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In the past, expansions for The Sims 3 have had very clear themes (World Adventures, Late Night, etc.) but at first glance, it would appear that this latest expansion, Generations, has no clear theme. Those who assume this are called what's known as wrong. Generations has a clear theme: living.
What Generations brings to the world of The Sims 3 are some of the real-life experiences that a number of gamers have participated in, are currently experiencing, or will at some point likely get to experience at some point in life. Sims games have historically provided only a limited number of tasks for each of the game's age group (homework for kids, watering the plants for adults, and so on) but what Generations does is expand on the roles for kids, young adults, grown adults, and the elderly. Kids can now play pretend and play in a tree house. Teens can enjoy some "innocent" troublemaking, adults can actually hold a marriage ceremony, and so on. The game also adds the possibility of an adult sim going through a mid-life crisis. It doesn't seem like the fire engine red Corvette made it into the game, though.
In addition to the expanded list of experiences and activities for each sim age group is a new career choice (professional babysitter) and trait (nurturing). The babysitter career basically turns that sim's home into a day care and other sims around the neighborhood will be dropping off their brood for you to take care of while they're off at their real jobs.
As an expansion, Generations is probably the least satisfying of the bunch to date. There are no immediate changes to be seen in the game and it sometimes feels like it's nonexistent. It seems almost like Generations is simply a stop-gap between the last expansion (Late Night) and the next (Pets). That said, it still brings new gameplay options to the table and it's expected that Sims 3 die-hards will be looking to adopt this latest expansion to the game soon if they hadn't already.
Final Game Guys grade: B
- Game Guy Barry White bcwhite@news10.net
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