Sims 3, the highly anticipated Sims game has the release date of June 2, 2009. Sims 3 is a strategic life simulating game, on the computer, in which the player has tons of options and seemingly limitless combinations of options. Sims 3 is the third installment of the Sims franchise, originally designed by Maxis. Not only is Sims 3 available in a regular game version, but also as a collectors version which includes a free sports car download, a sticker sheet, and a 2GB Plumbob shaped USB drive.

Sims 3 Gameplay

A huge difference in Sims 3 from the other Sims editions is that the map is continuous! In previous Sims games, when moving from one house to another, the map would need to load and would change the time of day to a set time in the other area. The Sims 3 game offers a live environment and timing that adds a great amount of entertainment and smoothness to the game.

The previous eight needs of Sims characters, in Sims 3, is now changed to just 6. The still remaining needs of Sims characters now include hunger, bladder, energy, social, hygiene, and fun. The needs being eliminated in Sims 3 include comfort and environment, which makes gameplay less complicated and should boost the overall enjoyment level of the game. Needs are represented by "moodlets", attributes that are aquired after special events like weddings, and small things like brushing teeth. None of the features from the Sims expantion packs such as Sims going to college are available yet in Sims 3, however there are a few from Sims 2 that will show up. These include features like the "young adult" life, cell phones, private cars, personal inventories, restaurants,gardening, fishing, beachers, jewelry, brushing teeth, and ceilings.

Like in other Sims games, Sims can paint but the paintings are determined by the uniqueness of Sims traits, offering a wide variety of paintings and options. There are also set difficulty levels for each Sims family now. Lastly, there are hospitals for pregnant Sims to give birth and bicycles exist for Sims to ride around town with and explore.

Careers

There are a pretty decent amount of careers for Sims 3 characters to pursue, as each Sim will have a workplace to go to work at and options from there. Sims also have the option of applying for jobs, in Sims 3. Sims 3 will be "hid" in their respected workplace buildings, but there will still be a few options for Sims 3 characters to perform and do. Still similar to past Sims games, Sim's jobs offer "opportunities" - work tasked that can be done for perks and rewards. Sims 3 even offers part-time jobs. In Sims 3, Sims have the opportunity to improve their working status by bringing work home and working overtime, which will add more realistic environments to the game.

Now each Sims 3 character can obtain multiple rewards, instead of just a single one like in Sims 2. Career path options are now offer more options, as Sims can follow several different paths, even if two Sims have identical traits! Concluding with career improvements, Sims can now even receive raises, rewards, and more money if the job is being performed well.

Features

Create-A-Sim has a much wider array of options available this time around, in Sims 3. Sims can be completely unique in weight, fitness, hair, and clothing, etc. Foot and headwear also can be customized in Sims 3. Pretty much everything can be customized in Sims 3, so you can really personalize your Sims! Birthmarks (like freckles and scars) and eye color (via a color wheel) can be customized as well.

Fitness bars have been made to fit each individual Sim, making changes in weight and muscular features more unique. Skin color has been made continuous in Sims 3 as well. You can design and customize Sims 3 base hair colors, tips, roots, and even highlights for each Sims! Clothing texture customization is kind of like that of hair. Finally, the pitch of Sims voices can even be customized, making each players voice different and unique! There also is an identical Sims 3 twin generator option.

Sim's personalities have grow to be more complicated but unique, as th original "percentage bar" technique has been changed to that of a "traits system". Traits slots are gained as Sims mature to become young adults and later keep their traits at the maximum level of five trait slots. Sims start off with two traits, as a toddler. Create-A-Sims offers more then 70 traits that are each unique in themselves. Sims cannot, however, obtain traits that are opposites of eachother such as mean and nice. Sims also can each have their own favorite color, music style, and even favorite foods.

Buy and build modes have been redone, quite a bit. The square grid has been reduced to be about four times smaller, to give players of Sims 3 more freedom in placing objects and items. *Wallpaper will not go over to the four square method, however. A highly anticipated option for Sims 3 players is the ability to freely rotate items by turning off the grid! This makes item placement nearly exactly where the player wants the item to be and will satisfy the corner placement lovers. Connecting objects, like counters, will automatically snap into place, however. It is now even possible to move groups of items around, like tables and chairs and smaller objects can be more numerously placed on tables and objects as long as they don't intersect other things.

Sims 3 players can basically customize and personalize everything, with the option of using the 32 color bit wheel to customize patterns and textures, on many individual parts of an object like a sofa's arms, base, and cushions!

An auto-roof function exists to automatically place a roof on a rebuilt wall area to save the player time and effort. Wider staircases and basements are much easier to build in Sims 3, as many gamers requested this feature from the level of difficulty it was in the past Sims installments. It is even possible to spray paint square tiles in Sims 3, unlike just a terrain spray in Sims 2. Its even possible to shrink a room via a "wall-drag" technique, much like a blueprint of a model can be half the size of an actual object. There is a new "slot system" that allows games to place objects on things like dressers more effectively and uniquely. Almost every object in existence can be changed in color and texture now!

Neighborhood Exploration

As stated earlier, Sims 3 made it possible to explore the entire Sims world without waiting through loading times like previous Sims games had. People playing Sims 3 can interact with every single building in the game, as well. If a player wants the visit the neighbors, all he or she has to do is ring the door bell and get ushered in. This enables the Sims world to go on simultaneously, all the events will take place in real time. There will also be features to restrict actions to minor activities.

Sims even have to option to walk around time, ride bicycles, drive, etc. without the entire family needing to come along. This creates changes in Sims homes.

Sims 3 also will have a movie making mode, which will be very accurate, graphically better, and clips will have the option of being copied and cut, like actual movies.

That concludes the released new features of Sims 3

System Requirements:

Mac OS X 10.5.7 Leopard or higher

• CPU-Intel Core Duo

• Memory-2GB

• Hard Drive Space-Minimum of 6.1 GB of hard drive space, with at least 1 GB of added space for custom content material and game save slots

• Graphics Hardware-ATI X1600 or Nvidia 7300 GT with 128 MB of Video RAM, or Intel Integrated GMA X3100.

Windows

• CPU- Intel Pentium 4 or equivalent, 2.0GHz for XP, and 2.4GHz for Vista
• Memory-1 GB for XP, 1.5GB for Vista
• Hard Drive Space-6.5GB of free space and about 1GB for anything extra
• Graphics Hardware- DirectX 9.0c compliant card with 128 MB RAM (NVIDIA FX 5900/ATI 9500 or better), and support for the Pixel Shader 2.0
• Sound Hardware-100% DirectX 9.0c card (compliance)

Windows (using chipset of built-in graphics)

• CPU-Intel Pentium D 2.6GHz, 1.8GHz Core 2 Duo, or something equal to it
• Memory- 1.5GB for XP, and 2GB for Vista