Sims 3 Living Room Ideas
[typing] in the sims 3, your sims have already had theopportunity to go adventuring around the world. reach for their ambitions, party late into the night, and enjoy each generation to its fullest. but even with all this stuff vying for yourattention, there is still something missing. wait, what's this? felis catus? canus lupus?
equus ferus? homenum revelio– wait, what? yes, you can now enjoy and takeownership of your favorite creatures– abolitionists be darned– with the sims 3 pets expansion pack. this is the fifth expansion packrequiring the sims 3 to play and unlike many prior to this, thereare multiple versions to choose from. you've got the regular pets expansion tothe sims 3 for windows and macintosh computers, another computer version called sims 3 plus pets,
which has the base gameand the expansion together, a standalone console versionfor the xbox 360 and ps3, and a standalone portablegame for the nintendo 3ds. there are also limited editions ofthe game that give you extra content, including ten special pet breedsfor the 360 and ps3 game and a pet shop locked with exclusiveitems on the windows and mac expansion. just pick whichever one gets you off the quickest, but i went with the limited editionwindows and mac version which is what i'll be covering in this review.
keep in mind that due to the fact that ealikes making things as confusing as possible, the console versions are completely differentgames with completely different crap. so not everything i mention in thisreview applies to the console game. once you start the game,you're greeted with the most amazing loading screen i'veseen in the sims 3 thus far. and by "amazing," i mean more bland than a pile of dried oatmeal in a dry desert with keanu reeves spouting dry humor. actually, that's pretty exciting in comparison,
and this loading screen is just sad. but soon i realized i'm even more sadfor complaining about a loading screen and the main menu appears in order to pity me. if you've played the game before,you can select any old save game you want, but with pets you get a new town to play with that's simply overrun withanimals of all shapes and sizes. this is appaloosa plains, a quiet countryside town withmeadows and woods to explore– at least, according to the laziest wiki quotingi can possibly pull off without you noticing.
whoops. gave away my secret. so, yeah, appaloosa plains. less of this, more of this. it's filled with ranches and cowboy hats and seems to be stuck in aperpetual autumn-like season. while you can enjoy the petsexpansion with any other town, keep in mind that this one is heavilygeared towards animal amusement and has lots more fauna roaming around
than places like bridgeport. wherever you choose to live, the quickest way to pet ownership is toenter the revamped create a family mode and create your own... family... of creatures. there are three pets to choose from: the old standbys, cats and dogs, and a newcomer to the series, horses. each of these virtual animalscan be designed and customized in a manner very similar to how youdesign and customize virtual people.
that is, you can go as hands-onor as deeply involved as you like. want to make a clifford the dog knockoff? go ahead. want a lime green skeleton cat? be my guest. fancy creating your own little pony? have fun with that. and yes, there are evenunnatural designs to choose from which is kind of like applying vinyl to your pet.
perhaps a bit cruel in somepeople's eyes, but you know what? this is the sims,where everything is ridiculous. that's just how it goes. of course, there are also a crap-ton of breeds snatched from real life to choose from: 46 cat breeds, 72 big-dog breeds, 46 small-dog breeds, and 30 horse breeds.
breeds, breeds... check the video description for acomplete listing of them, if you're curious. if your favorite is not included,you can likely create it by using the extreme amount ofcustomization available in the advanced editors. you can also customize your pets' traits now which give them individual personalities and flaws. you can even alter their voice to set themeven further apart from the animal crowd. it's weird, though. the barks, meowsand neighs all sound less like an animal and more like a voice actorimpersonating an animal.
["dog" barking] ["horse" neighing] turns out that's how the soundswere made this time around, by mixing real animals and human noise. it's really freaking weird and i really can't understand whythe designers would want to do this because you hear these sounds all the time and it never stops beingawkward, at least to my ears. once you've finished buildingyour pet with a human voice,
you can place your pet onany lot with human sims. from here, it's up to youas to what you want to do, and at first it can be a bit overwhelming. a large reason for this is,unlike previous pets expansions, you now have complete control over your pets just like with any other sim. there are a massive amount of thingsthat each of the three main pets can do, and several things exclusive to each animal type, so let's just start with whatyou can do with any of them.
pets are pets. obviously. they're there to be there. to pee all over the place. to make noise. to tear apart your house. and to generally act like asocially inappropriate citizen. but they're also there to socializewith and be your sim's friend when all your human friends ran off woohooing everyone in theneighborhood or whatever.
it's your sim's job to takecare of their animal friends. first, by providing basics like shelter, a bed, food, water and playthings. pets also get dirty and get fleas. so you'll need to make sureto bathe them every so often, or just get them a futuristic automatedpet-bathing dr. seuss contraption. but it's equally importantthat you interact with them because pets tend to get lonely rather fast. they have needs, wishes andfeelings, just like any other sim,
and it's important to keep these fulfilled if you want them to behave themselves. otherwise, just like neglecting a child, you risk having them carted off by a social worker, or they might even die. that crap's just sad and it bums everyone out in thehousehold, including other pets, so don't do it! pets can also have relationships with other pets,
including having their own friends and enemies. they can also have romantic relationships and, yes, that means pet woohoo. it's not nearly as absurd as it is with the sims. it's mainly there to act abuildup to the breeding system. pets of the same speciescan get it on with each other and you can take advantage of their genetics to make new breeds. this is also how you'll getkittens, puppies and foals,
since you can't create them yourself. not only do you have your petspopping out new ones here and there, you'll run across wild animals and strays. you can choose to befriend theseand even take them into your home, but keep in mind you can only have ten sims total. up to eight human sims or six pets, where you mix and match to total ten. eventually, you'll have a freaking zoo on your hands, so you can wait for someof your animals to pass on
or you also have the optionto do things like sell them, put them up for adoption, or just let them loose into the wild, blue yonder. or if you have the pc limited edition, you also have the pet store tohelp deal with your animal needs. this is a lot that you can place anywhere and acts like any other walk-in lot. you can buy and sell pet-related goods and do pet adoptions here as well.
while these things can be accomplished elsewhere, it's nice to have a central locationto quickly take care of business while your dog's at home raping your couch. and while we're talking about community lots, let's talk about community lots... some more. there are a few new lot types that come with pets. these pertain to specific animal types and are essentially parks tailored to specific vices. for instance, you've got the cat jungle,
which consists of a park filled with cat things, so they can scratch and sleep their nine lives away. there's also a dog park with open space to play fetch and a bone shaped pool that i'm sure pleased some designer to create, but i can promise a dogdoes not care what shape it is. and finally, you'll have a place for horses torun around and practice jumping and racing, which is fun for both the horse and the owner.
across the street, you alsohave the new equestrian center. this is kind of like a stadium for horses and it brings us to the main focus of horses, which is to be an awesome horse. this is accomplished bymaking them do horsey activities, like learning to run faster,jump higher and race racier. while horses can do a lot of this stuff on their own, the competitions will require a sim to ride them. so it's a good idea to have your sim with the horse
in order to focus on their skills along with the horse's. if you're not into racing or jump courses, you could just let them do their thing on their own. as long as they have space, lots of water,lots of hay and maybe a tasty salt lick, horses can pretty much take care of themselves. they also have a need to exercise, so as long as they can do this alongwith everything else, they'll be fine. you can also ride your horse in place of a car, and as small as the towns are in the sims 3,
it's not really a big deal and is sure to make your neo-luddite sim proud. another thing you may runacross in the wild is a wild horse with a freaking narwhal horn sticking out of its head. apparently, these are called unicorns and are the special creature in the sims 3 pets. these tend to come out late at night, seem to be searching for aplace called candy mountain, and can be found by zooming out andspotting these anomalous glowing clouds
that look like an army of care bears farted. if you can befriend one ofthese things, then it's yours, and you can treat it mostly like a horse. a horse with demon powers, since it may just set the worldon fire when you aren't looking. it also has the ability to bless sims– that is, if it's not feeling likefreakin' satan at the time. of course, they tend to phaseout of existence at 5:00 am, so you'll have to act quickly if you want tocapture one of these rare, majestic sadists.
next up, you've got dogs and their main lot in lifeis to be man's best friend. quite often, they'll follow youcloser than your own shadow and they're almost always ready to play. when they're not licking your face off, you can find them doing you a favor by digging up your well-manicured lawn. sometimes they'll find somethingthey think is incredibly cool, like a maple leaf or an empty potato chip bag,
but most of the time, they'll just leave a hole. however, you can train themto put their nose to actual use by helping them raise their hunting skill. with this, they'll roam the lands searching for rare collectibles and objects, collect them and bring them back to you to do whatever it is youpackrats do with such junk. they also make good guard dogs, mainly due to the fact that they are, in fact, dogs.
just choose an item you wantthem to guard and they'll guard it. but do keep an eye on them, since they have a destruction need to fulfill. give them something to chew on that's not important. otherwise, that 3,000 simolean sofa might just get downgraded toa love seat once they're through. lastly, you've got cats. cats are here to exist. really, they're just there. that's what cats do.
when they want something, they'll let you know, but otherwise they're probably sleeping or eyeing you in such a waythat makes you a bit nervous because it looks like they'replanning out how to murder you inside that little brain of theirs. nah, seriously, cats are cool because they're weird. they like their silly little toys likeyarn, wall things and fake mice. especially catnip-filled mice. nothing like having a stoned cat roamingaround the house scratching everything.
and, yes, they also havea scratching need to fulfill, so make sure they have a scratching post so they don't use your leg instead. but their main ability is thatthey can hunt other animals. once they learn this ability,they can go out on the town and sneak up on whatever preythey think they can take down. if they happen to come out of it the victor, the creature will be added to the cat's inventory and they will probably bringit back home to their owner.
this is also a very efficientway to come into possession of many of the minor pets in the game. yes, cats, dogs and horses are themain pets you can customize and control, but there are a ton of other crittersthat can be caught and contained. these are treated just like collectibles, so some of them are more uncommonor more valuable than others. these can either be sold or dropped into their related cage or terrarium to be kept as extra pets
that don't count against your household limit. you've got lizards, like geckos,iguanas and chameleons; rodents, like rats, chinchillas and hedgehogs; snakes, like boas, kings and pythons; turtles, like turtles, turtles and turtles; and birds, in both small and large varieties, like finches, parakeets,macaws and even falcons. you also have fish,but you've always had fish, and they're still frickin' boring.
each one of these have to befed, played with and cleaned, just like any other pet, and you can even carry them around with you. oddly enough, it seems that like cars, these animals can just be stuck in your pocket. they fit just fine. although, sometimes they'll escape from your pocket, and in that case, you'll want tofind them before a dog does and sees it as a tasty meal.
also, birds and cats don't mix. go figure that one out. there are a couple other creaturesthat you'll run across around town, but these are totally useless. first, you've got deer which bound around like a ballerina on crack and do absolutely nothing. you can't hunt them forvenison or their antlers, and i, i didn't expect you to be able to, but really,
what use are deer otherwise? sure, you can pet them and watch themprance around like ninnies, but that's it. also, raccoons. sure, like deer, it's cool that they're around, i guess, but again, they just show up and stand there. except raccoons also knock over your trash can and rip open your garbage bagsand throw crap everywhere. so they're not only useless, but they just plain suck. beyond these pointless varmints,
there are a few other additions to the game. first is the new woohoolocation for humanoid sims, and that is the haystack. jump right in and get some! however, i have one small issue with this: have you ever jumped into a bale of hay, much less got your freak on in one? that crap hurts! each piece of hay is like a freakingrazor blade with a sharp point
if it's in the right shape andyou bump into it the wrong way. i ain't gettin' my junk nowherenear that junk! i'm sorry. you've also got a new addition to any town, and that is the ice cream truck. you could find it by looking for its icon on the map and then track it down to samplesome of its tasty, frozen treats. but this thing... i don't know,something just feels off. for one thing, there's no sim in sight of it, yet it continues to drive around andspurt its cream all over the place.
then without fail, it will park itselfright outside of your front door like a pet a bear van or something. then it's off to its next victim, dingly little tune blaring throughout the land. [shudder] so, is the pets expansion for the sims 3 worth buying? as always, the suggested retail price is $40, so the choice really comesdown to what you're looking for. it comes with a ridiculous amount ofnew content and variations on old content,
and there's a whole list oflittle things i didn't even touch on, like new music, new clothingand pet-related traits for your sims. but the vast majority of thecontent is about the pets themselves and that is its strength and its downfall. personally, i've just never enjoyedthe pets expansion that much because that's not why i play the sims. now i like pets in real life. i have pets in real life. they're awesome and furry and all that. but i play the sims 3 in order to dothings like build houses, collect junk
and live out various generations over time through confusing and manipulative relationships. when you add pets into the mix, it only distracts from the core sims gameplay, in my opinion. still, i enjoyed this pets expansion, and i think it's fantastically well done, but after this review, i doubtthat i'll use its content very much. and i was excited about the minor pets, but well, they're so minor thatthey're barely worth having at all.
however, i know a crap-ton of you aregonna eat these pixelized animals up, so don't let my play style stop you. if you want sim pets in yourgame, then grab this expansion because it will not disappoint. [progressive rock music plays]
