Description

The Sims 3 is, like its predecessors, a real-time simulation game where the player controls the lives of one or more people in a family including their work life and social activities. In order to do so, at the start of the game the player creates one or more characters on the character creation screen which has been even more expanded since The Sims 2. Besides more choices in terms of look, clothes, colors and such, the player also chooses five personality traits from a set of 63 sorted in four groups “Mental”, “Physical”, “Social” and “Lifestyle” as well as a lifetime-goal. The personality traits influence how the Sim reacts to each event in the game. The trait “work-a-holic” for example makes the Sim love to go to work and allows him to use a computer at home to put in additional hours.

The lifetime goal, on the other hand, is similar to wishes but requires a lot of work to get to. While granting wishes can be as simple as ordering a pizza, one lifetime goal requires the player to make his Sim a CEO of a big corporation which can’t be done over night. As a compensation, the fulfilling of a lifetime goal grants the player a very large amount of lifetime points as opposed to the normal wishes. These lifetime points are used to buy numerous forms of relief including the ability to make the Sim immune to hunger. This allows the player to focus less on fulfilling the basic needs of a Sim but more on advancing his skills and socializing with neighbors, co-workers and other people in the city. The six needs themselves are the same as before including fun, hygiene and hunger. …

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Description

The Sims: Medieval is an independent offshoot from the Sims franchise. It changes the setting to medieval times and offers a more linear experience than the main series. The different campaigns have no overarching plot and just differentiate with their ultimate goal. However, the goal also changes the quest strings available; and these tell smaller, humorous stories. An example would be to save the kingdom from wild chinchillas.

For every quest the player chooses one (self-created) hero who gains experience points. Those improves the special abilities which depend on the character’s profession, e.g. a king files edicts and a mage uses spells. This also means that quests has multiple solutions, depending on the used character. While the player can create up to ten characters, during a quest line he only plays one – the others are taken care of by the AI.

In comparison to other Sims titles, complexity of the time management part is driven back: the learning of abilities is replaced by the experience system and every character has only two needs (instead of six): mood, which is improved by doing everyday activities like sleeping or social interaction, and work. This consists of two activities per day like brewing potions. The management of those needs affects the quest success. Like all games in the series, The Sims: Medieval is very indirect: the player only gives suggestions what to do by clicking on other objects or persons. Then the animations click in and watching those is a big part of the playing experience. …

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