Freddie Schwartz
Staff Writer
The Sims franchise, over the last several expansions, has been met with mixed reviews mainly because of its content and retail price. After the Sims 3 Ambitions and the Late Night expansion in 2010, the developers have been giving players light expansions with limited content to make it worthwhile. Though some of the expansions such as becoming a master magician are fun and all, you have to pay full price, around $40, to get this kind of content.
However, the developers have brought us a new magic-based expansion called Sims 3 Super-natural. There are so many new items, customization of the houses, and even a new magic-based zone where you find secret ingredients for potions and have mini quests to learn new potions and spells. You could even have a pet dragon!
In Sims Supernatural, you can choose to be five different otherworldly beings, a werewolf, a witch, a fairy, a vampire, and a ghost. Each character has its own special abilities and powers which makes playing either one a different overall experience. First, the witch obviously casts spells and makes potions. You start off and as you level up, you learn more complicated spells and a potion to turn other Sims into zombies. The werewolf and vampire are pretty much what you would expect because both can bite other Sims to turn them into creatures of the night. The werewolf turns into his or her wolf form during the full moon which happens every three days in game time. The most unique character in the game has to be the fairy that has wings which are customizable to a degree. The fairy also has interesting powers to prank other Sims or gives out blessings, such as beauty. Finally, the ghost basically acts like a normal Sims character but can terrify other Sims and cause mayhem.
There are also neat things to do like flying a broom to work or becoming a fortune teller as a career. When the full moon rises, all the were¬wolves turn into their alter egos and zombies randomly come out of the ground. It’s pretty fun but it gets a little old.
The new in-game clothing options are pretty poor. Some of it was cool like torn tee-shirts and a witch’s hat but none of the clothing really stood out as being “supernatural” and weird which I was hoping it would be. The new items and furniture absolutely are barren. Sure there are wands, brooms, a crafting table for potions, and an alter bed for the vampire, but there is no gothic looking furniture at all. You get 50’s style furnishing like a mint-green refrigerator. What’s supernatural about tacky 50’s furniture? The worst part is that there are no supernatural wallpaper or floor options. So you’ll have an average looking house with a randomly placed potion lab.
The zombie option is interesting and adds a little more flavor to the overall supernatural experience but it’s like this idea was slapped into the game for marketing purposes. All the zombies do is walk around and try to attack other Sims, but they can’t even break into houses or swarm the town. It felt so anti-climatic to finally make a potion to turn someone into a zombie, and then see it wasn’t what you were hoping. To stop the zombies, all you have to do is make a potion to turn them back into humans. It could have been so much more like a real apocalyptic scenario and you and other supernaturals would have to stop it using magic and strategy. Instead it’s like, “Oh look, there are zombies around and biting people. Let’s get inside the house and wait for them to leave.” It’s so lazy and boring that I felt cheated.
The Sims 3 Supernatural once again suffers from giving us cool mechanics and characters but poor items and content. Without any real reward or cool things to do after you level up your character, you’ll get tired of this game pretty quickly. Don’t get me wrong, it’s a fun addition to the Sims 3 series, especially for huge fans. It’s merely an average game that adds some good content but unfortunately fails in living up to expectations for a 6.2/10.
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