My special interest in The Sims 4 is a bit of a strange one. I enjoy playing the game and watching videos about it, but I don’t play it as often as I would like to. That reason is due to my creative writing course with The Open College of the Arts. However, I have found that The Sims 4 can help me create my characters.
The Sims 4: The Base Game
The base game of The Sims 4 includes three worlds; Willow Creek, Newcrest and Oasis Springs. Each of them is a different setting, so Oasis Springs is a desert while Newcrest is a city. With both Willow Creek and Oasis Springs, there are already lots with buildings on them. If you are not the best architect, you can move any new sim into these lots. However, Newcrest is an empty world and allows you to build anything you want. If you’re going to build all three worlds from scratch, you do have the option of bulldozing the lot and creating something new on it.
There are already a lot of items in Create A Sim and build mode with the base game. However, if you create as many sims as I do, you start finding that you are using a lot of the same items. If you are seeing this or finding the base game a little repetitive, that could be the best point to think about getting an expansion or game pack.
The Sims 4 Expansion Packs: Island Living, Seasons, Get Together, Get to Work
The expansion packs I will be looking at are the ones I already have. I will not look at any others I have not got yet since I cannot give an accurate view of them. I buy all my Expansion and Game packs during a sale. I don‘t want to go into too much detail with each pack since other reviews do this, like LGR which has reviewed most of the available packs. They then rate each pack on whether you should buy it based on their price and what EA includes in the pack.
Island Living gives you a new world, Sulani. It is a tropical island world which is entirely different from the three base game worlds. You also get mermaids, an occult sim that your sim can turn into when they are in swimming pools, in the bath or the sea.
Island Living also gives you a new aspiration and new personality traits you can give your sims as well as new items for Create A Sim and build mode. Mermaids can interact with dolphins, and there are new jobs unlocked, such as diver and conservationist. The scenery is beautiful, there are plenty of lots, and most of them can have different lot traits such as volcanic activity and off the grid. This pack offers a lot of exciting activities and allows your sims to relax by the beach.
Seasons is the pack I had brought most recently. I love a lot of the Create a Sim items and the build mode items, but I have not used them all yet. I have created my own holiday, and it is a lot of fun. I enjoy how Seasons impact almost all the worlds except Sulani.
However, as Sulani is a tropical island, the weather will not affect that world as much as the others. I have recently celebrated Harvestfest in the challenge I am creating, and it was a big success for all the sims involved. I am close to celebrating Winterfest, and my sims have already built a snowpal. This expansion pack is a lot of fun for those who feel like they want their sims to have a real-world experience.
Get Together is a fun pack as it allows you to make groups based on a sim‘s age and their personality. I have made a couple of groups but hadn‘t played with them yet. However, I have played with the beautiful town of Windenburg. There are twenty-seven lots in this world, and a lot of the buildings are Tudor-based.
For those of my readers who know me well, then you know I love all things Tudor, and that is one of the reasons why I love this expansion pack so much. All the Create a Sim items are fascinating, and you can now even dress your sims up as knights. I am using the world of Windenburg for the current challenge I am creating, The Six Wives Challenge (based on the Tudor King we all know, Henry VIII). I will post all the rules once I have completed playing through the challenge to make sure that it works.
Get to Work was the first expansion pack I brought when I first played the Sims 4. As such, I feel I have a little more to talk about than some of the others. Get to Work was the first expansion pack for Sims 4 released by EA and there are a lot of fun things to do (if you like following your sims to work and control what they do.) There are three interactive jobs, the doctor, the scientist and the police detective.
The ones I played with the most are the doctor and the detective. In this pack, you can also own your own retail store where you must convince other sims to buy your products. There is also a new world for your store, Magnolia Promenade.
Sadly, Magnolia Promenade lacks a lot more than the other worlds do. There are only four lots; three are currently retail stores. It is also empty and can be compared to Willow Creek, only I enjoy the aesthetic of Willow Creek more. With Magnolia Promenade, it looks like there should be a lot of buildings, but they are all grey, and all the artwork looks 2-D. But there is something I feel makes up for that, and I‘m sure not all of you will agree with me on this one.
In Get to Work, you can create aliens! I had used this feature a lot of times, mostly when I created save files based on The Sarah Jane Adventures. Creating aliens is a lot of fun as you can create what the alien looks like and the disguise they use, and I enjoy doing that.
The Sims 4: Game Packs: Realm of Magic
Realm of Magic is different from the other packs I talked about as Realm of Magic is a game pack rather than an expansion pack. Realm of Magic offers less to the game due to it being a game pack, but I still find it enjoyable. There is a new world, Glimmerbrook.
Like with Magnolia Promenade, there are only five lots. However, as a game pack, that is to be expected. But there is a portal leading to the magical realm where your sims can become spellcasters, perform duels and all the exciting things that spellcasters do.
But, be warned, brave one. Your sims will perform duels wherever you go. I find this with two of my sims during my gameplay. They are both spellcasters, and they hate each other.
The younger sim (the older sims‘ daughter) would challenge their father to a fight, and they would fight outside. Despite having less training, the younger sim would beat her father every time. I always find it fun to watch these duels as it makes my game more fun, and I still hope the younger sim will win because I wanted to pit those two sims against each other. Now, though, it also started happening with another of that sim‘s children when they turned into a teenager.
It turns out my sim was cursed, causing everyone to get into a fight with him. I had to buy a potion on the rewards store so I could get rid of the curse.
Overall thoughts of The Sims 4
I enjoy playing the Sims 4, but when I am only playing with the base game, it can get repetitive, especially if you want to play with an occult sim like aliens or mermaids. If you want to play the Sims 4, I recommend that you also get a game pack or expansion pack at the same time.
The creators of Sims 4, EA Game Changers, do a lot of sales on both types of packs, so it is useful to know if a sale is taking place. However, there usually isn’t a lot of warning before there is a sale, and I only find out about a sale when I go into the game.
However, I love playing the game, and it helps me relax. I played it a lot over the summer holidays, and if you are thinking about purchasing the game, then I say it is worth the money. I hope you have fun playing the Sims 4.