The Sims 3 hands-on

Last week we were invited by EA to a hands-on session with the highly anticipated Sims 3 for PC. For the uninitiated, the Sims is a life simulation game which lets you create characters, families, homes and lives which you then play out in the Sims world.

Even though we played a preview version of the game, it’s obvious from the out that EA has preserved the look and feel of previous Sims installations. It is still a challenging, fun game to play which often surprises with its level of depth and humour.

Booting the game for the first time, you are encouraged to create a Sim. EA has gone to town on the character creation machine, which now resembles that of Nintendo’s Mii system and is extremely customisable.

Once you’re in the game, EA has made quite a few major changes in the way Sims 3 runs. Even though you start by building or inhabiting a house of your choice, the town or ‘neighbourhood’ is much easier to access than in previous Sims. There’s no loading time between areas or venues, its just one open world which makes it a much easier place to explore.

Another significant change is the way your Sims are encouraged to follow careers. One common criticism of the first two Sims games is that there was very little structure to the game. In Sims 3, however, you choose a number of character traits which lend themselves to various careers, you can then go out and pursue your suited career, be it a rock star or a chef.

Graphically the game fell slightly short of expectations, but we were playing an early version of the game and expect significant amounts of polish to be added. Nevertheless, the game was fantastic fun to play and impressed us a lot. Check issue 126 of WHAT LAPTOP for a comprehensive review of the finished game.

The Sims 3 is due for release in the UK early June.