish to live in (with the base game there is only one, Sunset Valley, Expansion Packs, And downloads off the exchange add more to your game)and then making your Household (family) in the Create a Sim Mode (CAS) and the possibilities are endless! Weather you want to start off as a bachelor, who is muscley, has long blonde hair, with a tiny mouth, a massive nose, the eyes the size of a golf balls, and wears a pink shirt, green with purple spotted shorts, and orange shoes, or a Family of 5 who are all fat, slobs, that where colour coordinated clothing, it up to you, and the sliders for the body & face add so much to the game.
  
  Once created your Household you choose a place to live, you can choose between a ready build house, or and empty plot of land to where you can attempt to build the house of your dreams. Though you only start off with around 20'000 similodians, which is enough to buy a starter house, or build you a basic home, but as you get you sim(s) to work, you'll earn money,(or you can use cheats for more money if your a bore) and eventually either move to a bigger house, or build a bigger house. Once you have decided where you shall live, It up to you! Become a superstar athlete (in time) be a party animal and meet new friends and have parties every night, or go round town looking for your future love, whom you'll spend the rest of you sims life with.
  
  There is also the feature which allows you to make clothes, furniture, walls, floors etc to be certain colours, textures and patterns, and you can make items match, and once again the possibilities are endless, as you can not only just make the furniture certain patterns & textures that are in the list, but the patterns & textures you do choose, you can change the colour of that pattern or Texture, and truly make it your own!
  
  The Build mode would have to be my favourite part of the game, I love building houses, and you dont have to build house just for your households, if you go on edit town mode, you can build on empty plots of land, or edit ready build houses, and the best part, as it not for your household, it doesn't come from their funds, so it's free! The Build mode is simple, fun, and has so many options, you could build a cabin in the woods, a luxury beach house, a mansion, it up to you, though at first you may not be the best architect in the world, as you will learn and pick up things as you go along, but if you keep trying, new ideas will pop into your head, and soon you'll be a pro! Also the decorating, this is fun also, choosing what furniture style, colour and texture will determine what your house will look like from the inside.
  
  Controls:
  The controls in the game are pretty simple, if you play quite a lot of simulation games (rollercoaster tycoon 3, zoo tycoon 2 etc) the controls will come naturally to you as it the same basic principal, move your mouse to the edge of the screen to move that direction, hold the mouse wheel to turn, scroll the mouse wheel to zoom in & out, etc but even if you don't, the controls are easy to pick up within minutes. Also some keyboard controls work as well if you find these easier.
  
  Graphics:
  Now my computer wasn't made for gaming, so I cant whack the graphics onto the highest settings, but considering, the graphics are really good, crisp, clear, fun, there are a few glitches with graphics sometimes, but not enough to make you annoyed in any way. But I've heard people say they get a new computer, have the graphics all on high, and almost cry at the difference it makes to the game, so warning, if you buy this game, and fall in love with it like I have, and dont own a Gaming PC, Just an average Home Computer, It will make you seriously want a new computer just to see what people are talking about!
  
  Sound:
  I love the music for this game, its fun, quirky and some pieces even kind of relaxing! The sound effects of objesct in the game, every object seems to have unique sounds depending what the object is and doing.
  
  Overall:
  This is a great never ending game, with so many possibilities, and I love it, There are a few glitches here and there, also the loading times can be ridicules, loading a household, saving, and even exiting the game can take forever, weather that's just my computer I dont know. I definitely recommend to anyone, whether a casual gamer or a hardcore gamer.
  
  10/10

• Michael Langley May 04, 2010 PC

  ****

  I am going to start by saying how much I loved the series that Maxis has created. I have been lucky enough to own all of the major games in the series on PC. When it was first announced, I definitely had my doubts about the Sims 3. It looked completely devoid of the character and charm that I was used to seeing. The graphics looked amazing, but the engaging and addictive gameplay seemed lacking somehow. How wrong was I!
  
  So yes, first of all I will tell you about the new style of gameplay. From the off, it is incredibly easy to start up a game in the sims 3. Tutorials are available to those who are not familiar with the intricate style of gameplay the sims has. Essentially, the gameplay is left mostly unchanged from the rest of the series, and believe me, this is a good thing. What the sims has always been about is playing and controlling the lives of various virtual humans that you can create. You can control almost every aspect of their lives, from their house and job, to their personality and hair colour. Of course, this means a great deal of the game can be spent simply creating objects and people. This is where the gameplay slightly changes from what we are used to seeing in a sims game. The sims 3 shifts the focus off looking after the individual "sims", or people, and instead focuses more on what's around them. This means less time is spent telling your sim to use the bathroom, for instance. This makes the game a lot more enjoyable than other iterations in the series! So yes, make your sim, build them a house, get them a job and family etc, etc. While the sense of freedom is still very much a part of this sims game, it is a much more refined experience!
  
  The graphics and sounds in the sims series have always been excellent, and this game is no exception to that. From the music to the voices of each sim, every sound is perfect to hear, and never seems to get old!
  The graphics have taken a big jump from the sims 2, and look amazingly good, depending on your type of PC. However, I cannot stress enough how you don't really need an amazing new computer to play this game. A lot of older PCs can play it just fine, albeit on a lower setting. Even so, it still looks great on the lower settings!
  
  Really, the only gripe I have with the game is the new EA store that comes with it. This feature, obviously created by the publisher EA, means that to access more items in the game, you must first pay more money. This is no fault of the brilliant Maxis developers, and instead it is really just a nasty scheme by EA to make a bit more money. While it isn't essentially a bad feature, the store isn't needed to enjoy the sims 3 experience in its entirety.
  
  With a price of less than £30 in most shops and online, it really is a great deal to get this game! You will not regret your purchase!
  

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