The Sims 4 review

Electronic Arts The Sims 4 is a game that you will not forget easily. With the fun modular system, you can create your world. 

There is a reason that the simulation series has been so popular for many years and numerous extensions. Here you can shape the life of your little virtual people according to your mood. You let them go to work, set up their apartments, meet friends and have children.

With Sims 4 you can replay a whole life on the screen.

It is above all the loving look that makes The Sims an incomparable experience. The houses have been furnished down to the last detail and even your avatar can feel every emotion. 

The game knows how to keep everyone entertained with fun goodies like cow plants and bizarre disguises. Talking to the Grim Reaper is also no problem.

Experience a very special gaming experience with the Sims

At The Sims, you have endless customization options. In addition to the houses, you can also give the faces of your little house residents a very individual look. 

The control is kept simple at all times. You almost only need the mouse and, after a few minutes, move through the self-explanatory menus as a matter of course.

What we didn’t like

No swimming pools

No carpools and taxis

The open-world is missing

Loading times get annoying pretty quickly

No toddlers, no burglars

Sims 4 Review

In the fourth part of the Sims, the characters now surprise with emotions and multitasking skills that appear to be alive. The given editors allow very simple handling. You can easily create your characters, for example, houses or using the drag-and-drop function. So far, the Sims 4 serves as a perfect entry for all beginners. 

However, anyone who has enjoyed the simulation series for a long time will painfully miss old elements. These include swimming pools, toddlers, burglars, and vehicles. Colors for the clothing of the figures or walls of the houses are only offered as a suggestion. 

Furthermore, the action, unfortunately, does not take place in an open world. There are two neighborhoods in which you can move around alternately. It is also interesting to determine what charisma your own Sims should show. 

Much can be defined in this regard, from bowed depressed posture to arrogant, snooty. Especially at the beginning, individual events trigger different emotional reactions. 

How to deal with emotions is probably the biggest challenge in the fourth part. Ultimately, new useful elements have been added that are replacing familiar components. Still, The Sims 4 is a solid game with room for improvement.

What changed in Sims 4

Light and shadow are extremely close together in “The Sims 4”. On the one hand, there are changes that are absolutely sensible and have comparatively far-reaching effects on the gameplay. These include, above all, the emotions that direct the focus away from basic needs and towards more impulsive, emotion-driven desires. 

This makes the gameplay more dynamic, even if the wishes of our Sim repeat themselves at some point.

We also like the revisions of the character editor and the new build mode. Some relevant aspects have been removed, but overall, both components appear leaner and more intuitive. In this regard, “The Sims 4” is absolutely contemporary.

The new division of the already small game world into individual instances with its own loading bar may benefit the performance – but the game atmosphere suffers as a result. It’s a bit like the radical limitation of space in “SimCity”. 

It just doesn’t fit that we get a loading bar for several seconds even when we visit a neighboring house.

And the much-discussed cuts are, although they are largely not serious in themselves, are noticeable overall. Overall, they lead to the impression it is further simplification in order to get the game as simple as possible. With success: thanks to the sensibly detoxified editors, “The Sims 4” is anything but demanding.

Conclusion

The downside of this simplification: “The Sims 4” is no longer a challenge. Great careers, picture-book families and exciting life can be easily arranged here. 

Perhaps this utopian representation is precisely the purpose of a “life simulation”: It is supposed to enable things that actually fail in real life. In our eyes, it gambles away a crucial skill through the maximum simplification: the thrill of fulfilling the life goal of your own Sim. 

Because even if you act absolutely idiotic: In “The Sims 4” it will definitely work. And so the “life simulation” “The Sims 4” is one thing above all: a super Duper Easy dream world that, despite some sensible innovations, cannot convince.