Many clothing choices help your sim be popular.
The Sims 3 on previous dollhouse-style simulators subtly, by adding more ways to interact with other characters. Other under-the-hood changes add deeper, smarter characters, but it's mostly the same The Sims again. I recently played the Mac and iPhone versions of the title, which EA is readying for a June 2 release.
Both versions looked good, but I'm actually looking forward to the iPhone edition more; as a casual fan of The Sims, the simplified iPhone game seemed more appealing. But even Sims-crazy gamers will enjoy how much of the full Mac game fits into the go-anywhere iPhone. However, you won't be able to migrate characters between the games; EA could theoretically add that feature, but the company has no current plans.
You'll first create a character's physical look and emotional traits, such as defining their hairstyle and body. After picking one of the 6 personas--including "nice guy" and "maniac"--you'll check off 5 of 17 personality traits. Like in the Mac game, these emotional styles give your character specific goals. A maniac, for example, wants to watch other sims sleeping. Creepy.
The in-game lighting conditions keep changing with the in-game time.
This framework follows the Mac game, just with fewer character types, ambient sims, and other moderate cutbacks. For example, you can design a full house in the Mac game, but the iPhone house has to be upgraded in specific, predetermined steps. You still have access to a catalog of dozens of furniture items that you can place how you want in the iPhone game. And EA plans to sell more upgrades as microtransactions once the iPhone 3.0 software is released.
Leading my sim through the iPhone world, I still enjoyed interacting with the townsfolk. The 3D graphics showed great detail in the world. I zoomed with a slider and adjusted the camera angle with multitouch gestures. I thought the frame rate ran slowly at times, but that could be improved before the game is finalized. (Iron Monkey Studios, fresh from developing Need for Speed on the iPhone, hadn't quite finished work on The Sims 3.) But even with that concern, the characters and town looked great, especially with the lighting changing as the game clock moved through the day and night.
Meet sim-friends at the sim-lake in your sim-life.
The game's 75 goals will help direct players to specific objectives, such as catching a salmon and giving it to a certain sim. Four mini-games, including fishing and cooking, give a few other activities. But much of the game is still about exploring and playing in your own terms.
Sims still converse in Simlish, the made-up gibberish language, but you can try many branching ways to interact. For example, I tapped on another sim and was presented with many options to flirt, give a compliment, goof off, and otherwise communicate. If the other sim is receptive, they might move into my house or otherwise build a relationship with my sim.
Swipe around the town to visit new places.
EA says that if you try to fulfill the goals, you'll get through the game in about 12 hours. At that point, you could play again with different personality traits or vocations; you're even rewarded with the option of a new career as a thief, although the ambient characters will be the same the second time.
EA began working on all mobile phone versions of The Sims 3 in November, 2007. With many iPhone games being rushed through a several-month development process, I'm looking forward to a deeper experience when The Sims 3 is released on June 2. The Mac version, developed by Transgaming with its Cider engine, will ship on the same day. Pricing has not been announced.
