Review by: Toni Schwartz

The objective of The Sims 3 remains the same: Create a virtual person—or people—and control its life. Have your Sims get jobs, take up hobbies, socialize, start families, etc. But while your goals in the game have not changed, the overall mechanics have undergone a serious overhaul. The result is a vastly improved game over its predecessors.

There are two major changes: increased customizability and an open world. Some were features that originated from the various The Sims 2 expansion packs, while others are new to this installment. Customizability has always been a crucial factor in every Sims game, and it starts at character creation. In The Sims 3 you can still tweak your Sims’ facial features, but you now have more control in how they look. Body types and skin color are now on sliders. Unfortunately, you still can’t customize your Sim’s height, but I’m guessing it would be too difficult to code the hundreds of actions and interactions to work properly with varied Sim heights. You can also create a new type of Sim – the Young Adult, which was introduced in the expansion pack The Sims 2: University.

While the generic shades of hair and eye color are still available, the color system has been beefed up in that you can now use HTML color codes, thus allowing you create that perfect shade of green for your Sim’s eyes. The color system also applies to clothing and furniture, as you can even change the texture and patterns.

The personality system is also now more customizable. Whereas in the last game you could only choose one out of five possible personality traits, you now have 63 traits at your disposal, of which you can assign five to any one Sim. There are both positive and negative traits, which include being a great kisser, neurotic, neat, vegetarian, grumpy, and even insane. It’s amusing to watch how these traits affect your Sim’s actions. For example, my neurotic Sim often checks the faucets and peeks out the window, while my excitable Sim enjoys singing in the shower.

The game allows you to work towards major, long-term goals for your characters. These are Lifetime Wishes, which range from reaching the top of their career to having a large family. Related to this feature are Wishes, Moodlets, and Opportunities. Wishes are short-term, minor actions that when fulfilled, earn Lifetime Happiness points. Wishes include quick tasks like making the bed, to more involved ones like improving a skill. These points can then be used to purchase Lifetime Rewards. One example of a reward is the Acclaimed Author, in which your Sim gains larger royalty checks for every book written.