LGR - The Sims 3 Barnacle Bay & Hidden Springs Review

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enOkay, so approximately 2 billion ofyou guys have asked me to reviewthe Sims 3 downloadable townsBarnacle Bay and Hidden Springs.Well, I haven't done so at this pointjust because I find it pointLESS,because they're just towns, they're not expansions.But, actually, now they arekinda turning into expansionsand they cost as friggin' much as an expansion,so, uh, whatever.I guess I'll just do a quick review of themto satiate your relentless Sims 3 appetitesand whatever else is botheringyou to bother me about this.The first one I'm going to coverpretty quickly here is Barnacle Bay,which is the first new neighborhoodthat was available to purchaseon the Sims 3 store online.It was first made available as adownload on September 23 back in 2010.It cost 2,000 Sim Pointsand that equates to $20,which is just as much as an entire new Stuff Pack.Whatever, I had a bunch ofSim Points laying around anyway,so it really didn't matter.I went ahead and downloaded it.Then EA went ahead and decided theyweren't gonna sell it on the store anymore–at least, I can't find it online anymore.All you can do is go to a physical store and buy it.Places like Target and Walmart,anywhere that sells Sims things boxedwill sell a copy of Barnacle Bay to you for $20.The thing is, it's not even on a disc.It's just a code in a box,taking up space uselessly,that you can redeem onlineand download it that way.I really don't know why theyhave taken the option awayto download it directly from the store,at least as of this recording.Maybe they'll change that, I don't know.Whatever the case, it's $20and for that much money,I was very disappointed.It's supposed to have thesedeep ties to the ocean sea life,pirates and island stuff and whatever,but really it's pretty much just Sunset Valley–which comes with The Sims 3–in another form and with a couple ofpiracy sort of items thrown in there.Okay, so the town itselflooks decent enough. It's okay.The design is, you know... yeah, it's a town.But the thing is it really looksmore modern than anything else.I didn't get a very pirate-y kind of vibe going on,except for some of the peoplethat walk around looking like pirates,a few pirate-named places like Smuggler's Beach,and there's this one new rabbit hole,Hogan's Deep Sea Diner.Looks like a pirate ship.You can go and eat inside.It's a rabbit hole.It's nothing that exciting.And there is a new park, which is just there.It's really nothing that you haven't seen before.One thing some people were excited aboutwere the fact that it comeswith a whole bunch of new Sims.I mean, there's like 57 newSims and bunch of NPCs.And Nina and Dina Caliente from The Sims 2make an appearance in the game again,which is cool if you're a fan of them.I never was. I thought theywere pretty much tramps.Now the town and the NPCsaren't the only thing you'll get.You do get a set of pirate-themed clothes and items.But a lot of them actually comefrom the Buccaneer's Bounty setthat's available on the Sims 3 store.And that only cost a fourth of this price,and that seems to make up a majority of the items.Or at least a lot of them,so you may as well just get that.It does come with some exclusive staircasesand some other pirate-themed kind of thingslike mailboxes and hats and whatever.And if you're into pirate stuff andthink that's worth 20 whole dollars,then go ahead, be my guest.Grab Barnacle Bay.If you like the design of this, great.I don't particularly care for it,so I don't really recommend it.And now we have the second town to be releasedfor The Sims 3 separately,and that is Hidden Springs,which was released August 25 of this year, 2011.Once again, it's just another townthat happens to cost as much as a Stuff Pack.In fact, actually, this onecosts *more* than a Stuff Packat 2,450 Sim Points.Right now, it's on sale–and, yeah, these things go on sale–but the normal price is almost $25.That is $5 more than a Stuff Pack. Is it worth it?Probably not.Alright, so I do like the design of thisplace a lot more than I did Barnacle Bay.It's a neat-looking town,nice and settled in between a lot of mountains.It looks relaxing. It's sort of one of thoseretreat type of places where rich yuppie scumSims go to take vacationsfrom the vacation that is their everyday life.Yeah, there's a lot of rich Sims here,which is interesting if you like to play as a golddiggergoing around making love toeveryone in sight that has a nice carand then killing them off and taking their house.Yeah. I mean, I like to do that, so, uh,it's got that going for it.It does have some new Sims–there's like 50 playable ones–which is less than any other town that I know ofSo, in a way this is kind of the smallest town so far.There are some new items.There's exclusive objects in clothingto take advantage of inyour Hidden Springs... spring.Of spring...springiness.Can you tell I'm really nottoo excited about this stuff?It's like a fountain, a mailbox, a light,another light,and some overhanging ivy thingsand doors and crap like that.It fits the overall aesthetic of a town,but that's if you like that aesthetic.It really is kind of a mini-Stuff Pack in that regard,and, you know, I guess...Barnacle Bay kind of was too,but this is even more so becausethis doesn't just throw in a bunch of itemsthat were already available in the Sims 3 store.These are at least exclusive to this... town.But chances are you'll already havemost of this stuff in another formlike the playground equipment that you'll getin Generations and Town Life Stuff.If you don't have those,then this might be good.And it does include at least one itemthat seems to be completely newand that is the Fountain of Youth.If your Sim discovers this, they canpartake of its rejuvenating watersand enjoy...wishes that they may have.As long as they're wishing for a longer life.But then again, this really isn't anythingthat isn't already in the game in some other form.There are lifetime rewardsand plantsand other things to extend your Sims life already.So, really, this is just another gimmickthat happens to have a slightlydifferent set of artwork applied to it.Is it worth $25?I'm sorry buta new town is not worth $25.Is it worth getting and enjoying?Well, yeah, probably.I mean, it's a nice place.It's got some cool stuff.I like the design of the building.I like the design of thattown center place and all that stuff.And the whole mountainous region thing is pretty cool.It just has a better aesthetic than Barnacle Bay.It's one of the nicer towns to play in.But $25? I'm sorry,that's just not worth it for me.But of course, this is only my opinion.To some of you, this is really important stuff.You're like, \"Aw, yeah! Aw, yeah, this isgonna be great for my Sims! Aww...\"\"It's gonna be awesome.\"But, no, not for me, I'm sorry.I just don't really care that much.I've got like five other towns already.And really, I've seen even better townscreated by Simmers in their free timeand they cost nothing at all.So that's my take on the twostandalone towns for The Sims 3 thus far.They're nice to have.It's cool to have another townand these objects are a nice bonus,but it's just not worth the money.Save your cash and wait for The Sims 3 Petsor any of the other expansions instead.I think you'll get far more value for your cash.\n"