LGR - The Sims 3 Supernatural Review

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enWhen I play The Sims 3, I'm normallylooking to emulate real life, more or less.You know, play with the natural orderof things and see what happens.But it's inevitable that before long,someone gets the ideato take the natural and make it far-more super.While I personally prefer my spooks spooked,goblins gobbled, UFOs KOed, aliens alienated,vampires evaporated and monstersremonstrated, it doesn't matterbecause now we've got The Sims 3 Supernatural!The seventh expansion pack for The Sims 3.\"Embrace the Supernatural\"with just about every horror story cliche imaginable,yet with that trademark Sims twist.This is not the expansion droid I'm looking for.But here it is in my hands,so I may as well drop the disc in and see what I get.Supernatural starts off with a not-so-super-looking loading screen that–whoa!The moon!Uhh, more moon!MORE moon!Full moon.After the loading screen finishes mooning you,you're taken to the the moon menu–er, main menu...to select an old game or start a new one.Starting a new one gives you a chanceto try out the new town with Supernatural,Moonlight Falls.In this town, the moonlight continually fallsand is never once even tempted to rise.It's not quite Mystic Falls, Virginia,but it still has an appropriately foggy, murky,small town Americana look that fitsthe whole naturally super vibe going on.There is a metric crap-ton of new junk in this pack.But the main attraction is the new set of life states:In fact, if you want to jumpright into many of these,you can do so with Create a Sim.All of the new ones, minus zombies, can be chosen,as well as two old ones: ghosts and genies.This makes it easier to play as these beings,since you don't have to go outof your way to get turned into onethrough normal gameplay anymore.You can also apply 12 new skin tones,adjust things like ear pointiness and fingernails,as well as choose a completelyseparate look for turned werewolves,essentially letting you have two Sims in one.You can only choose one lifestate at a time here, though,so forget any plans you may havefor creating a zombie-fairy-werewolf-genie-man-bear-pig.May as well cover the dickload of newclothing and hair items since we're here.Seriously, there's a lot.Ten new tattoos, nine newaccessories, two new facial hairs,24 new hairstyles and 86 new outfits –from children to elders –way too much to show here,so I'm not even going to try.Granted, most of this fits in with that wholegothic, supernatural, Addams Family-esque theme,so don't expect to see summerdresses and Speedos here.You also get some new traits, like Night Owl,Supernatural Skeptic,and Supernatural Fan.And no, that has nothing to do with whetheror not you like Sam and Dean Winchester.Enough of that, on with the life states,with the first one being vampires.Now you may be thinking: What the cow?Weren't there vampires in the Late Night expansion?Yes, questioner of the bovine. You are correct!And if you didn't have Late Night, you'll have them now.They can perform all the same hunting,plasma-sucking, sunlight-avoiding,Usain Bolt-ing actions from Late Night,but they have a few new additions.Now vampires can apply vampiric sunblockso they don't fall apart in the sun,which almost makes being a vampirecompletely devoid of drawbacks.Blood-suckers also have the ability tohypnotically gaze into the eyes of Sims,admit to or deny their vampiric existence,and intimidate and exploitweaknesses of lesser Sims.So, yeah, they're definitely a step up from Late Night,although most of their day-to-daylife will remain the same.They can also receive the Immortal Lifetime award,which of course means they'll never age or die.Although, this also causesthem to sparkle in the sunlight.You just had to do it, didn't you, SimStudio?I thanked you guys for having some tasteand leaving out sparklyvampires from Late Night,and now this.What's next, brooding over underagegirls and long walks in the woods?The only way to atone for this is tocreate a Blade Sim for the next expansion.Just makin' that clear.Enough of the unfortunate sparkles.Next up, we have zombies.Although you can't make these guys from scratch,existing adult Sims can becomea zombie by being bitten by one.All it takes is one infected biteand before you know it,you'll have an epidemic of walkers on your hands.Another way to become a zombie isto make use of a zombification elixir.These are brewed by anyone with high enoughalchemy skill, but we'll get to that later.Once you are a zombie, you canshuffle around and snarl at people,and if you're lucky, you might geta tasty chunk of live Sim flesh.Might want to stop by the Sweet TreatsHouse of Pain while you're at it.There's plenty of candies Sim flesh in there,though it might be a bit charred.So yeah, being a zombie isn't that great,and it wears off over time.So you can see why you're notallowed to create your own zombie Sim,since it's about as permanentas a Kardashian marriage.Well, at least under typical circumstances,since zombies created by a potentzombie elixir or reanimation ritualwill remain zombified untilhit with a cure of some kind,like stronger elixirs and fairy dust.However, another element toconsider are zombie invasions.Remember that lunar loading screen?Turns out the moon is a big addition to Supernatural,and now you have lunar cycles to keep up with.You can either just look at thisicon near your Sim's portrait,or buy a lunar dial to check the lunar stateand read your lunar horoscope.When it's a full moon,all sorts of craziness happens,supernatural creatures go on high alert,and zombies will start attacking your home.Well, less attacking, more sauntering byand messing around with your stuff a bit.They'll also eat plants,so if you have an outdoor garden, well that sucks.And, yeah, you heard that right.There's a zombie on your lawn, eating plants.Hey, EA owns PopCap Games now, so why not?Actually, there's even a set of Plants vs. Zombiescontent in the limited edition of Supernatural,including a working pea shooter plant.Plop this little guy onto youryard for some home defense,where it will eventually remove zombificationfrom a Sim if it hits one with enough peas.You can also play catch with the little guys,which, I must admit, is oddly endearing.The next life state is the fairy.And obviously the most notabledifference from normal Simsis the fact that they've gotmagical freaking wings.On their back.You can't exactly go flyingall over the place with these,but you can hover a bit.Kind of like having a weak jetpack.Another big edition is the magic meter for fairies,right below the lunar cycle meter.You can use your fairy magicto perform all sorts of weird little stunts.Like playing slightly evil tricks on other Sims,and transforming into ashrunken sprite form to pester Simsby tinkering with their bells or something.You can also cast auras,which affect the skills and mood ofSims around you for both good and bad.Fairies are also great at creative endeavorslike painting, writing and sculpting.They age slower than regular Sims,and they're also awesome gardenersand can even help plants magically grow faster.They'll eventually run out oftheir magical magic juice, though,so you're stuck either waiting for it to regenerateor looking for a magic replenishment elixir.You can also find fairies hangingaround in little fairy houses,usually located in gardens,like the ones located at thenew Arboretum community lot.Though you can also just buyyour own and use it at home,as sort of a home away from home... at home...homie.The fairies are also able to level up theirmagical abilities the more they use them,so there's quite a bit to do with these guysif you can deal with the omnipresent,constantly flapping, neon raver wings.Though I've heard you can just getrid of them, but that just seems mean.Witches are next on the menu,and these are exactly what one would expect.You burn through 'em andslam in the back of my Dragula.Both dudes and chicks agedteen to elder can become witches,and these are essentially occultist magicians.Their big draw is the ability to learn and cast spells,either with magic wandsor with their hands once they're good enough.You'll start with a basic wand and skill leveland with enough practice and money,you can progress to wandier wandsand magic...ier magic.Like fairies, witches have amagic meter to keep up with,and performing both good and badspells with deplete this magic.And it's pretty cool whenwitches meet up with each other,since then a witch duel may occur.It's rarely ever deadly,and it's a cool way to test out spellsand see who's the wickedest witch of the wherever.They also have the ability to ride brooms,both on the road in place of a normal vehicleor in a broom area that's totally not Quidditch. Nope.Though I sometimes prefer tohave my witches use a bicyclewhen riding through Kansas.Just add the threat of getting pretties and little dogs,and we're set for one \"Oz-some\" time.Another huge thing to screw with is alchemy.Though not exclusive to witches,they do it better than anyone else.This is pretty much like the chemicaltable from the Generations expansion,just with a more magical slant.You can concoct all sorts of elixirs,from those that help to those that hurt.From skill-boosting potionsto instant obesity.It's awesome to throw these evilthings at Sims and watch them squirm.Or mix it into their drink if you wantto go for a more covert approach.Alchemy also feeds into theexisting collectibles mechanic,since many of these potions require weird items.There are a bunch of new itemsalong with the existing collectibles,so it's nice that they've added a collectiblesjournal to keep up with everything.You can also just forgo a lot of the searchingby checking out the alchemy store community lot.Though it's expensive and they don't have everything,so chances are you'll still have toroll your own for the best potions.Finally, the final live state with...finality... is the werewolf.Whether you create a Jake team member yourselfor become one by getting bitten or using a potion,werewolves are pretty friggin' rad.Well, they could be more rad with aMichael J. Fox edition, but I digress.Sims with lycanthropic tendenciescan transform into a werewolf at any time,but they're at the top of theirgame during a full moon.I think it's a bit unfortunate that you can't go ona classic werewolf rampage through the town,so instead you're left withthe familiar parody creatureyou may be used to from previous Sims games.But hey, at least you can... scratch the couch.That's... that's cool...You can also howl at the moon, more or less.Which doesn't do much of anything it seems,except let people know that you're loud.In fact, werewolves can't domuch of anything special at all.I mean, sure, you can run around trying tobite people and turning them into werewolves,but what's the point?You're effectively a glorified dogwandering around acting silly.And you can form packs ofwerewolves if you want to,but again, what's the point?You can't go around being evil.And I've seen Robin Williams impersonatorsthat are hairier and scarier than these guys.You know, really, just forget that I said they were rad.These are probably the lamest of theplayable life states, in my opinion,because of all the lost potential.The only real use I've found for the werewolfis being sort of a companion to the witch,since they can hunt out rare collectibles, but,yeah, you can do that on your own,it's just maybe not as effective.Werewolves are normally awesomebecause they're unpredictableand blood-thirsty monsters.These... aren't.Someone turns out to be a werewolf, who cares?Just keep him away from the sofaand smack it with a rolled upnewspaper every so often; you're cool.And that's all of the life states,but frick, there's so much more.Another big addition is the return of the Bone Hildaskeletal maid from The Sims: Makin' Magic.Just buy her coffin andlet her loose into your houseto clean up the werewolfdroppings and spilled fairy dust.There's also a sweet, sliding bookcase doorthat fits in nicely with the rest ofthe Haunted Mansion-style decor.Eh, it's just a door. It acts like a door. It's a door.But it looks like a bookcase, and that's awesome.Fitting in with the witch's lair is the magic mirror.Though it's not on the wall, it's on the floor,which totally screws up the rhyme,so whoever came up with that idea can suck it.You've also got a whack-a-mole machine,as well as a claw machine,called \"The Claaaaaw!\"Yes, I'm serious, so go-go gadget Pixar lawyers.This one's ripe.There's also a couple cool thingsI've always kinda sorta wantedat certain times of day on Tuesdays.Like grandfather clocks and rocking chairs.You also get beehives. For keeping bees.In hives.Handy-dandy stuff if you fancy ingesting bee barf,or if you need things like honeycomband bees for concocting elixirs.There's also a gypsy caravan that you can visit,which not only lets you get your fortune toldbut allows you to enter into the fortune teller career.Oh, a career based on ripping people offand overcharging for useless stuff. Heh-heh.I found the favorite job of the person whocame up with Katy Perry Sweet Treats.Throw in even more stuff like a newDark Wave music type, stone skipping,player-to-player gifting,monsters under children's beds,a bush that grows potentially lethal jelly beans,being transformed into a toad,flying vacuum cleaners and more,and you've got a seriously beefy expansion pack.So, is The Sims 3 Supernatural worth buying or not?Well, like always, the suggested retail price is $40 USD.And for as much paranormal playtimeas you get here, that's not a bad deal.But here's the thing to consider:do you want horror fantasy in your Sims 3 game?Personally, I kind of *don't.*Yeah, yeah, it's nice for a quickdistraction from the same old routine,and I'd have no issue with it being a standalone game.But plant-eating zombies and sparkling vampiresare not why I play The Sims 3.I want to play with life, not the undead.Sure, you can disable the supernatural creaturesand lunar cycle and all that in the options menu,which I must commend the developers for including.But, really, if you're going to disable all this stuff,why have the expansion at all?It's for this reason that I personally cannotwhole-heartedly recommend Supernaturalto any and every Sims player.Yes, it's a very well-made pack with a ton of content.But a large chunk of that content pertains to stuffthat's ripped straight out of theplaybook of old monster moviesand doesn't do much at all toexpand the classic Sims formula,which is what I look for in an expansion pack.And disregarding that, due to its Teenrating it plays it safe with the horrorand ends up as a watered-down,family-friendly experience.It's got all the terror and frightening monsterimagery as Bobby Pickett's \"Monster Mash.\"Not that I was expecting loads of gore or anything,but, you know, more dire consequences forcrossing these supernaturals would be welcome.But that's probably beside the point for a lot of people,And if you want a bunch of supernaturalcreatures roaming throughout your towns,this is the expansion for you andI don't think you'll be disappointed.It's packed to the brim full of very well-made content,and that's how an expansion *should* be.Well, if you're into this kind of expansion.\n"