Sims 4: Yay or Nay?

I may be a bit late to join on the quick hype train of the newest installment in the ever-strong Sims series (nearly two years late, as usual), but after seeing it on Origin with 2 days free playtime, I thought I'd give it a go. I was thoroughly disappointed. The game was great at first - one of my main annoyances at The Sims 3 was the long load-up sequence, so to see the game launch into CAS in only a few minutes was a nice feature. I also really loved the CAS - the new clothes & hairstyles are awesome, and while lacking Create A Style, the range of colours made up for it easily. The Star Wars costumes were a nice touch, though I found navigating between changing the clothing & the actual person difficult, especially when making outfits as I'd have to click back onto the head to change glasses, necklaces, earrings, etc. Having made my family, I found myself in the 'Town View'. I put that in air quotes because there really isn't a town. Sure, there are some skyscrapers, but none of them actually do anything, and the lack of venues, workplaces & other sim's houses made the game feel rather empty. Not only that, but the completely empty lots made starting up annoying, as I'd just pick a basic house/apartment in The Sims 3, and then modify it to suit my household's needs, but here I had to not only traverse the slightly strange new combined build/buy mode, but also try and build something using the preset rooms (I just wanted to play with my sims by now) that didn't look like a badly put together jigsaw puzzle. Once my basic house was complete, I launched into managing my household. I found the new queuing system annoying (it often cancelled actions I didn't want it to), and the Sim's needs seemed to deplete a lot quicker than in the game's predecessor. I loved the new careers, with the addition of tech gurus and entertainers (without the need for an expansion), and the motor, gaming and programming skills seemed cool. After a while of playing legit, I cheated in a bunch of money and imported a huge house from the gallery (a new, easier way of sharing creations that I quite like), and while editing the house, I found that I actually quite like the lack of Create A Style. While it was useful for particular detail, I found the large range of preset styles to be adequate, and I do like the addition of more decorations. All in all, I like the new gallery, the graphic style and the detail in some areas, but those are completely undermined by the empty towns, clunky action queues and at times strange character interaction. Worth a play with the free time, but I don't think I'll buy until it becomes cheaper. Just stick to good old The Sims 3.

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