The Sims 4 Is Missing Features And Annoying Fans, And It Hasn’t Come Out Yet!
Fans of the Sims series are not happy, and it’s understandable. Since the series launched in 2000, a hallmark of the series has been an ever increasing array of features and interfaces that add depth to the game. Each installment gave the user a bit more control over the management of their virtual people. While some features in the previous installment, The Sims 3, were more popular than others, the general consensus was that it was a step forward from the previous installment. The same cannot be said for the Sims 4.
While EA Games and Maxis have been trying to tempt fans by releasing a demo of the new Create-A-Sim mechanism for users to play with, fans have been making note of the features conspicuously missing from the upcoming Sims 4 release. The list is long. TS4News, a website dedicated to news of the upcoming Sims game, released a list of 89 features from previous games that were either reduced in function or removed entirely.
Some of the missing features in The Sims 4 were obviously removed in an attempt to streamline the Sims games. Features like Story Progression, which allowed the entire neighborhood around your sim to age and experience life changes in real time, tended to bloat save files as each new expansion pack added new features. Also gone are features such as fears, free will, likes, and the ability to move through a neighborhood without loading screens. These omissions make sense, given that they mostly expanded upon or took advantage of the Story Progression mechanic. The worlds in The Sims 4 will be significantly smaller, few than 25 lots per world rather than up to 125 lots possible in The Sims 3, which should make the game run more smoothly for fans who don’t have top of the line computers.
Other changes are baffling, despite attempts by EA Games/Maxis to explain their absence. Pools, a mainstay of the series since the Sims 1, will not appear in the Sims 4. Toddlers, a life stage added during the life cycle of The Sims 3, will not appear either. Some options long campaigned for in the Sims fan base have neither been added, nor do they seem to be coming. While same sex marriage is still an option, gender identity is still binary. When asked about the potential for gender fluidity, The Sims PR manager Charlie Sinhaseni said, “That’s an interesting topic,” he said, “but I have no good response to that. We would need to take more time and consideration to really arrive at that destination”.
Perhaps the most disturbing omission will only affect fans who are Mac users. When EA games released the system requirements for The Sims 4, they also announced that the Mac version of The Sims 4 had been postponed. Fans of The Sims desperate to play before the game official release can partition their hard drives and install Windows to the partition. Otherwise, EA and Maxis had only one statement about the future Mac release of The Sims 4: “We are currently focused on the PC version. We have no updates on Mac at this time”.
The PC version of The Sims 4 is due for release on September 2 in North America, and September 4 in Europe.
*cries self to sleep because the Sims 4 won’t be available for Mac until like December*
— x (@sassygaylana) August 17, 2014
just played the sims 4 create a sim demo. ohhhh i can see me enjoying this one like
— Adam Smith (@AdamRyanSmith) August 17, 2014
