I did have my doubts about this new version of the Sims. I didn't think I'd like the ‘cartoon’ look of the game, but now I'm playing, it feels right. The actual gameplay is great, your Sims have much more depth to them, and it's far more interesting playing with all of the mood swings and fuller characters. Your Sims can go from one world to another as easily as going down to the shop – no longer do you have to create a new game each time you want to play in another world, a definite plus. I couldn't see the sense in adding the “walk” feature, but in game it's brilliant – I love watching their agonised walk and facial expression when they are busting to get to the loo.
Those who've played any of the previous, or online versions of the Sims, will find it easy to follow the game, if you've never played, there's a step by step tutorial (so step by step, that those who've played before will be driven crazy – there is a way to turn the tutorial off, just google it, it's simple to turn off, but you'll never work out how without help).
I've found that if I have my Sims family (especially good for those with kids) living next to one of the smaller parks, they can use the park like their own backyard, which gives you far more game playing options, like having the kids playing in the park while parents are at home getting on with the chores, learning new or improving skills, or trying to add to the family.
Sure there are a few things missing – the biggest is the lack of the toddler stage (rumours are about that toddlers will be in an expansion pack). But by far the most annoying part of the game, is manoeuvring around in Build Mode, getting just the right angle to add that loo roll! This isn't a problem if you use a ready made house or the ready made rooms that come fully furnished. Though the new Build/Buy mode is easier to use overall, as is the new Create A Sim, it's limited in choices, but then all base games are. There is the new ‘in game’ catalogue, so you can add to your choices on the fly. EA, are being very prompt with patches, you don't need to do anything they load automatically and seamlessly into your game – unless you have auto-updates turned off. It's great to see patches coming out as soon as a problem is noted and fixed, gone are the days of having to wait months for a large patch release. They have even added new content to the game via a patch already.
The game loads at lightning speed compared to Sims3. My computer is several years old, and it runs the game very smoothly on the optimum settings, no lagging and when you go from one neighbourhood to the next, or even from one world to the next, it's like a 7 – 12 second load time, which is amazing compared with Sims3 where you'd have enough time to go and do other things while you waited for it to load.
Overall, if you like these simulation games, this is well worth the money, and I imagine will develop into a much loved game as the expansion packs build on, and develop the game even more.