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Sims 3 World Adventures
Saturday, 13 February 2010
Sims 3 World Adventures is the first expansion-pack to be released for the Sims 3, which came out last year. The Sims games are designed to simulate the real world, pushing the limits beyond the idea of home: in Sims' world, home is called Sunset Valley.
‘World Adventures’ adds three new destinations to the original Sims' world: Shang Simla, (China) Champs Les Sims, (France) and Al Simhara (Egypt.) With enough simoleons (Sim money) and a phone to call the taxi, these destinations give your Sim character new worlds to explore, simulating the real human experience of a vacation.
The three new worlds are each based on similar templates to Sunset Valley, yet they recreate famous landmarks from the real world for the Sims to explore and revel in world-wide wonders, just as you yourself would.
The first, and possibly most exciting feature I noticed in ‘World Adventures,’ is the addition of new hair-styles, accessories and outfits in create a sim. As a sucker for new looks I was enchanted with the cute French outfits and quirky beret’s , as well as the rough-and-tumble looking dusky adventure outfits, hats and tousled hair styles.
You see, World Adventures comes with many outfits themed to each destination, adding a cultural twist to the usual Americana Sims' look, with the addition of tacky tourist T-shirts (a personal fave of mine.) With these new styles your Sims can go on wild adventures and look good at the same time.
Where the real game-play comes in this primary Sims 3 expansion pack is in the adventures your Sims must undergo to obtain higher visa levels, which means they can stay in the country for longer, eventually even becoming able to buy a ‘holiday-home.’
The actual adventures can be found on an adventure board outside a base-camp where Sims stay during their visits. Adventures can be anything from exploring tombs for lost treasures, to collecting objects for locals around town for local Sims.
The Adventures are often strewn with difficult obsticles, which can be anything from a fire trap to an enchanted mummy.
These Adventures are much like the Sims 2 spin-off ‘Sims Life Stories’ quests in which the initial god-game is developed by a clearer narrative, and you control your Sim to perform obvious tasks in order to finish. Although these tasks can be very tedious, the rewards make them worth the effort. Adventures not only mean an increased visa level but also new objects to discover, like uncovered relics and piles of special coins which can be used to buy cool new things from special merchants, in turn further aiding your Sim on subsequent adventures.
Sims 3 World Adventures not only comes with new destinations to explore, but new personality traits, and skills to learn with them.
Shang Simla (in China) is a country with a tradition of martial arts, so naturally with enough training your Sim will be able to break boards, meditate and spar with other Sims to increase they’re belt level and become a martial arts master.
Along with the new Martial Arts skill is the Photography skill, which can not only used to document your Sims journey, but can also to earn them money and fame.
Conclusion: World Adventures is an interesting and engaging first expansion pack for the Sims 3. It held initial interest with its new outfits, locations and adventures, and maintains relevance to the original game with its new skills, personality traits, and the way the new locations can be integrated into normal Sims lives by being called ‘Vacations.’
If I had had input into the game I would ask for the new worlds to be open to Sims for living in, and then be played with as we can play with Sunset Valley.
For the next Sims 3 expansion pack I’m hoping for something that adds to Sims 3 in a more ‘real life’ way, the way that ‘hot-dates’ did for Sims 1, and ‘Universities’ did for Sims 2. World Adventures does work hand in hand with the Sims 3, but the new worlds seem slightly too detached from everyday Sims life. Expansion packs may be designed to simulate every aspect of real-life, but let’s face it: vacations as extravagant as these are only reality for the privileged humans of this world.
What's great: new locales, new adventures, new hair styles and clothes
What's not: the new environments are detached from the interior world of Sims 3
Needs: Sims 3 addiction and some serious game time
Sims 3 World Adventures, RRP NZ$70
System: Mac OS 10.5.7 Leopard or higher (including Snow Leopard), Intel Core Duo Processor, 2GB RAM, at least 3.5GB of free space with at least 1GB additional space for custom content and saved games (or 9.6 GB if installing along with The Sims 3).
VIDEO: ATI x1600 or Nvidia 7300 GT with 128 MB of Video RAM, or Intel Integrated GMA X3100; Nvidia GeForce series: 7300, 7600, 8600, 8800, 9400M, 9600M, GT120, GT 130 ATI Radeon™ series: x1600, X1900, HD 2400, HD 2600, HD3870, HD 4850, HD 4870.
This game will not run on PowerPC (G3/G4/G5) based Mac systems (PowerMac).
(Also available for Windows XP SP2, Windows Vista SP1 or Windows 7.)
More information: EA Games, available from computer resellers and online stores.
