The Sims 4 City Living: A New Era of Urban Living

After the better part of a year has passed, we finally have another Sims 4 expansion to look at. The Sims 4 City Living is the third expansion for the game and, contrary to what I anticipated, it doesn't use the \\\ (backslash) slash syntax that was expected.

The lack of \\\ syntax in the City Living expansion may come as a surprise to some fans of the series, but it does not detract from the overall quality and excitement of this new installment. The Sims 4 City Living is packed with features and gameplay mechanics that will allow players to create their own urban adventures and experiences.

As the third expansion for the game, the Sims 4 City Living builds upon the foundation laid by its predecessors. It introduces new social interactions, career paths, and activities that cater to the needs of urban Sims living in bustling cities.

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enAfter the better part of a year has passed,we finally have another Sims 4 expansion to look at.The Sims 4 City Living.This is the third expansion for the gameand contrary to what I anticipated,it doesn't use the \"Get\" prefix we've had up to this point.I was expecting a title like\"Get Downtown\" or \"Get Gentrified\"or something like that, but oh well.Electronic Arts has supplied me withthis copy of the pack for me to review, which is handy.So let's dive right into City Living,which dumps a whole loadof new content on Simmers,divided up into five major categories.The city, the apartments, the festivals, the jobsand the other crap.First up is the city, San Myshuno,a self-proclaimed culturally diversemetropolitan landscape that your Sims can now inhabit.It looks gorgeous and brimming with activity,but in actuality it's just a bunch of set dressingwhich is really no surprise.Look at all those buildings, those carsand trains and helicopters and Simshustling and bustling all over the place.But you may as well forget all of that existsbecause in this particular area, for instance,all you can explore is this little plot right down here.Yep. So don't get your hopes up for a Sims 3Late Night-style city to walk aroundbecause the city here is mostly a facade.It is at least divided up into distinctneighborhoods this time around,although I prefer to call them districtssince \"neighborhoods\" is a term used forother Sims things in the past.You've got the Spice Market, the Arts Quarter,Uptown, the Fashion Districtand a park called Myshuno Meadows.Each has a distinct look to itand it's really nice to have a change of sceneryfrom the more suburban and rural areaspreviously included in The Sims 4.And that brings me to the apartments,which have been reintroduced to the series here.They work a bit differently from the ones in The Sims 3in the sense that multiple familiesof Sims can live in a single lot,divided up into their own apartments,similar to how it was in The Sims 2.However, it's worth noting that unlike The Sims 2,you can't build your own apartment buildingsor interact with all of the apartments at once.You also can't place apartment buildingsin other towns that I can tell.You can only place the contents of an apartmentstraight onto the ground,making it a normal house.In addition to this, you arerestricted to editing each apartmentwithin the predetermined confines of each space.And if you want to see inside another apartment,you have to sit through a loading screen.However, the penthouseapartments are a little bit different.They're more like normal home lotsthat you'll find elsewhere in the game,and these can be bulldozed and built back upin any way you like.Another neat feature is the fact thatapartments and all other lotsnow have traits of their own,both in this pack and through a free patch.These traits will apply a constantaura to all Sims on that lotand include positive thingslike enhanced creativity and happiness,the more negative and absurd things like hauntings,and the potential for earthquakes.Lots will either come with these traits already,some of which can't be changed,and others you can just swap out at will.Especially awesome to me arethe rundown fixer-upper apartments,which come with crappy appliances and furniture,and things are always breakingor getting infested with rodents and bugs.More stuff like this, please,because giving a location a bit ofpersonality and challenge goes a long way.I really like this stuff when it works,but I've run into a few issueswhere the game slows down or glitches outin weird ways with these traits on lots,causing Sims' emotions and moods toflip-flop all over the place,as the different effects conflict with each other.Anyway, next up are the festivals and special eventswhich will pop up at certain times,kind of like holidays did in previous games.The spice festival is basically a foodie conventionwith all sorts of eating competitions andawesome new meals to try out in one place,including meatless offerings togo with the new vegetarian trait.And yes, these foods can also be added to your menusand restaurants if you happen to own anyfrom other packs and whatnot.Stuff like sushi and burritos and things like thatare finally here, which is great.Just be careful of that puffer fish sushi.It's a bit risky.Another festival is GeekCon,which is a celebration of allthings technological and nerdy,with Sims prancing around in cosplay andparticipating in things like hacking andvideo game competitions.The Humor and Hijinks Festival is another one.It's a place to go for comedic and mischievous Simsto go crazy annoying everyone in the vicinityand hopefully not get shotif they're wearing a clown costume,which these days you gotta be careful about.And the Romance Festival,hmm, that's a bit, uh...actually less Hellenistic than I thought it would be.Uh, there may not be a bunch ofpublic woohoo going on but I assure youthere's plenty going on behind the scenes,with like everyone just going arounddrinking things to get turned on.And finally there's the Flea Market,which is probably my favorite one.This is an open-air marketplace whereSims are selling all sorts of itemsranging from chairs to lamps,right back to chairs.It's not quite thrifting but it's kind of the same ideaand I love the addition of finding used goodsand haggling for bargains.And each of these festivalsinclude a few side activities as well,like food trucks and merchandise standsthat sell all sorts of neat items,some of which are exclusive to that festival,but I mean they're still just things like t-shirts.And there's also produce standswhich are one of the better additions here,since before this, it could be a huge painto get fresh ingredients for Sims that like to cook.One weird thing about festivals,though, is when it's over,it's over.It's pretty disconcerting to see this wonderful areaof vibrant activity just disappear without warning,slapping your immersion right in the nuts.Oh, well, it had to end sometimeand may as well do something productive,and that's where the new jobs come in.This time we've got one returning and two new ones:Politician, Social Media and Critic.Politician returns from its previously confusing absenceand graces us with a refreshed take on this career,which is quite timely havingreleased in November of 2016.And none of these are active careerslike how you got in \"Get To Work,\"so you won't be following your Simsto the campaign office or anything,but you do get the occasional side activity to perform,whether it be protesting in thestreets for your specific cause,drumming up support anddonations from potential voters,or giving speeches in public venuesthat are sure to be rousingand inspiring.And yeah, the stuff in this pack reallyis a sign of the time it came out in.A lot of your activity will be taking place online,with your politician Sims basically starting offwith hashtag movements and moving on upto raising money via online donationsand posting long rants on social media.And this is even more apparentwith the social media career.This particular job is all about pleasing the peoplein one form or another online,whether that means posting status updatesand pertinent Simstagram photos,managing unruly forums and comments sections,or going to conventions to meetfans and make VIP appearances.Being a critic is somewhat similar,although with an increased potential to anger Simsthat just can't take feedback on their work.You'll be critiquing things like food and artwork,and a lot of this depends onyour Sims' writing skills, as you might imagine.But of course at first you're prettymuch just a hack with a blogand a chip on your shoulderbefore you eventually make enough noise for Sims tocare at all what you think.Sounds about right.And finally there's the other crap,which mostly consists of newitems and skills to play with.Karaoke bars and machines are now availablefor Sims to improve their singing skill,or just hang around and look like a doofus.This mixes quite well with the return of bubble blowers,and yep, that's a hookah, and yep,your Sims get high except they don't,because rated Teen.Basketball is another new activityfor Sims to participate in,with things like free throw and dunkingcompetitions being a thing now.Proper video game consoles make a comeback as welland up to four Sims can play games together,as well as inter-online gaming tournaments.Fireworks and sparklers are back too,which I thought they'd add in somekind of seasons pack, but hey,I'll take these whenever I can.I've wanted more ways toreliably start fires in The Sims 4and these things do the trick every time.Street Art is another new thingwhich makes sense with the urban setting going on.And as far as I can tell,there's no penalty for spraying graffiti,but yeah, anywhere you see thesespots surrounded by painters tape,your Sims can whip up some neat stuff.And they can also deface them, which is a nice touch.And if you're gonna be a hooligan,you gotta dress like one too,or at least change your look to fit the aestheticof a city-dwelling millennial trust fund baby.Although there's also some that in keepingin line with its cultural diversity goal,there's some pretty interesting stuff here too thatI'd never really seen anything like this in a Sims game,so it's awesome.And finally, there are a whole bunch of newbuy mode objects on offer, as you'd expect,including those rundown used objects I'm so fond of.And wouldn't you know it:there are chairs.A lot of chairs, to be precise.So, is The Sims 4 City Living worth buying?Well, at $40, I'd say it is,if you're a fan of the existing Sims 4 gameplay.There's a nice pile of stuff here,and the atmosphere of living in a cityis always a welcome option in my book.However, it's still The Sims 4and I'm not so fond of its overalldesign philosophy, as you may be aware.City Living does very little to add any further depthand most anything you can do in thispack can already be done in the gamein some other form.Again, I am talking about depth,which is not to be confused with complexity.You get more actions and objects,but they aren't providing much in the way of substance.For example,in real life there's a huge list of pros and consto living in the city,but in this City Living pack,those are almost non-existent.There are no drivable cars or public transit or anything,so you don't have to worry about parking or traffic.You don't have to worry aboutproximity to your job or friendssince Sims just teleport there anyway.And you don't have to worry aboutbeing close to food or entertainmentsince again Sims can just gowherever they want to in an instant,anywhere in the cityor any of the other ones at any time.There's almost no difference whatsoeverif your Sims live in the middle ofa desert or on top of a skyscraper.Other than the ambient soundsplaying in the backgroundand that overall feeling you get,it's the same basic experiencewith almost no added challenges.About the closest it gets to challengeare the rundown apartments with their noisy neighborsand added potential for stuff to break.But even then the solution is the same old routineof just earning a little bit more money,which happens in no time in this gamesince excelling at your job is a piece of cake.And things like festivals,they may feel special at first,until you realize that they're all moreor less the same as each other andthey're just offering generally the samestuff you can get a dozen other ways.So, really what you get here is anew skin for the existing game.And don't get me wrong, having a new skin or lookfor the existing gameplay is better than nothing,and I always welcome new animationsand sound effects for my Sims.But like so many other things added to The Sims 4,I find this rather shallow,and the flawed skeletonunderneath still needs some work.On the other hand, I know there areplenty of you who love this skeletonand wanna have its babies.And in that case, I think you'll enjoy City Livingbecause it's certainly fun to screw around withwhile the newness lasts.And if you enjoyed this episode of LGRperhaps you'd like to check out some of my others.There's some link to right hereand there are new ones popping upevery Monday and Friday here on this channel.So, you are now informed.Do with that what you will.And as always, thank you very much for watching.\n"