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It is only two weeks ago that The Sims 3 Generations, or Levensweg in Dutch, has been announced. And I’ve got to play it on Thursday the 14th of April in London. The Sims 3 Generations is a somewhat different expansion pack than usual and I have to admit that I did not know what to expect of it. With this preview I will describe what my experiences are with this expansion pack and what my thought are, up till now.
What is The Sims 3 Generations?
First of all I have to say that I went to this preview with mixed feelings. What could I expect? I sincerly had no idea.There are some amazing new object in this expansion pack, which I will talk about later on this preview, but what more can I tell you about this expansion? Ofcourse I’ve read a lot and I collected the question of our forum, this made me a bit wiser. But still I only had a vague idea of what this expansion pack included. On our site I noticed that several visiters also didn’t know what to think of Generations. I used the almost four hours I had to play Generations to figure this out. I wasn’t able to do everything but I am pretty sure I discovered most of it.
To give you a short summary, The Sims 3 Generations makes the original game complete. The game gets a lot new interactions, this gives you more to do with your family. Especially the children and teenagers get a lot of new interactions. The life of your children becomes more fun because they can play outside on a playground or climb in a tree house with their friends. While the life of your teenagers becomes larger with sleepovers, teen parties and the possibility to study outside the city. The other ages, like adults and elderly are fortunately not forgotten and also got new interactions.
Parties
An important element of The Sims 3 Generations are the new parties you can throw. There are 4 new types of parties. Below a list with a short description:
- Wedding: Your Sims can hold a wedding again, they can get together under the wedding arch promise eternal faithfulness. This is a party what I have missed, because it was in The Sims 2. I’m glad that it is in it now. A nice addition is that the wedding cake gets broached when your Sims are married, and that every guest will take a piece of it.
- Sleep party: Are you a child or a teenager? Then you can hold a slumber party. It is the same as a normal party, but everyone still sleep at night. They will work with the sleeping bag and all night in the house.
- Bachelor Party: When your Sim is engaged but not married yet, you can throw a bachelor party. It is prudent not to do at home, as it can get really wild sometimes! The party lasts until the early hours and there will be a lot of drinking going on. There is also a pink limousine that will show up with some very special guests.
- Teen party: Sometimes it happens that the parents of teenagers are sent on vacation. If that happens, teens can give a special party. As you can guess, teens can throw a good party as well. This party will go on way beyond midnight and could get messy at times. The parents can come home early, so we need to be careful. Also complaining neighbours can be a problem, there is a chance that they will call the police because of the noise. Oops, try to explain that to your parents… big chance to get grounded!
Personally, I think the teen and bachelor parties are really fun, because these will go on the whole night. At least, if not disturbed by the police. That happened to me when I threw a teen party, so I unfortunately could not see what would happen if the party had gone on a little longer. According to the present Producer Sims it can get really messy and that just cool. That makes the game realistic and I really like that.
Children
The age where most attention has been given to are the children. There are a lot of new interactions and objects for them in The Sims 3 Generations. The biggest additions are the tree house and the costume-chest. There are three different types of treehouses, a UFO, a kind of castle and a classic tree house with a slide. And the costume-chest contains four costumes, T-Rex suit, prince clothing, a princess dress and an astronaut suit.
Your Sims can do a lot of fun things with and in the tree house. For example, they can dress themselves as an Astronaut and pretend they are in their own UFO and are about to take off and head to another planet. The fantasy of the children is enormous. But the best thing is, is the option to only give permission to either boys or girls to enter the tree house. I would, of course, only allow boys if it were my tree house. And that’s not even the best yet! You can also throw a bucket of water on your sister when she’s trying to climb up.
some very nice interactions with the tree house. Not just for kids, but also for the older Sim. The adults can do woohoo in the tree house. So they will also have a good time ‘playing’ in the tree house.
The tree house is not the only object that is new to the children. There are also a number of playground items added, such as the seesaw and sandpit. In the sandpit, your children can also hide items. These items can, most likely, be dug up again later. But you should be careful, cause also someone else might be able to dug up your hidden items.
Furthermore, children can also register themselves for outside school activities. There are different activities, but I forgot to write them down, unfortunately. By doing these activities, your children might be rewarded with items. These objects might be special, but I only received some ordinary furniture.. The children of my Sims went to the theatre for example, and they came home with a mirror. These activities don’t seem to have any other advantage.
Teenagers
As said, teenagers have had some attention as well. They are more like real adolescents now. They will pull pranks and will throw parties when the parents are away from home. There’s also another very nice addition, and that is that teenagers first have to get some driving lessons before they will receive their drivers license. As long as they don’t have a license, they won’t be able to drive in a car.. The lessons can be given by the parents.
It’s also very cool to pull pranks with your teen Sims. Would you like to surprise your dad? Then make sure you have installed a booby-trap in the shower, which will make his hear pink when he takes a shower. Or make that you have placed a fart cushion on the couch he likes to sit on the most. Embarrassing eh?! There is a dozen of pranks available, which interact with many different objects. It’s nice to pull pranks, but you have to watch out for the police. If your Sim gets caught while he/she is throwing eggs at the door of a neighbour, the cops might arrest you. It’s very likely that your parents will be angry with you give and punish you with a few days house arrest.
Luckily you’re a teenager, and you know a solution for nearly everything. You can just sneak out of the house! But if you would encounter either your parents or the police, you’re pretty sure they will be even more angry with you. That won’t be very good for your relationship I can tell you. So better be careful when you’re sneaking out of the house.
If you teenager Sims don’t like their parents that much, they can also decide to study far away from home. They’ll have the option to study at the University. Unfortunately this is not like student life of The Sims 2. You Sim will go to a campus, but you won’t be able to control them during their stay there. You can do nothing with your teenager until he/she comes back. When your Sim comes back, it’s likely they have gained some advantages. What exactly was not really clear to me. I think these advantages depend on the university your Sim went to. If you Sim went to the military school, he will perhaps have some improved physical skills. In any case, your Sim will have a special graduation ceremony when he/she returns from the University. Also your Sim will be able to tell some very cool stories to the other Sims in the neighbourhood.
Adults and elders.
The generations where less things have been added to are the adults, toddlers and elders. They do have new interaction, but it seems to be less than teenagers and children.
Parents behave more like real parents now. When their children misbehave the parents will punish them, with for example house arrest . An item that is completely new, is the buggy. Adults can now go on a stroll with the buggy with a toddler placed in it. This is absolutely a great addition for everyone who wanted this for a long time already.
Parents behave more like real parents now. When their children misbehave the parents will punish them, with for example house arrest . An item that is completely new, is the buggy. Adults can now go on a stroll with the buggy with a toddler placed in it. This is absolutely a great addition for everyone who wanted this for a long time already.
In real life, most adults will have a period in their life when they are struggling with a midlife crisis. During that period they’re a bit confused and want to do some life changing things, such as buying an extremely expensive car. In The Sims 3 Generations that’s also possible. There will be special midlife crisis wishes. Once you grant this wish (lock it in), you can no longer remove it. You’ll have to fulfill this wish, as long as you don’t fulfill it the adult will have a negative moodlet. You can also visit a therapist to talk your Sim through its problems, that will remove the locked wish.
The elder Sims have become a bunch of grumblers in The Sims 3 Generations. They will be mocking at other Sims all the time. They definitely don’t like the youth of nowadays. Another addition to the elder is, is that you can give them a walking stick. They will then always walk with this walking stick. By clicking on the walking stick you can also indicate how they should walk. I saw two ways of walking, but there may be more. I could choose between a limp walk and a proud walk. I especially liked the limp walk, as that’s just the typical walk of the elder people.
I couldn’t detect much other new interactions for elders and parents.
The new monster
As with any expansion of The Sims 3, there is a new monster again. But, monster? I thought it was more like a cute living teddybear.
When a baby becomes a toddler, the parents might receive a special gift through the mail. A honey doll. This doll is a gift to the toddler. When the toddler gives enough attention to the doll, the doll will transform into an imaginary friend. This friend is only visible to the child, so if you switch to another Sim in the household you won’t see the imaginary friend of the child.
You can have the same interactions between the child and the imaginary friend as with any other normal child. But there are also a few new interactions, such as letting the imaginary friend clean up your room and bring you a snack But I’m not that sure whether it’s a wise idea to let the imaginary friend bring you some food. This funny animation of this friend prevents him from walking fast. So you can go to the refrigerator 3 times, before the imaginary friend has reached it. But the animation is fun to watch, so it’s definitely word it.
Now you might say, this is not real monster? It is imaginary and only one visible to one Sim. Well, I have good news for you. You can actually bring the imaginary friend to life. If the imaginary friend becomes real, it can be seen by anyone. To do this, the child has to fulfil an opportunity.
I’m not sure whether a real imaginary friend has special interactions or needs as I didn’t manage to make my friend real during the time I had to play the game.
Chemistry Table
A fairly important new item is the Chemistry table. With this table your Sims can make potions. Making potions contributes the insight skill. It’s most likely that the higher the insight skill of you Sim, the more potions there will be available. And if the insight skill of your Sim isn’t very hight, you should probably first play some more chess as that’s much safer. If you mix the wrong substances it can cause an explosion. Dangerous stuff, that chemistry table! Although I do not believe your Sim can die.
Below I’ve made a list of all the potions I saw in the game. There are, without a doubt, more potions you can create
- Ninja: Use this potion to teleport yourself back home. It’s a good way to escape from your neighbor if you pulled a prank.
- Ghost: Does your Sim always wondered what it’s like to be a ghost? You can try it now.
- Mood enhancer: The name says it all, this will improve the mood of you Sim.
- Imaginary Friend Metamorphium: I’m not quite sure about what this potion does. But I think this is another way to transform your imaginary friend to real imaginary friend.
Video camera and memory system
What is back from being gone, when you compare with The Sims 2, is the memory system. Special events will automatically be stored in a sort of book. So you can look back exactly what the most important events from the life of your Sim with a corresponding screenshot. You can also add your own memories.
These memories can also be shared on Facebook, with a single touch. I will not be using this new option, but I can imagine that many will find this a nice addition. I really like the addition of the memory system, especially because your memories will be put in a photo book. Then you can look back at what happened according to pictures.
Sims can also create their own memories on video. They can pick up a camera and film their main events themselves. You could walk around with your Sim and film. What struck me is that you are blocked if there are other Sims in the way and you’re not able to walk through doors (arcs may be). It would be nice if you could open doors while you’re filming.
The films that your Sims made can be seen by the entire family on the television. The movies can be stored in a special cassette-holder. Unfortunately, these films cannot be posted on YouTube or something similar. They are only accessible within your game. I do not think it is a big problem, because there are plenty of other better ways to record videos and publish.
Daycare profession
The Sims 3 Generations contains a new profession. It is a professional like we’ve seen in Ambitions. This means that your Sim just does all the work yourself and you now him / her to control when doing his work.
Your Sim can start a nursery themselves in The Sims 3 Generations. Other Sims will bring young children to your house and you must take care of them. You can see what the toddler needs by putting your mouse on the child, then you may find that it is hungry and so you need to feed the toddler.
When the parents come and get their toddlers by the end of the day, you will gain experience. The better you took care of the kids, the more experience you’ll get. You also get bonus experience when parents come later and you’ve taken care of the child during this extra time.
When your level will rise you will get more loan and responsibilities. Your Sim will need to take care of more toddlers at the same time. At level 1 I had to care for two toddlers and level 2 for three. So I assume this is probably eleven at level 10. Or maybe you also got other opportunities? We will probably know very soon.
For those who like to care for young children is a fun job. It’s also a pretty easy job. When you have multiple Sims in a household, they can also help. I myself will probably not do this job, because I think it’s already difficult to take care of my own toddler! I Do not want to think about what would happen when there are 6 screaming children in my house. My Sim would start yelling and flee from the house! I’m always glad when toddlers grow into children.
New Objects and CAS stuff.
The Sims 3 Generations doesn’t come with that many new objects. There are some new things added for a playground. There are also bunk beds available at last. Some other things are also added, such as lava lamps, a number of new cars and one water / soap slide which the family can play with. Also, the spiral staircase added to The Sims 3. Furthermore, the things that I have mentioned in the preview I like the tree house, chemistry table and cane.
I actually did not have time to look around in the CAS, so unfortunately I do not really know what it added. I did see a few new hairstyles and clothing for men, but I have not looked at women. Women seem to have a bit more new CAS items than men. What is new and what I’ve seen is body hair. It works like putting on tattoos, you can pick a place where you want body hair and then you can adjust how much. I think It is a very nice addition.
Another new filter is added to CAS. You can use the filter so you can only see objects of a specific expansion or accessory pack. Very useful when you are looking for something specific.
Preliminary Conclusion
It’s difficult for me to write a conclusion of the what I’ve seen so far. That’s because I know that I have not seen everything yet. But still, I have the idea that this expansion is smaller than usual. This is maybe caused by the fact that there’re mainly new interactions in the game. The interactions are easy to overlook.
The things I’ve seen so far, are awesome though. Especially the bachelor and teen parties are a lot of fun. You can also have a good time with pulling pranks. The new options for the children, to play in the tree hut for example, are a very nice addition as well.
The thing I like most about this expansion, is that it makes the game way more complete. You can do much more with the life of your Sim. For those who like to create their own stories, this expansion will be a very nice addition to their collection. I have no doubt on that.
There are less options for those who like to build. There are a few new objects you can use for your houses. The bunk beds and the spiral stairs are the only real objects that will give you some new possibilities in the design of your house.
My final conclusion so far is, that it feels to me that the expansion will be less big than usual. But I probably missed a lot during my session. So my guess is it turns out to be somewhat bigger than what I currently think. However, the things I’ve seen so far are really awesome and are very nice additions to the game. I definitely want this expansion already!
