The Sims 3: Seasons

For The Sims 2 expansion pack of the same name, see The Sims 2: Seasons.
The Sims 3: Seasons
Developer(s) EA Maxis (Redwood Shores)
Publisher(s) Electronic Arts
Series The Sims
Platform(s) OS X, Microsoft Windows
Release date(s)
  • NA: November 13, 2012
  • EU: November 15, 2012
Genre(s) Life simulation game
Mode(s) Single-player

The Sims 3: Seasons is the eighth expansion pack for The Sims 3 on OS X and PC.[1] It was released on November 13, 2012 in North America, and on November 16 in Europe.

Gameplay

Players can interact with weather, get into the mood of each season and tell meaningful stories with their sims.[2] There are also unique festivals during each season, with events sims can take part in. Sims can get their faces painted and compete in a hot dog eating contest in the summer, carve a pumpkin and bob for apples during fall and have snowball fight or go snowboarding and ice skating in the winter. Sims can also swim in the ocean and play soccer all year round.[2][3] There are new traits, "loves the cold" and "loves the heat". Sims with these traits will enjoy extreme temperatures, finding the cold or heat pleasant rather than uncomfortable. Sims can also catch a cold, get a tan, or get struck by lightning.[3] Days are shorter in winter and longer in summer. The creature in this expansion pack is aliens, similar to the ones from The Sims 2 but with some updates.

There is a new feature that will allow players to change the appearance of lots throughout the year called "Seasonal Lot Marker". Players can set up different objects and decorations for every season, but cannot make build mode changes like walls or roofing. It is the key to the shifting seasonal festivals, but it also functions on community and residential lots.

Seasons adds new clothings like snowgear, swimwear, and raincoats. It adds filters in Create a Sim, which allow the player to find clothing from a certain expansion or stuff pack. Clothing from the base game, expansions, stuff packs, and the store will be updated to be selectable as outerwear.[2]

Festivals

There are four holidays in Seasons: Love Day, Spooky Day, Snowflake Day, and Leisure Day. All holidays take place on the last Friday of every season. If there is no Friday, it will take place on the last day of the season. These holidays are more popularly received than festivals, and cannot be disabled in the option menu.

Lots will transform with different objects and decorations throughout the year according to current seasons, holidays, and festivals. There is a festival held in each season. Festival lots usually replace the main park, but the lots that are being replaced are stored in the community lot bin in Edit Town mode so players can swap them out at any time should they choose to. Players have full control over the appearance of the festival lots, or they can build their own lots that change throughout the year.[4]

Weather

There are five types of weather: Rain/Lightning, Sunny, Hail, Snow, and Fog. There are varying degrees of rain, including light rain, regular rain, and a lightning storm. Sims can splash and jump in puddles for a boost to the fun need, which can help put out fires in their town or water their plants.[3] It can rain at any time of the year, but the amount of rain will vary by season. Most of the rain will occur in the springtime. When there are storms, lightning and thunder will occur. Simbots from Ambitions can interact with rain, however they can get electrocuted.[2]

There are new transformative weather effects in the expansion, including wind. The sky is an indicator of what weather will take place; for example, clouds will get darker, which means the storm is approaching. Gardening can be affected by the weather. Snow and rain will gather on roadways. Cars will not slip off the road. Temperature will control how easily snow will accumulate on the ground or trees, or how quickly waters such as puddles will evaporate. In the Fall Sims can rake leaves.[4]

Editions

The pack comes in two editions, the regular edition and the limited edition. The limited edition includes exclusive items: an Ice Lounge community lot, an elegant ice bar, bar stool, pub table, ice furniture, and ice-themed build items.[3]

Weather Stone

The Weather Stone comes with The Sims 3 Seasons if you already have The Sims 3 Supernatural installed. The Weather Stone gives you four new weather effects, one for each supernatural:

Reception

Reception
Aggregate score
AggregatorScore
Metacritic73/100[5]
Review scores
PublicationScore
Destructoid5/10[6]
Game Revolution[7]
GamesRadar[8]
GameZone9.0/10[9]
IGN7.5/10[10]
Cheatmasters5.0/5[11]
Gaming Nexus9/10[12]
NZ Gamer7.7/10[13]
WorthPlaying8.7/10[14]

The Sims 3: Seasons received from average to great reviews some of which, for example Destructoid, gave it a mediocre score because it lacks new careers and public lots.[6]

Metacritic gave the game a rating of 73 out of 100.[5]

Jon Michael from IGN gave the game a 7.5 rating out of 10 and believes "[The game is] a solid gateway expansion that builds on the rules without overwhelming you, but still adds enough variety that you’ll never want to play without it."[10]

Amanda "StormyDawn" Hale from Worthplaying.com gave the game an 8.7/10 and claimed even though it isn't a large expansion pack, it is one that it is important for any Sims collection - "It's not the biggest expansion for Sims 3...[but] it may just be the most important."[14]

References

  1. ↑ "Electronic Arts Inc. : EA Announces The Sims 3 Seasons". 4-Traders. August 23, 2012. Retrieved August 3, 2012.
  2. 1 2 3 4 "Welcome to The Sims 3 Seasons". Electronic Arts Inc. August 2, 2012. Retrieved August 3, 2012.
  3. 1 2 3 4 "The Sims 3 Seasons". Electronic Arts, Inc. August 2, 2012. Retrieved August 3, 2012.
  4. 1 2 "Sims 3 Supernatural & Seasons Live Chat Replay". SimsVIP. August 15, 2012. Retrieved August 18, 2012.
  5. 1 2 "The Sims 3 Seasons". Metacritic. Retrieved July 4, 2013.
  6. 1 2 Joshua Derocher (January 6, 2013). "Review: The Sims 3: Seasons". Destructoid. Retrieved July 8, 2016.
  7. ↑ Nick Tan (November 27, 2012). "The Sims 3 Seasons Review". Game Revolution. Retrieved July 8, 2016.
  8. ↑ Sarah LeBoeuf (November 20, 2012). "The Sims 3 Seasons review". GamesRadar. Retrieved July 8, 2016.
  9. ↑ "Review: The Sims 3 Seasons brings good cheer". GameZone. November 19, 2013. Retrieved July 4, 2013.
  10. 1 2 Jon Michael (December 17, 2012). "The Sims 3: Seasons Review". IGN. Retrieved July 8, 2016.
  11. ↑ "The Sims 3 Seasons PC Comments & Reviews". Archived from the original on November 23, 2012. Retrieved July 4, 2013.
  12. ↑ Travis Huinker (December 20, 2012). "The Sims 3 Seasons". Gaming Nexus. Retrieved July 8, 2016.
  13. ↑ Micky Gunn (November 30, 2012). "The Sims 3: Seasons". NZ Gamer. Retrieved July 8, 2016.
  14. 1 2 Amanda Hale (January 3, 2013). "PC Review - 'The Sims 3: Seasons'". WorthPlaying. Retrieved July 4, 2013.
This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 11/3/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.