The Sims 3

Good morning!!!

So, I am as many of you know I am a Sims addict!!! Yes, it's true, I have an addiction and it is to the series of games called "The Sims" by EA Games (used to be by Maxis). I have played from when they started nad my older brother showed me the computer game "The Sims" and my addiction continued to "The Sims 2" (I have ALL of the expansions packs for this series), and now "The Sims 3".

When I heard that they were putting out "The Sims 3" I was thrilled excited and very very anxious. You would not believe how exicted I was! I even pre-ordered the collectors edition of "The Sims 3" which came in a neato green shiney box and a 2GB USB key that looks like the signature plumb that all of the "simmers" out there have become acustom and familiar with.

I was happy and content. After a long wait, it was finally here to ease my addiction to this computer simulator game. I went to Best Buy with my "The Sims 3 Collector's Edition" pre-order box on June 2nd. Got there when the store opened and got in line immediately to pick up my new game! I even got the game at the regular price instead of the collectors price due to being in Best Buy's awesome Rewardzone program and get points which my fiance and I collect and had a $20 coupon with us! YAY ME!!!! :D

Well, we got home and I ripped that sucker open! :D Then played... :D

I played it for hours yesterday!!! I was pretty pleased thus far but I was a bit disappointed as it did fall somewhat short as to what I was expecting from all of the hype on this game. With the transition from "The Sims" to "The Sims 2" it was needless to say... AMAZING. For one the original Sims did have several expansion packs and then with "The Sims 2", the sequel to the original actually had ALL of the features that the original plus all of it's expansion packs together offered in the starter disc that you have to buy to play it and use any expansion packs to come. "The Sims 2" was a great move forward and best of all just awesome to have with it's many expansion packs which added amazing features like actual weather, businesses, hobbies, and more. Now this is what I already have in my head and love the series so much. So, I have many expectations riding on this release of "The Sims 3".

In "The Sims 3" their main advertising factor for this was to introduce it to the regular sims community as well as appeal it to new players with things like everything being customizable without downloading more files. The big feature? Being able to have your sims come and go from their home all over town as people do in their real lives and well... not waiting for the infamous loading screen we all hate. Right now I am not really missing the loading screen as I've discovered that all places you go outside of your home... You can't explore. You can walk on the streets, yeah. You can run through the park, of course... but can you actually go to the grocery store and go to a bin and pick out stuff or go to a restraunt and be seated and then have your food served and everything? No. Something simple as that is a bit sad when all that happens is a menu showing with stuff or simply time going by when you put your sim in a class. I was anticipating that it would be more interactive.

However, it has fallen somewhat short and I am a bit disappointed because I am such an avid player of the series that I even have "The Sims 2 Pets" for the PlayStation. Its game play on the PlayStation is STRIPPED as compared to the Computer version.... I felt like I was given a STRIPPED version of the sims when I played "The Sims 3" and I was not able to go into buildings and explore them myself. Nor could I have my sims sit down for dinner anywhere else but home, what's the fun in that? Eating out is supposed ti be fun whether it's virtual or not.

The game is also filled with glitches. One of the glitches that continually happens is the game, for no real reason at all, just closes and then you sit there with "What the **** just happened?" So, saving continually in the game is recommended. I have concluded that it is a ram or virtual ram problem for this as the game is intensely graphic heavy still. A good restart to the computer should fix this and dump the info for a clean slate. Until of course it happens again... then you need to restart again. Hopefully EA will have a patch to fix this and have it process easier for our systems and everything.

It is NOT the EA Download Manager. I was online the other day and some people were suggesting that that's what it might be because they thought it was possibly interfereing with the game play. Which, is not a bad conclusion as other programs do do that. However, I know it is not because I had not installed it on my own system at all when the first "crash" occurred. I WAS doing some heavy graphic work and surfing around online prior to playing the game that day. And, I know that doing what I do on the computer consumes A LOT of memory. That's why I have concluded that it is a RAM and or Virtual RAM problem. Even with a couple if GB's of RAM the "crash" is inevitable.

What I have done to solve the problem is to restart my computer prior to playing (to dump and clear the memory), disable my system from being online, then turning off the antivirus so it does not scan while I play. This way not a lot of memory is eaten away at prior to playing the game).

Then I play and I'll be good!

It has for the moment remedied the problem until EA makes a patch to help along the new game while running on our systems.

It is still a great and fun game, don't get me wrong. So, hopefully EA will come out with some amazing expansion packs for us with "The Sims 3".

I have discovered though... that some of the "cheat codes" from "The Sims 2" still works on "The Sims 3" which was a surprise!!! Like, the fun 50,000 simoleon code which is "motherlode" WORKS in "The Sims 3" and this was originally a code from "The Sims 2" as it was nonexistent in "The Sims". If you've played "The Sims" or "The Sims 2" then you'll know how to enter the codes into the game. I suspect that some of the game setting codes may work as well but I have YET to try anyout in order to test it all.

I gues that is it for my short review of my fun new game for now. Maybe some fun findings will come around later!

Love, Peace, and Tofu Please!
-Linda