A bit of a late review, but I submitted it to the online mag I write for and they didn't want it. So I'm putting it here instead:

The Sims is like Marmite, you either love it, or you hate it. A lot of people ask me what the point of The Sims is. If you think about it there is no point, you play with life. There is no winning as such; you are a puppet master in control of lots of little people’s lives. Your goal may be to get rich, have lots of children, be at the top of your career or you might just want to burn your entire town down. All is fine, because in the end it’s your game.

Recently, EA released another expansion pack to add to the list for The Sims, ‘Supernatural’. From the name, you can guess the theme for this one. I was not very into this idea when I saw the promo videos and the press releases. I’d played a little of the original ‘Makin’ Magic’ for The Sims back in 2003, and didn’t really want to go back in that direction. I wanted ‘Seasons’ and now here were EA coming out with another money-spinner when I could see the majority of fans shouting out for ‘Seasons’. But I gave it a try.

In this pack, there is the new town of Moonlight Falls. Moonlight Falls has a lot of pine trees, a river running through it, snow capped mountains on the outskirts and gothic looking buildings. There are new places in the town to visit including the Alchemic store, a gypsy caravan where you can have your fortune told and supernatural hangouts like The Red Velvet Lounge. There are also the usual beaches, parks and movie theatres. It’s a nice looking town but it could just be Riverview or Sunset Valley with the new locations added in. It doesn’t look completely new like the Lunar Lakes location you can buy in the Sims 3 Store. The lighting has apparently been tweaked to add atmosphere to the game, but only in Moonlight Falls.

In create-a-sim your can choose to be a fairy, werewolf, vampire, ghost, witch, or if you have the ‘Showtime’ expansion pack, a genie. I thought being able to create a vampire wasn’t really an additional idea as there was the option to be a vampire in ‘Night Life’. During game play you can also be a zombie if you happen to get bitten by one (they come out at the full moon) or if you find or create a ‘zombification’ elixir. There are also a good few new hairstyles, outfits and accessories. You can add fangs, long painted nails and werewolf like facial hair. If you want to become a fairy, you can choose wings- some gold and flowery, others smoky and dark.

There are many new objects too- 226 objects to be exact. A magic mirror, broomsticks, a moon dial, new wall art and decorative items such as jars of glowing liquid, piles of dusty old books and new garden shrubs. Also, there is the resurrection of Bonehilda. Remember her? She was in the original The Sims: Makin’ Magic and has returned in ‘Supernatural’ as the skeleton maid. Unlike a human maid, she does not charge by the day, but she comes out of the closet she lives in and does chores when required. You can dismiss her back into her coffin closet whenever you want, but she does come back out when she feels like it.

There are also many new gems and seeds to find added in this expansion. You can plant Valerian root, glowing toadstools, wolfs bane and more. But be sure to put a small fence around any plants you are growing otherwise during the full moon, zombies will climb out of the ground and eat them all. The new gems are- bloodstone, moonstone and sunstone; you can use their dust to make elixirs and potions.

As mentioned, there is a moon cycle, and the current moon phase is displayed under the active sim on the toolbar. You can change the length of each cycle in the options and during the full moon everything takes on a silvery sheen.

On your relationship bar, there are outlines around each sim to show what ‘species’ they are. Green is a fairy, gold is a witch, red is a vampire etc; of course, you can still be an ordinary human being. There is no obligation to make a supernatural being part of your household. However, there will be werewolves and fairies wondering around your once normal city. There is now the ability to turn off the ‘Supernatural’ expansion in the options if you want a day without sims doing magic in the street. Personally, my games are real (or as real as they can be in The Sims); I have 3.4 children and a white picket fence; adding in fairies and vampires isn’t part of my sim world. However, it’s a game and it’s all about playing with reality so it’s nice to have the option there if you want it.

Fairies and Witches can perform magic. You have a magic meter and it depletes the more magic you use. Witches can perform spells, curses and charms. The more experienced a sim becomes in magic the more powerful spells they can learn; they could eventually decide to perform magic with just their hands. Fairies are very good at creative skills such as painting and playing musical instruments. They also have an interaction called ‘bloom’ which allows them to grow a plant instantly. Magic beings can also duel with one another, the losing sim won’t be killed by the winner sims magic.

Compared to some expansion packs it adds a lot to the sims world. It changes the game a lot more than ‘Generations’ did for example. It adds two new careers, new fish, new recipes, new ways to kill your sims and new traits! As well as everything added above, it brings a lot to the already bursting at the seams game. The expansion is on trend at the moment, with vampires and werewolves so I’m sure EA will make the money they set out to.

However, if you are on a budget like me, I would give it a miss, especially if you are not into magical, fairy stuff. It just isn’t for you. ‘Seasons’ is out soon- hopefully this will be worth the wait.


Lauren