PixlBit

After taking a hiatus from the wildly successful Sims series, I was fairly excited to jump back in with The Sims 3. Knowing fully well that the handheld 3DS experience would most likely trim back the offerings found in the PC version, I wanted to keep an open mind. Unfortunately, no amount of willingness to give the game a chance could have prepared me for the boring, sloppy mess I was about to encounter.

In traditional Sims style, players begin by customizing a character from head-to-toe. Unlike previous Sims titles, players are able to take their own picture with the 3DS camera and have the game automatically render a character for them based on the picture. I took numerous pictures in hopes of achieving a Sim with even the slightest bit of resemblance to me, but every attempt ended in failure. So after my efforts to avoid manually creating my Sim look-alike failed miserably, I did the best I could with the watered down tools that were present. After that was over, it was time to assign a personality to my Sim by selecting four of 16 different personality traits (there are more than sixty in the PC version) ranging from Genius to Couch Potato, and finally a life goal.

After completing my Sim and beginning some real gameplay, it became apparent that the game had some major drawbacks, the first of which is a total overhaul of the control panel. I wasted several minutes scouring through the new menu system searching for the iconic "Daily Needs" bar that would normally display a Sim's level of hunger, need for entertainment, hygiene, etc. Finally I realized that the bars had been axed in favor of applying those basic needs to a “wants” system, which directly affects a Sim's mood, both positively and negatively, partially based on the personality created for them. For example, if a Sim's mood is out of 100 points, then a "Neat" Sim will lose points if players forget to clean up the dishes in their kitchen or if their toilet becomes filthy. They will only recover points by completing one of the listed desires (whose positive and negative point effects last for a particular amount of time), or by doing a random act that might have positive impact. The drawback to including basic needs in this system is that they rarely pop up until the last moment, leaving players to drop whatever they are doing lest they lose a significant number of mood points, which will impact a Sim’s willingness to follow orders, job performance, etc.

Simply stated, the control panel is an absolute mess filled with constant mundane "need" popups that can sometimes boil down to sitting on a chair or wanting an item inside the house that costs a particular amount of money. These tasks, which pop in and out at an obnoxious rate, wouldn't be so bad if they could just be ignored without having to sacrifice mood points. Unfortunately, any player who wants to keep their Sim in a happy mood will find their familiar open-ended Sim experience severely altered as they spend all of their time tending to arbitrary tasks.

When players aren't busy catering to their Sim's random desires (I thought PLAYERS were the ones controlling their character's destiny?) they will be attempting to earn Karma points by fulfilling wishes. Unlike the other desires, wishes tend to be more focused, though they rarely make any sense when compared with a character's life goal and set personality. For example, my Sim desired to be a surgeon, yet constantly wished to learn more about the culinary arts. But all of the effort to truly fulfill a Sim seems worth it in order to release a Karma power, right? Unfortunately, no. The Karma powers I was so excited to try wound up being nothing more than a boring gimmick whose entertainment lasts for a split-second before quickly fading away.

The disjointed camera only adds to the already jumbled feeling of the game, as it poorly attempts to display the universe by using both screens. To clarify, the top screen is a zoomed in viewpoint of a player's Sim, and they can zoom in/out and around their character by holding the "R" button and using the Slide Pad. On the other hand, the bottom screen is a zoomed out view of a Sim's household/environment and players may move around the area in the same way as the top screen, with the exception of holding a button, or they can just use a stylus. Considering a player's Sim requires constant guidance and attention, their focus will almost always be with the control panel on the bottom screen, leaving the top screen largely forgotten. Unless I couldn't distinguish a tiny object from so far away on the bottom screen that I absolutely needed the first-person view of the top screen, I never once pulled my gaze from the bottom screen. Rather than keeping both views tied to separate screens it would have made far more sense for players to have the option of switching the views, that way players could interact with their environment from both perspectives.

Aside from the familiar everyday-type Sims antics, players will have the option of visiting two different locations, each of which has several different activities ranging from nightclubs to libraries. Neither of the two locations offers anything particularly interesting. They’re merely areas players must travel to in order to engage in activities they used to be able to enjoy at home. A particularly confusing element to traveling is that time stops at a Sim's home while away, yet continues when they are out. So when a Sim leaves their house at 6 PM and stays out until 2 AM, it will once again be 6 PM when they return home. Now, this function doesn't seem so bad initially, as it allows players to get in a good amount of entertainment, learning, and socializing for their Sim without truly wasting time. Unfortunately, though it stops time, it does not stop basic needs, which can leave players with a dirty, starving, and exhausted Sim at one in the afternoon; a nightmare scenario for players like me who employ a rigid consistency in their character's life.

Among the rest of the aforementioned drawbacks are even more negative aspects. The loading times are horrible, the game itself is buggy, unfortunate events constantly occur, and the system of buying/building and placing anything is a sloppy disaster. Within the first hour of playing I had been successfully robbed three times, leaving my character absolutely miserable and practically bankrupting me in the process by needing to repurchase the items (oh, and remember they need to be over a certain amount to earn mood points!). This happened even though I had a burglar alarm, contacted the police, and even attempted to stop the intruder myself, which, needless to say, didn't go so well for my character.

As for the 3D, it's a completely throwaway feature that will only enhance the blocky, jagged visuals present within the game.

The disaster called The Sims 3 on the 3DS is nothing more than a shallow cash-in on the series thrown together for the release of a brand new console, for which it makes no attempt to utilize any of the 3DS's potential. A mere rushed release, its lack of polish is utterly disappointing and stands as an embarrassment to the renowned series.