A one-of-a-kind tactical domestic simulator
It was the dawn of the 2000s. My parents knew little, yet a lot more than I, about the internet.
One distinct afternoon, after a compos mentis trip from the outer sanctions, I had returned to the prognostication initiation room to discover they had set up a fascinating virtual simulation, called “The Sims”.
They certainly weren’t gamers, so how or why they got their hands on this technology was truly an oddity in retrospect. One thing was for sure though, it got me hooked.
It is still, in my eyes, one of the most remarkable feats in the advertising of games. The Sims wasn’t a silly piece of software for kids or teenagers. It made its way to the eyes of anyone who was dipping their feet into the ocean of the newly developing virtual world, back when you could still see that ocean’s floor.
Unfortunately, the series has long lost its touch. At the time though, it was magical.
Do you canoe?
It was still the early days of the internet, and with such an unusual zeitgeist, of course the game itself had an equally bizarre spirit to accompany it. As the visuals show, it isn’t something put together with by-the-book professionalism. The graphics reek of late 90's experimental design, quality, and aesthetic, and a style only possible thanks to the imagination of Will Wright.
The Sims was like NOTHING else, and certainly not something you’d see released today. Who could possibly get away with using Comic Sans as a UI font now? No one. To call it a product of its time is putting it lightly. Alas, Will Wright’s people simulator marketed to everyone.
The soundtrack is one-of-a-kind. It had no business being so groovy and memorable…
...even though there were the occasional horrifying screeches of violins when a burglar would invade your lot and threaten to take your belongings.
The game itself taking place in a small, isolated, simple neighborhood. Almost too isolated. Don’t look too far into it, or you’ll realize your surrounded by an eerie grey void.
Let’s definitely not forget those ominous “prank” calls you’d occasionally get, which either spoke total nonsense or warned of impending doom.
Anecdotally, I recall several occasions where Sims would “live too long” and spontaneously combust.
The Sims was filled with just enough things that would make one do a double take. Things that weren't intentional, but the oddities slowly added up to make the full picture seem off. At face value it tried to be an innocent dollhouse simulator… but play long enough, or dig deep enough, and you’ll find the cracks.
In appeal to (Allah forgive me for uttering this word) zoomers, The Sims is quite possibly one of the few instances where the essence of “liminal space” would organically intrude on the player’s experience.
The end is near. Make preparations.
As with anything big in the gaming industry, The Sims series suffered with time. While I will admit it did ride high with its second and third installation, the fourth unfortunately fell flat on its face, becoming more of a Sims 2.5 with how much it reduced from its predecessor.
On top of stripping away all the grandiose features to fix performance issues (which effectively sucked the spirit out of the game), Sims 4 was also originally planned to be an online game, before changing course. That's rough, buddy.
My main criticisms are that the game lacks many features and content that were present in previous games, such as open world exploration, create-a-style customization (choosing your own colors and patterns instead of presets), toddlers and pools (which were later added as free updates but whatever). Open world being my biggest gripe given it enabled exploration as well as the ownership of cars and whatnot. Do we have cars yet? Nope.
Everything from big ideas to subtle details were turned way down in the Sims 4. Too much to call it a sequel. And the DLC’s… good lord.
The ideal Sims for me would be:
The build/buy mode from Sims 4
The open world of Sims 3
The gameplay and attention to detail of Sims 2
The soundtrack of Sims 1.
But that’s going off keister.
As with most things, much of the imagination is stripped away in favor of marketing and corporatism. With all that said, however, The Sims 1 was undoubtedly something else. Something we will never see again.
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