Game review: The Sims 3

Published on Thursday 18 June 2009 14:54

PC/Mac, £39.99

GET ready to lose hours of your free time to yet another superb instalment of best-selling life simulator, The Sims. While not exactly rewriting the winning formula, it refines and polishes it enough to make this entry feel fresh yet comfortably familiar.

Players are tasked with creating a new home for their Sims with a starting budget, from architecture to decoration, right down to the smallest detail. Creating your new home and occupants is as addictive as ever, with a range of customisation options at your disposal.

The most notable improvement to the series is how organically your Sims will act depending on your initial settings. Gone are the mechanical, disjointed actions, instead replaced with a fluid if not abstract representation of human behaviour. Mean-spirited Sims will actively seek out trouble and mischief, while determined Sims will work harder and find less pleasure in their free time.

Interestingly, the game is now set in an open world, meaning you are no longer confined to one street, but can interact with neighbouring Sims.

The Sims 3 is bigger and better than ever. With a wide range of player-created content options, a superb movie maker and the promise of future expansion packs, this boasts potentially limitless replay value.