Can the Sims deliver a console worthy port?
The Sims 4 is the highly anticipated life simulation game that lets you play with life like never before. Create new Sims with intelligence and emotion. Experience all new intuitive and fun creative tools to sculpt your Sims and build unique homes. Control the mind, body, and heart of your Sims, and bring your stories to life.
When The Sims 4 came out on PC, it was met with a lot of criticism due to the lack of toddlers, swimming pools and other features that were a staple of the series. Over time, Maxis added most of these back, but the damage had been done and as an result it’s not as widely regarded as Sims 3. I was curious to see how a console version would work and was surprised that we were getting it after all these years and if it’d be a watered down port or actually a decent take on the game…
I was amazed to find that The Sims 4 actually is as close to the PC version as you can imagine, it even has several expansions you can buy from the console’s store. That’s not to say that the console version is perfect, it actually has a number bugs…some of which are game breaking to the point of needing to close the game and reload your save, if you can. There have been times that Sims have been stuck in glitches, refusing to do tasks, walking through walls and getting trapped or the biggest offender is when you get locked in a menu and can’t back out of it.
Switching from a standard PC Mouse and Keyboard setup to a controller is a drastic change and will take some getting used to, especially selecting things will as the cursor is sensitive. Building has changed from Sims 3 to be more simplistic and while there’s a learning curve, it’s almost impossible to go back afterwards. The great thing is that you can make your Sims live any type of life, working to get higher in their careers and skills, start a family, get married and all the typical things you would expect from the series.
Visually, the game looks decent on PS4 but it doesn’t support 4K, at least not at the moment. The game’s framerate is steady for the most part, though I have seen it drop a few times. The typical Sims sounds are all here, as is the soundtrack that you’ll either love or hate.
The Verdict
The Sims 4 is a highly impressive port of the PC version. It’s a shame that there are a number of bugs that you would think would have been fixed, especially considering the PC version has been out for a number of years now. Still, if they continue to patch the game, then it’ll obviously be a much greater experience. But for now, it remains buggy which is likely to be off-putting for fans.