In The Sims 3: Generations, each life state had a theme. If the quarterly teaser is any indication, so will Sims 4: Family. EA can’t go wrong with this. A Generations-style game pack has been at the center of conversation in community forums a very long time. Players want chest hair and swings and sandboxes and a bunk bed and canes for old people and wild pranks and military school and teens sneaking out of the house. Oh, and did I say spiral stairs?
Events like school dances, prom nights, high school graduations, teen house parties, slumber parties for kids, school field trips, daycare and boarding school options would bring a lot of gameplay to individual life states that are lacking--children, teens, and elders in particular. Hobbies and after-school activities for children and teens -- such as scouts, school band, debate team, newspaper, sports, or drama club--are much needed because right now in Sims 4, the kids just come straight home after school and it’s super boring. The addition of the ‘Teen Hangout’ lot trait in the March update suggests more hobbies and activities for the high school age group.
For adults, the mid-life crisis feature was always fun and in Generations. Elders also got to carry canes and reminisce about their ‘golden years.’ Right now, gameplay for elders is seriously lacking. There’s not much motivation to play them out and watch them die because there’s simply nothing to do with them besides watch them become more and more unattractive and wrinkly.
The current game doesn’t discourage players from age freezing or cheating to age up child Sims straight to young adults because the hours and hours of gameplay isn’t worth getting to choose a couple bonus traits. We need that generational gameplay, family goals and rewards to truly enjoy the experience of watching a family grow, age up, and die naturally.
Plus, Generations added woohing in treehouses and in the shower. Can't get much better than that. Reviews for Generations ultimately said the pack lacked impact and inventiveness, more so expanding on existing features. While that’s true, The Sims 4 is such a different game two years in than The Sims 3 was at that same point. Generations was only the fourth expansion pack for TS3 at a critical point where the game needed deep features for players to cling to. That’s not the case in TS4. There’s already so many adult-driven storylines to play out with Vampires, San Myshuno and Dine Out, which all dropped in the last year alongside a whole lot of meaningless filler features included in the countless Stuff Packs. A Generations-style game pack could pull all that’s great about TS4 together, unlike TS3, which relied on Generations itself to add meaning to the game overall.
What’s unrelated but particularly exciting about Family taking inspiration from Generations is the fact a Pets expansion followed it. A TS4 Pets DLC has been found in game code and rumored for a very long time. The Pets leak in ‘11 was kind of a big deal and I wouldn’t be surprised if the Sims team pays homage to that moment with some kind of teaser after Family releases.
What do you think of the Family announcement? Let us know in the comments. The game pack is expected to release this spring.
