Normal House: My Experience with The Sims 4
In celebration of the franchise’s 20th anniversary, I’m giving it a whirl
The Sims has turned 20 years old this month. With four main entries and seemingly endless spin-offs/additions, its longevity and popularity is without question. In the years I’ve been gaming, I’ve known countless people that count The Sims as one of their favorite franchises in gaming.
But here’s the thing: I’ve never played The Sims. Not seriously anyway. I owned The Sims 2 on the original Xbox, but back then I never made it past the character customization screen. The game looked and seemed too weird to appeal to me in any real way. There was no action, no horror, no massive set-pieces to look forward to. In other words, pre-teen Logan had zero interest. And since those days, I’ve been Sims free. It’s not that I don’t recognize them as games worth playing; I’ve just never challenged myself to pick up the controller and try again. But now that The Sims 4 is a free game on PSN this month, I figured that it would be the perfect time to try it out. What is it about these games that draws people in? That’s the question I set out to answer.
I booted up the game and played through the short tutorial. Right off the bat, I’m a little overwhelmed by the interface. It’s very clean, but not intuitive right off the bat. No big deal! I can persevere. So, I got to work on creating myself.
There I am. In my plain shirt, boring glasses and unrealistic creative goals. After a second with the character creator, I was able to pick up what the game was putting down. Using the filters to sort through clothing and accessories made it pretty easy to build my Sim from scratch. I even took a weird quiz to make a Sim for me, but it ended in disaster. After I completed myself, I made a couple roommates! I made one for my wife Liz, an evil/elderly roommate named Mechanic Dave, and a mostly random Sim named Clementine Doe (name given by the mysterious dice). The four of us make the weirdest house this side of Big Brother.
And as for the game play itself… I’m not sure I get it? I grabbed a fully furnished house and just went in. I’m not sure it’s the ‘proper’ way to play The Sims, but I wanted my crew to get a taste of the regular life, not whatever trash I would build for them. Right off the bat, Mechanic Dave seemed to be enjoying himself. Just like my real life wife, Liz took to hanging around and making herself at home. She even took the initiative to chat with the neighbors out on the porch! Just like the real me, I promptly sent myself to the couch to engage in my nerd hobbies. Clementine just kind of hung around. I’ve decided Clementine is the weakest link.
I go through the motions of managing my households’ needs. For the most part, they go about their own business. I force them to socialize, at least at first. They seem to have minds of their own, so they go off and do their own things. I install some chairs and a fireplace. Mechanic Dave (the resident bad boy) lights it up, but to my disappointment, nothing starts on fire.
After about an hour of playtime, I can say that I’ve only scratched the surface of what The Sims 4 has to offer. At this point, the appeal of the game is kind of lost on me. It feels like bookkeeping in a way that I don’t enjoy. However, I can see the hooks here: the endless game variations depending on who you populate the house with. Building the perfect house to reflect your game. Watching this cartoon characters clash and bond.
Thankfully, this wasn’t a complete waste of time. I take solace in the joys that Sim Liz and Sim Logan enjoyed in this quaint little house. I’ll always remember Mechanic Dave’s stubborn nature and Clem’s all-around blandness. Good Sims, good life.
