The Sims Original Game was the Best
The Sims was released back in 2000 and quickly proved to be a fantastically popular game. Star designer Will Wright developed the title at Maxis and many people were sceptical about the appeal. However Wright had already proved himself with SimCity which was another innovative game with unique game-play. Luckily they took a chance on The Sims and it was published by EA and has been a license for them to print money ever since.
There were expansion packs galore and then a sequel which promised to be even bigger and better with yet another slew of expansion packs. This year will see the cycle begin again with the release of The Sims 3 which was originally due this month but has been delayed until the summer. Now I may be in the minority here but for me the original game was the best. Let me explain myself, the first Sims game was fresh and unique. The new concept was an absolute revelation in gaming and it could appeal to anyone. I was completely hooked and played the game for days on end creating bizarre families and constructing huge houses for them to live in.
One of the best things about the original Sims game was the community that grew up around it. There were several websites where amateur modders created skins and even models for the game. They added new textures and characters and the wealth of options kept the content fresh and interesting. Something I have always found with Sim games is that once you have seen and used every bit of content they start to get a bit dull so having a fresh supply was great. The creativity and freedom in the game was awesome and later iterations have curtailed that open spirit and squeezed gamers for more and more cash.
My first neighbourhood in the original Sims game had a variety of households. There was Sean Connery as Professor Jones from Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade who lived in a castle with his harem of young beautiful wives. Sadly Sean passed away changing a light bulb because he had no mechanical skill. Death was common and fickle in the original game. Having spent so long building his castle I just made another Sean but somehow he was never quite the same.
The house across the road was like a spaceship and it was home to Darth Vader and his two gay Stormtrooper pals. It was kitted out with all sorts of user created sci-fi objects and an Imperial interior which included Darth’s sanctuary. He looked very odd when he went swimming discarding his cloak and body suit to reveal a chubby pink body in trunks but he never removed his helmet.
My favourite house of all was the serial killer haven. This creepy horror construction had Freddy Krueger, Michael Myers and Jason Voorhees all rooming together and they were kept busy with a steady supply of victims. In the original game you could torture and kill your Sims. You could let them go swimming in the pool and remove the ladder watching them get more and more tired before drowning or you could wall them up in the body of the house and watch them soil themselves and scream until they starved. The great thing was when they died they would leave behind a tombstone or urn and their ghosts would haunt the inhabitants of the house at night time. Ok a bit sick I know but they aren’t real.
The later games have introduced more complexity to the characters but the game-play has never been improved and the amount of expansion packs you are expected to fork out, for just for a minimal amount of new content, is bordering on the criminal. The freely distributed user created content community has shrunk, everyone wants to charge money for their creations and the spirit has been lost.
Now The Sims 2 is still an enjoyable game and I had fun with it for a while. The ability to develop generations and the more developed personalities for your Sims were a step in the right direction but I was also disappointed by the changes they had failed to make. The discrepancy over the time it takes for Sims to do things and the time it takes in real life is admittedly a tough one to solve but they never even tried. They can spend half a day showering, using the toilet and making their way to the front door. The path-finding is still pretty awful and they often can’t work out the best route to take. I would have sooner seen these things fixed than the addition of a random desires meter or the ability to visit an empty shop.
Relationships always bothered me too. The Sims are so shallow you can basically make anyone fall in love with anyone. If you make them talk together or engage in activities for long enough they’ll be happy to jump into bed together even if their wife or husband is sitting in the same room. It would be nice to see some attempt to change these elements.
The Sims 3 will be a success because the series has loyal fans. By the sounds of it the main additions are continuous aging and large seamless neighbourhoods. I know fans will disagree but I feel the creativity and innovation that made the original game so good has been swept aside in favour of making money and that’s a sad development.