Is this your first time diving into The Sims 3 ? If you are entirely new to the bestselling series of games (well over 100 million Sims games have been sold around the world), then everything in The Sims 3 is brand new.
But if you are just checking into the game after experiencing The Sims or The Sims 2 , then you will be surprised at how much the game has changed.
Yes, you are still in control of your Sims as they embark on individual narratives created from the houses you build, the relationships you forge, and the dreams you pursue.
However, The Sims 3 gives you even greater control over your Sims’ destinies—even though life does tend to hurl a curveball (or five) while you play. There are more enhanced options for creating new Sims—both on the inside and outside.
A new mood system uses hundreds of little moodlets to help you steer Sims toward happiness whenever possible by letting you know exactly what the Sim is feeling at that exact second. New social interactions help you guide matters of the heart.
And finally, a new Lifetime Wish system gives your Sims overarching dreams to achieve, giving their lives a sense of structure.
This is not to say that everything you do with your Sims has to be in pursuit of this big dream. No contract says you must be 100 percent benevolent. No enforcement mechanism prevents you from charting a new course.
The whole point of the changes in The Sims 3 is that you have a new level of interaction and control to make your game experience—the life experiences of your Sims—as unique as a snowflake.
Create a Sim
If you have already played a The Sims game, then you are familiar with Create a Sim, the toolbox that allows you to conjure up brand new Sims either from scratch or by modifying a selection of pre-made Sims.
In The Sims 3 , Create a Sim is boosted with an even more powerful set of visual enhancements and improvements.
Sims now look more real than ever and you have an unparalleled set of options for giving them faces and features just as individual as the people you see walking down the street.
There are not just hundreds of eyes, ears, and noses to choose from. You can also modify cheekbones, eye shapes, height, weight, muscle mass, and those lovable curves that make us human in the shadow of near-unattainable perfection.
But in addition to all of the cosmetic surgery you can perform on your Sims, the Create a Sim mode lets you build an entire personality out of an advanced selection of traits. Traits include everything from Great Kisser to Green Thumb, from Bookworm to No Sense of Humor.
With more than 60 different traits to select from (and even more if you include the new personality traits added to the Create a Sim tool when you install World Adventures ), you have the means to craft a robust personality.
Depending on the age of the Sim you create, you can have up to five traits.
These traits are responsible for more than just a general personality. Traits affect the lifelong goals of your Sim, the way certain skills are developed, and even mood swings.
(The Over-Emotional trait lets your Sim feel true highs...but also some crashing lows.) For example, a Sim with the Green Thumb trait will be a better gardener out of the gate than a Sim without the trait.
A Natural Cook Sim will have a predilection for cooking and excel at the Culinary career.
Building and Buying
The outward appearance of your Sims and their individual personalities are not the only way to express yourself in The Sims 3 . You can show off your sense of style with the home you build for your Sims.
You can either move your Sim into a pre-built (and even pre-furnished) house, or build a house from the foundation up with the revised Build Mode toolkit.
When you initially move in, your options are only limited by the number of Simoleons in your pocket, but as you bank more and more cash, that inner architect can really blossom.
It’s not just where and how you put up those four walls that completes your Sim’s house. There are hundreds of objects to fill the house with, from couches to computers.
Sims cannot live without certain objects, such as a toilet or shower. But other objects, such as an easel, telescope, television, or globe are optional.
We’re taught that material things do not always equal happiness, but the arrival of new stuff in a Sim’s house typically results in a smile.
Many objects are important for developing skills that give your Sims extra definition. In the case of the weight set, that definition comes with increased muscle via development of the Athletic skill. The arrival of a guitar allows your Sim to practice the Guitar skill.
Moods, Needs, and Wishes
The Sims 3 introduces a whole new way to get a snapshot of what your Sims are thinking and feeling. The new mood system encapsulates the entire need system from previous Sims games.
Instead of constantly watching over individual needs, your Sim now expresses needs through moodlets.
Moodlets are like slivers of overall mood. Taken separately, they key you into a specific feeling, such as a Sim being happy about being outdoors or frustrated over a messy house.
The sum of these moodlets is then reflected as the overall mood.
Maintaining your Sims’ happiness by alleviating the stresses that lead to negative moodlets and doing things to elicit positive moodlets lets you really get into the skin of your Sims more than just monitoring a handful of need gauges.
Wishes are the things that drive Sims. There are two kinds of wishes in The Sims 3 now: Lifetime Wishes and normal wishes. Lifetime Wishes are the big dreams that give purpose to a Sim’s existence.
The smaller wishes are day-to-day wants and desires that we all experience such as wanting to take a class, get a promotion, or start a new relationship.
Skills and Careers
Wishes, traits, moods—that’s a lot of different ways to define a Sim, right? But wait, there’s more. Your Sims can embark on rewarding careers in many different fields, such as science, music, politics, and even crime.
Careers are not just the means for earning Simoleons; they are also a good way to meet other Sims, close in on a Lifetime Wish, and also give direction to skill-building.
Sims love to develop skills. There are many skills in The Sims 3 , including Athletics, Charisma, Writing, and Cooking.
As skills are learned and developed, they not only help out with certain careers, but they also give Sims even more ways to express themselves and fill their days.
The Gardening skill, for example, lets Sims grow harvestables that they can sell to the supermarket for Simoleons.
And if Sims get really good at Gardening, they can even start growing special harvestables that have wonderful properties, such as the Money Tree and Flame Fruit.
Skills and careers also present your Sim with opportunities. Opportunities are special offers and challenges that can help your Sim with work, skill-building, social interactions, and even the ol’ bank account.
Your Sims will encounter dozens upon dozens of different opportunities throughout their lives. You are not required to undertake every opportunity, but the rewards of completing as many as possible make the effort worth the time spent.
Social Life
There is a whole lot of living to do between the house and the work site. The cities your Sims live in—either Sunset Valley or Riverview—are not empty places. Each city is alive with other Sims, each on their own personal trajectories.
How you bump into and interact with these other Sims changes not only your own narrative, but also the course of these other lives.
To get the most out of The Sims 3 , do not just keep your Sim holed up at home with a book, leaving only to hustle down to the bistro or science facility for their shift. Get out there and mingle. Meet strangers and turn them into friends.
Maybe one of those friends will end up being the love of your Sim’s life. Maybe one will be a bitter rival. That’s right—you will not win over every Sim out there, not even if you max out the Charisma skill and can schmooze with the best of them. But that’s life.
Show the World
What would be the point of giving you all of these new ways of interacting with your Sims and creating amazing narratives without offering the means to share these stories?
The Sims 3 includes a full set of tools for capturing screenshots and video so you can construct movies and slideshows of your Sims.
Share these stories with The Sims 3 community, right from your game. You can also share custom content, such as clothing and furniture patterns created with the different tool sets.
And when you spot objects, patterns, clothes, and other good stuff online at The Sim Exchange (the central location for all of the things you can upload and download—all right from The Game Launcher), you can import it into your game and further customize your Sims and their experiences.
What stories will you share with the world?