The Sims 4

The Sims 4 takes a few interesting steps forward, like the Create-a-sim-tool, cartoony graphics, the modular building system and the improved gameplay within your Sims’ house. But the game also takes a few steps backward due to unnecessary loading times and a reduced amount of content. The end result is a decent game, but not an convincing new entry in the series.

[Pictogram of mild disappointment] [Issue#254, p.62]

In many ways The Sims 4 is a beginning, its core foundation of functions playing their parts beautifully. But in others it feels like a step back, like a set of systems designed around future expansion in mind and not providing the necessary wealth of options from the start.

A conservative sequel, one that drills down into the bedrock of what The Sims has always been. [Nov 2014, p.104]

It’s not easy to recommend The Sims 4, especially for veterans. If it’s your first time with The Sims, you’ll be delighted for sure because everything is new and surprises are everywhere. But as noted, there are gaps in content that have to be fulfilled: the feeling of emptiness is permanently present.

The Sims 4 manages to be both the worst and the best installment in the series so far. It’s lacking content and has a fair amount of glitches and bugs. But the new feeling mechanics works really well, and opens up a new dimension that The Sims never have been close to before. In the end, the positive parts are the ones that are most noticeable.

The gameplay is as fun and addictive as ever, but while added features breathe plenty of new life into the old formula, they aren’t enough to keep The Sims 4 from feeling like half a game. It isn’t a complete misstep, but it’s certainly a long way from the heights intended for it.

The Sims 4 has taken a rigorous approach in redefining the gameplay experience of the series. In some cases this has worked extremely well, in others the complete opposite. The fantastic Build-and-create-a-Sim mode is overshadowed by gameplay and content with just doesn’t live up to the standards set by its predecessor.

The Sims 4 is good, if a bit plain when compared with the exploding circus of colourful content that festoons previous games in the series, expansion packs littered with dogs and ghosts and hobbies and holidays that are now nowhere to be found...We're back to a clean sheet, and it's arguably the cleanest, most stable and most ready-to-be-built upon sheet Maxis have yet laid down.

Sims fans have been worried about all the cuts of longtime features in The Sims 4, and while some critical elements are indeed missing, the core addiction remains. Plus, with the addition of the online Gallery and the ability to share and download creations, it’s easier than ever to liven up your little virtual world.

The smarter sims, sleek customization system, and emotions truly brings The Sims 4 to life. However, even with those impressive features, the game ultimately feels like a incremental step up from The Sims 3.

Not quite as original or inspired as previous games, but a solid life simulator nevertheless.

The Sims 4 is both fresh and yet also predictable, pleasant, comfortable and rarely overstimulating. It's wobbly, and you can still see some of its joins, or hear the creaks as new parts settle into place. It's not likely to win over any new players, but it will satisfy a lot of its old ones.

Almost a great sequel, but the improvements to the sims are overshadowed by the shopping list of peculiarly random missing features.

Although The Sims 4 brings a few new features, namely the emotion system, it can only make the early fans unhappy and disappointed. Electronic Arts erased many elements and features that were essential and representative of the saga. And we already know that EA will sell them in a few months, included inside expansive expansion packs.

They say familiarity breeds contempt. In the case of The Sims 4, that's certainly true for quite a portion of the audience that'll decide to sit this one out. The rest still believes familiarity to be a prestage to attachment and, sometimes, even love. Which camp do you sit in?

I like The Sims 4, although I fully recognize that it's not nearly robust enough yet for series fans. If you're new to the franchise, it's a great place to start and explore the possibilities. The Sims 4 certainly feels like more of the same game we've known for over a decade.

The new generation of Sims begins with what feels like a bare-bones starter kit. It packs top-of-the-line Sims creation and house building tools, but styling options and activities are distinctly lacking. Add the contents of its first expansion, and Sims 4 will probably feel like the game it should be right now.

The Sims 4 could easily have been an nominee for one of our editor's choice awards, but it's woefully incomplete, despite being unexpectedly solid and entertaining in its current state.

I feel like I'm playing a game that's half-baked. The core formula is still fun, but The Sims 4 isn't an improvement.

Like every The Sims game before it, The Sims 4's success will hinge on the DLC that accompanies it -- what you have here is simply a solid foundation. The Sims team needs to do some heavy duty work on the automation side of things, but otherwise they've created a good place to build from.

The Sims 4 is a core game, pure and simple. It is made specifically so that more content can be pumped into it via DLC. The overall functionality of the game is fine, with no real breakthroughs, just a little simplification and minor tweaks. Nothing groundbreaking here.

The thing that irritates the most is that in The Sims 3 you had the feeling that you're writing a story, and not for a particular family, but for the whole city. But The Sims 4 carved out the lion's share of content and broke a beautiful open world into couple of dozens of tiny paddocks. Therefore, instead of the epic story you are able to write just a pair of episodes for a B-Rate sitcom. [Oct 2014, p.94]

Even in virtual worlds, variety is the spice of life. The Sims 4, for all its polish and cleverness, simply isn't very spicy.

While there are certainly some things to like about The Sims 4 such as building a custom mansion, or being visited by the Grim Reaper, the entire experience feels like a starter kit for bigger things in the future. If you had The Sims 3 and its multiple expansions, The Sims 4 will feel stripped down. If you have never played a Sims game, it might be a better option to hold off until The Sims 4 flourishes into a more complete package.

The pursuit of simplicity might seem noble, but this feels frustratingly light on content. [Dec 2014, p.73]

While an enjoyable title that has been polished up and seems generally very modern, it cannot be expected that The Sims 4 is not going to be compared to The Sims 3. In this respect, it seems that while the game took a few steps forwards, it also took a few steps backwards by abandoning features that were very helpful and appreciated in the previous versions. It does have new features that people have been waiting for, such as emotions and more personality for the Sims. As for now, for some players it may not quite be worth to abandon The Sims 3 for it, but for new players looking for a first experience with the franchise, they may have an easier time navigating than former The Sims 3 players. People that have previously enjoyed the latter may be disappointed by the menus (Sim creation, building, or navigating town), as they have been so massively oversimplified that they are now actually confusing.

The Sims 4 has room to grow, but right now you're better off continuing to play its predecessor. While certain features were axed in the name of progress, those features were a large reason why many have come to love the series in the first place.

For those who have somehow managed to miss the last 15 years of The Sims’ existence, the fourth entry will be a great experience – after all, Maxis did most of the basics right. But long-time fans will quickly grow bored without familiar features, objects, and situations. The Sims 4 was expected to build upon the legacy of The Sims 3, but instead, it is almost a barren platform for future DLCs.

The Sims 4 leaves me feeling like the potential for greatness is there, but at this point we will have to wait and see if it ever gets realised.

The Sims 4 takes a step forward in some ways, while taking two steps back in others.

The Sims 4 offer only a small amount of changes that with a little effort could be included in one of many expansion packs of the third installment. Besides, it takes a lot of things that have been taken for granted in the previous installment along its expansion packs away from the gamers. Still, it is a fun game, but there are too many "buts" nonetheless.

The Sims 4's biggest problem is that The Sims 3 exists, and describing where it stumbles by necessity means looking at where the series has been. This is a lovely and lively game that elicits constant smirks, but The Sims 4's moments never feel like part of a bigger picture.

While The Sims 4 is a good first effort that will entertain goal-chasers and fan creators, it lacks much of the variety and humor that defines The Sims.

Starting The Sims 4 after years of The Sims 3 will definitely make you wish for an open world again. The Sims behave more realistically, but after two generations you are pretty much done with all functions and you start to feel how limited The Sims 4 is. Let's hope for some good expansion packs.

The Sims 4 is a visual and mechanical upgrade, but it's missing many of the things Sims fans are used to.

The Sims 4 is a step backwards for the franchise, leaving behind many beloved features of previous installments and following a more casual approach.

The Sims 4 is just like a dollhouse: it's pretty and polished and there are all sorts of possibilities, but in the end, it's really quite empty.

A step backwards for the series. There are some major improvements here, but they don't make up for what has been lost.

The Sims 4 is basically The Sims 3, but shrunken and sterile. While some tweaks and enhancements are nice, none of them can offset the overall lack of engagement provided, and the looming promise of DLC is no compromise.