Topic: The Sims 3 DS

Well, i couldn't find a thread about this game, but it is out and i got it, and these are my impressions.

The game is almost an exact (but obviously watered down) replica of the computer game, why does this matter?

The Sims - The nearest thing on the DS was The URBZ, which was a port of a good GBA game, nuff said.
The Sims 2 - DS version is about managing a hotel, very very enjoyable, but also quite crappy. Not a sims game at all. Other Sims 2 games where released too, (and the 'pets' one is just so terrible i dont wanna talk about it)

Then i get The Sims 3, expecting another meh game, and what i get is... a Sims game, a sims game for real, on the go, real sims!

The game gives you 3 files, you can create a (rather ugly, but the sims in the PC version aren't very pretty to start with) sim or choose an existing family to start faster, i created a new sim, then the game gave me a bird eye version of the city to choose a house. Now this is rather important, because i haven't found a way to move out to another house (or change my hairstyle for that matter).

Sims have complex personalities with traits, life time wishes and can walk around the city, other sims have works and live on their own, just like in the PC version. But the game plays more like The Sims 2 on many parts, like, the game needs to load when you go into a house or other enter-able building (some buildings have the sim enter, but not you! just like the pc version, btw), and the sim's animations look more like taken from the sims 2 than the sims 3.

Some things where cut out for the DS release though, your sims can't whoohoo (any sim player will know what it is), so Kids don't exist... Sims don't seem to age at all, so the city won't change with time like in the PC version.
You don't seem to be able to die (my sim just "passed out" of starvation and reapeared at the hospital... what? i just hadn't time to eat!).
You can't flirt with sims of your gender (but you do can get married with a sim of the opposite gender!), and at a bar you can only "make milkshakes" (lol).
The amount of items you can buy is quite limited, but it is still very variated, and you can only have a certain amount of items at the same time, probably because the DS wouldn't handle more.
You build new walls and make rooms, but you can only make single-story houses. And wall paints apply to the whole room too, so you can't put a paint in this wall and another on the next one. The same applies to floors, which is weird considering the stylus works just like a mouse.

Going outside gives you a lot of stuff to do, you can visit places, work out, fish, satisfy your needs (eat at the restaurant, get a shower at the Gym, and stuff), there's also some kind of seeking game, after your "life-time happiness" gets to a certain amount a new "karma power" will be unlocked, the game will give you a hint and you will need to search for it, the first one you get (or at least i got) is quite cool, it makes the city look like it is winter (though your house won't change at all), which eliminates the annoying pixelated flowers that plague the city.

That is another thing, have you played The Sims 2? remember how the houses look in the neighbourhood mode? The entire city looks like that. The entire city is blocky and low-res, i mean, the city is rather large and runs perfectly even if you are watching a large portion of it, it has a huge amount of objects and sims living their lives, which is good, But zooming in and actually seeing the pixels is awkward even for a DS game.

The gameplay is flawless though, it is as good as sims can go, and most of the good things introduced with The Sims 3 made it to this one. I really like the mix of The Sims 2 and The Sims 3 this game is.
Work in this game is rather time consuming but you don't really need to work at all. The city is large and full of things to do and pretty much like a harvest moon i find myself with the "just another day and i'll stop playing" dilema.

TL; DR? If you like The Sims you'll certainly love this game, as it is the first real Sims for a portable system.

Well i really like the Sims and this game is one i waited a really long time for EA to do. I hope the next The Sims game on the DS (or the 3DS) is just as good as this one.

It sounds pretty good. I might have to rent it to see how it stacks up to The Sims 3 on Android. The Android version is (I think) a port of the original iPhone Sims 3 game. You can WooHoo but there are no children. Even when my Sim dies all I have to do is reload the game and keep on moving. It sounds like the town in the DS game is bigger; the one on Android is very small, but I can't complain too much since it was on sale for 99 cents!

Thanks for sharing your impressions on this. I posted a thread a while back wondering if anyone tried it and liked it, but it didn't get many replies at the time (might have still been too new, I guess). I've never played a Sims game before, but thought I'd give this one a try. I should be getting it soon, so I'll let you know what I think of it as well.

I actually found The Sims 3 on DS to be a huge disappointment. It imposes too many limits, the time doesn't fast forward to a satisfactory degree while Sims are at work or asleep (leaving you waiting around with nothing to do for a few minutes, unless your Sim has a roommate, but they too may be working/asleep). There's no option to create your fellow roommate/spouse, the frame rate is exceedingly choppy, and the Sim models are just downright ghastly. I was also disappointed that despite the number of community lots that are available in game, there's little interactivity with a majority of them, as your Sim enters the building without allowing the player to follow and watch whatever they're doing inside, detaching the player from the experience.

I find that The Sims 2 on DS is the better game overall (at least as far as the DS versions are concerned). While it doesn't offer a domestic/suburban living experience like the PC games, it at least attempts to create an adventure game that uses the Sims game as an inspiration for its execution. The graphics were better, the Sims were prettier, and there were plenty of activities to keep you occupied. In fact, 5 years on, I still find myself playing The Sims 2 from time-to-time. The Sims 3 feels far too stripped down in comparison to the PC games for me to be able to enjoy the game. The Sims 2 on the other hand, feels like a more complete experience, in spite of its shortcomings.

Do yourself a favour and either stick with The Urbz and/or The Sims 2, or wait for The Sims 3 on 3DS.

oh yeah, the sims 2 is still one of the top ten ds games on my collection, and yeah, sims do get uglier with every game.

However my point is that this game is more of a sims game than the sims 2.

edit: i don't have an adroid, so i don't know how large the town is in that version

I just started playing this today. (That's another game we have in common, Abgar )
I think I'm figuring this out, but if you want to offer up any tips, I'd be glad to hear them.

great victoria!
tips, huh?

well let me see.
The game gives you some good tips at every loading screen.

You should try giving your sims all they want (complete their "wishes") whenever possible, that will give them "life time happiness" points, you can exange these for nice upgrades for your sim (like, making it more resilient, or more atractive).
On the other hand, when your sim's life time happiness reaches a certain number a "karma power" will be open for unlocking.
They keep appearing until 50000 LTH, and, if you use your points before unlocking them you will need to get the points again (belive me, i learned it the hard way). So it's up to you to decide when to use the points.

The personality traits you choose for your sims control what they wish, so an "evil" will want to do evil things, and so on.
Choosing certain traits, some sims can also become easier to please than others.

When choosing a job, you should also choone one that goes with his personality. A creative sim will find itself more confortable at creative jobs. And it will be easier for it to get a promotion, too. Remember, a happy sim is a productive sim.

Oh yeah, better items make sims happier, so try to update your furniture regularly.

That is all i can think of right now. But feel free to ask questions!