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#99
7th Aug 2009 at 12:31 AM
7th Aug 2009 at 12:31 AM
Posts: 194
Review of The Sims 3: Star of Life
Published on May 11, 2010
Are sick Sims enjoyable? Well, you don't need to be mean-spirited to think so. The illnesses in The Sims 3: Star of Life certainly adds drama, but usually with a good ending. And in the few cases the Sim dies from a medical condition, it feels much more exciting than the simple "death by old age". When my Sim got a heart attack, seeing her life in review and the appearance of the Grim Reaper, while a paramedic tried to defibrillate her heart, I started biting my nails down.
Of course, most diseases have a reason, and avoiding them in the first place is another challenge. Too many casual WooHoos cause cooties, visiting World Adventure resorts cause travel diarrhea, and poor hygiene causes fungus. The only simple way to avoid chicken-pox is having had it before, though. And even if diseases can be shut off in the control panel, there are enough other features to revive the game totally.
The new town, Rio Norte, features a Spanish Colonial architectural style with occasional modernist villas, which is expressive and would fit into southern Texas as well as Argentina, or any place in between. With France, China and Egypt in the last expansion pack, we needed a Latin American town to cover the rest of the globe. Appropriately, the Star of Life food menu has been enhanced with tacos, polenta, black beans and other Hispanic specialties.
The dominant building in Rio Norte (besides the Atlético Ananas Stadium - football seems to be the true religion here) is the Fuente de la Juventud Hospital, resembling a cathedral. Medical clinics in Sunset Valley and other previous towns used to look like Judge Dredd prisons, so the Neo-Renaissance-styled Eternal Hospital shipping with Star of Life would be a good replacement.
With new traits such as Early Bird and Night Owl, the collection of Sims roaming around town seems to differ along the day. Among the obvious traits are Hypochondriac, Infector and Healer.
Healers build the Medicine skill faster. This skill has knocked out the tedious "research" from the Medical career, which has two new branches, called Simology and Pharmacy, beside the default Surgery branch.
Simologists' most valuable abilities might be Aversion (removal of other Sims' traits) and Life Coaching (addition of new ones). These are dearly needed as the "mid-life crisis" has been weakened. Pharmacists gain the ability to make cough syrup, love potion and other medications (EA carefully avoids the word "drugs" - this is a children's game) with various effects at the chemistry bench retrieved from The Sims 1. Surgeons can do some cool stuff too - such as facial surgery, or test tube babies. If they ace the Logic and Medicine skills, they can even make clones! (And just as in the real world, I wonder why. These rascals still need to be gestated the natural way.)
Nursing is a separate career, focused on relations with patients. They do not get many of the doctors' skills, but an impressive social network. Dead patients might also devise property to them.
The hospital is exciting enough to mention again - one wing is a rabbit-hole, the other is a transparent building. Medical employees can either work in the rabbit-hole or in visible treatment rooms with visible patients - the gameplay effects are similar, but seeing the Sim at work might be more exciting. Of course Sims can also watch TV in the waiting room "for real".
If a doctor or a nurse is successful enough, they can build up their own clinic. This is much similar to Open For Business, except the service is limited to medicine.
Elders are now more grateful to play. Among other things they get senior discounts, and the ability to write a life story even about a mediocre career. They are also great at Genealogy - a Logic-based activity is performed at the computer to fill gaps in the family tree. Of course, many new-found relatives will already be dead on discovery - with cause of death displayed. Heart attacks and strokes seem to be the most common; seems like EA could not include cancer in a proper way.
But all these symptoms will ironically bring Sims even more alive. Re-creation of your favorite medical drama series would just be one way to play this game. Making super-Sims immune to any illness would be another. Or maybe build a horror hospital where Death lurks in the corridors? With good care the Star of Life could live forever.
Published on May 11, 2010
Are sick Sims enjoyable? Well, you don't need to be mean-spirited to think so. The illnesses in The Sims 3: Star of Life certainly adds drama, but usually with a good ending. And in the few cases the Sim dies from a medical condition, it feels much more exciting than the simple "death by old age". When my Sim got a heart attack, seeing her life in review and the appearance of the Grim Reaper, while a paramedic tried to defibrillate her heart, I started biting my nails down.
Of course, most diseases have a reason, and avoiding them in the first place is another challenge. Too many casual WooHoos cause cooties, visiting World Adventure resorts cause travel diarrhea, and poor hygiene causes fungus. The only simple way to avoid chicken-pox is having had it before, though. And even if diseases can be shut off in the control panel, there are enough other features to revive the game totally.
The new town, Rio Norte, features a Spanish Colonial architectural style with occasional modernist villas, which is expressive and would fit into southern Texas as well as Argentina, or any place in between. With France, China and Egypt in the last expansion pack, we needed a Latin American town to cover the rest of the globe. Appropriately, the Star of Life food menu has been enhanced with tacos, polenta, black beans and other Hispanic specialties.
The dominant building in Rio Norte (besides the Atlético Ananas Stadium - football seems to be the true religion here) is the Fuente de la Juventud Hospital, resembling a cathedral. Medical clinics in Sunset Valley and other previous towns used to look like Judge Dredd prisons, so the Neo-Renaissance-styled Eternal Hospital shipping with Star of Life would be a good replacement.
With new traits such as Early Bird and Night Owl, the collection of Sims roaming around town seems to differ along the day. Among the obvious traits are Hypochondriac, Infector and Healer.
Healers build the Medicine skill faster. This skill has knocked out the tedious "research" from the Medical career, which has two new branches, called Simology and Pharmacy, beside the default Surgery branch.
Simologists' most valuable abilities might be Aversion (removal of other Sims' traits) and Life Coaching (addition of new ones). These are dearly needed as the "mid-life crisis" has been weakened. Pharmacists gain the ability to make cough syrup, love potion and other medications (EA carefully avoids the word "drugs" - this is a children's game) with various effects at the chemistry bench retrieved from The Sims 1. Surgeons can do some cool stuff too - such as facial surgery, or test tube babies. If they ace the Logic and Medicine skills, they can even make clones! (And just as in the real world, I wonder why. These rascals still need to be gestated the natural way.)
Nursing is a separate career, focused on relations with patients. They do not get many of the doctors' skills, but an impressive social network. Dead patients might also devise property to them.
The hospital is exciting enough to mention again - one wing is a rabbit-hole, the other is a transparent building. Medical employees can either work in the rabbit-hole or in visible treatment rooms with visible patients - the gameplay effects are similar, but seeing the Sim at work might be more exciting. Of course Sims can also watch TV in the waiting room "for real".
If a doctor or a nurse is successful enough, they can build up their own clinic. This is much similar to Open For Business, except the service is limited to medicine.
Elders are now more grateful to play. Among other things they get senior discounts, and the ability to write a life story even about a mediocre career. They are also great at Genealogy - a Logic-based activity is performed at the computer to fill gaps in the family tree. Of course, many new-found relatives will already be dead on discovery - with cause of death displayed. Heart attacks and strokes seem to be the most common; seems like EA could not include cancer in a proper way.
But all these symptoms will ironically bring Sims even more alive. Re-creation of your favorite medical drama series would just be one way to play this game. Making super-Sims immune to any illness would be another. Or maybe build a horror hospital where Death lurks in the corridors? With good care the Star of Life could live forever.