It has been a busy day for Electronic Arts. First the announcement that EA has exclusive rights to the Star Wars gaming franchise, and now The Sims 4 has been announced. We normally don’t believe in coincidences, but we doubt that The Sims announcement was a ploy by EA to keep attention away from Star Wars, so angry fans would not collectively force push the company off a cliff. Regardless, simulation gaming fans are excited for this announcement, as it marks the return of an incredibly popular series; as well as, the return game developer Maxis, who took a hiatus to work on SimCity which released last March.
For those not fully aware of what The Sims series is all about, it is a life simulator series started in 2000 by Maxis, which grants you the ability to become God. You control every facet of your Sims’ lives, and we mean everything from fashion sense to the Sim’s personality and aspirations. These in depth features, and the amusement from watching your Sims perform comedic tasks, is what has made this franchise so successful. Imagine creating the basis of the characters of Link and Commander Shepard, and having them live together in their college years. You manage their lives by making their decisions for them; what jobs they get, their education, and how they interact with people. The Sims learn from this behavior, and will begin to interact with their world based on their core personality and their experiences, which can lead to hilarious situations; such as, Link joining a frat and doing a keg stand, and Commander Shepard flirting with sorority girls. These are just small examples of the life micromanagement that can be done in The Sims, and it provides hours of gameplay because of it. We expect the same kind of thrill from The Sims 4 once it’s released.
Sadly, there are no details on what to expect from the game, other than from leaked GUI pictures. What we do know, though, is that the popular game franchise is slated for a 2014 release date, and will feature offline singleplayer, for both PC and Mac OSX. The “offline singleplayer” feature was highlighted by EA and Maxis, as they are still recovering from their Sim City fiasco last month, and wanted to assure fans it is not going to happen again. We will await more news on this launch from EA and Maxis, and are excited to see what is in store for The Sims 4.