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Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls. Can I get a round of applause for the sixth expansion pack of The Sims 3? Really, we weren’t waiting for anything that this pack offers us and it far from wait we’ve requested. Maybe this is because we haven’t thought about it or do we really do not need this content? In this review you will find out whether The Sims 3 Showtime is just a bad cover of The Sims 3 After Dark or will this expansion pack be a rising star.
Town and citizens
Starlight Shores is based on the bigger cities of America and has a luxurious and summer feeling. The town matches the theme of The Sims 3 Showtime perfectly, there are beautiful villa’s and multiple places of entertainment to be found. Unfortunately, the town is quite small, I expected a much larger city but this town only consists of a boulevard with some houses.
The town has some public lots. There are different kinds like pubs a clubs. The difference is not only noticeable in the descriptions but also by the look of the building. Pubs look more accesable than clubs.
The old buildings have undergone a make-over, again. Although they do look good they do not have much in common. This and the strangely chosen contractions are a weird choice. I would rather see smaller and more buildings with a logical contractions than these ones. Since when is it normal that the army is based in the town hall?
I expected more differences between the houses but the beginner houses already look rather chique, I think it would have been more realistic when the beginner houses would look really bad and that you really had to work your butt off to get a bigger and fancier house.
Of course, Starlight Shores has a number of new citizen, below you can find some.
Sonoko and Mitch are newlyweds. Mitch wants to hunt his dream and become a DJ but Sonoko does not like this idea. Must Mitch go after his dreams or does he need to choose a regular job?
Madeline Buckshot and her husband are divorced, she lives in the villa and he lives in the guest house in the garden. But Madeline found a perfect way to entertain herself, a toyboy! Finnegan Sawyer lives with her, but is he with he because of love or because the money?
Sadie Mason is a level 5 singer and she decided to help her friend, a fellow singer, with her career, but now she is affraid that Mercedes will become better than she. And to make it even worse, Mercedes is trying to steal Sadie’s boyfriend! Rich does not know what to do, he likes them both!
Darren Lott is a real single. He has a tough single’s appartment and is a real heart breaker. That is why he has more enemies than friends, but will he continue on this road or is he going to come clean with his past?
CAH, Create a household
EA why so much focus on the (young) adults? I’m really fed up that this expansion pack only gives cloths for (young) adults and a couple for teens. I would have had a blast when I could dress up my children as a magician and let them do tricks, but unfortunately this cannot be done.
When you’re not dissapointed anymore you will find out that the outfits for (young) adults are simply beautiful. Well, speaking of the entire outfits. The tops and trousers are not that pretty. They do not match and lack a lot of detail. Most of the tops are not glamorous at all and thereby do not match the theme. Why these to pants are added, I do not understand. The baggy pants is really ugly and cannot be matched with anything else, but most of all the details are lacking. The ribbon is as flat as can be! A pity too is that the ankle boots cannot be worn with the leather bubbly pants, now the shoes and the pants go THROUGH each other instead of the pants going INTO the shoes.
But the entire outfits are really fun to see. There are different kinds of outfits, some match the themes of the stage items but there are also some casual and diva ones. I will not discuss the bunny suit, I really hope it is some kind of joke of EA that I do not understand.
The details of the outfits are really glorious, especially the cocktail dresses have movement in them. But I do miss outfits for the glamorous life. Really chique outfits aren’t really available.
Although there are more outfits, there are also a bathing suit and a new evening gown. The bathing suit is not as succesfully in my eyes and it looks a bit like a shrunken clowns suit, the evening gown is beautiful. These kind of dresses do I expect for celebraties, this is what my famous singe/magician/acrobate need. I would have liked more dresses like this one.
Although the hairdo’s are pretty and really big for on stage, I think there should have been more. Somehow I expected more. There are only 5 haircuts without headgear, the haircut with the little buns is counted as a headgear. So a lot of Sims will have the same haircuts.
There are a lot more haircuts to be found at the headgear section. The big magician hat is a hot item, but this one had to be in this game. The other two hats would not be missed when they would not have been there, especially because one is from a career. I would rather seen more hairdo’s without hats than these ones.
I need to be frank, the accessories are gorgeous! They match perfectly and really fit the theme. Finally some real bling-bling! Two things should be noticed, 1)The bracelet scan be worn with gloves and 2) you can match them!
Although men have less haircuts than women, they still are beautiful. What I really liked was that these hairdo’s can look cool on stage but are also perfectly wearable in your everyday life.
Strangely enough I am a complete fan of the tops of men, they are innovative and modern. Especially the blouse with the glasses and the T-shirt and cardigan without sleeves.
The outfits of men are not what I expected after the tops. Only one is nice, the other’s are a joke.
What to do with this? I know there are a lot of Freezer bunny fans at EA office, but I sincerely cannot use this for my game. I hope this outfit was something extra and not instead of something beautiful.
And yet again, EA chose to recycle the (young) adult clothing for teens. Even though some items look good on teenagers and fit them perfectly, it is just a waste. The only reason why this can be done is because it is easier, and that should never be a reason.
The new tattoo’s really made my day. There are six new ones, and I mean six completely different one’s!
This expansion pack cannot do without new traits. There are three new one’s: the social butterfly is the most innovative one, this trait means that your Sim wants friends among themselves and they will have a bad day whenever they do not talk with someone. The born artist, belongs on stage and that is their home. The trait diva looks a lot like the snob one, your Sim loves themselves and can even compliment themselves!
Buy Mode
The first thing that one may notice is that EA did not added a new collection for The Sims 3 Showtime. This is a strange choice since these collections have been added with the previous expansion, The Sims 3 Pets. You could do it yourself, but this will take a lot of time and patience.
There are four clear theme’s: retro, modern, chique and classics.
Retro
I do not know what I need to think of this new theme. I really dislike the colours but the shapes and originality are a good point. Especially the coach with the tiny roof thingy is adorable and would look marvelous in a house close to the beach. The basic styles which come with this furniture make them look cheap, luckily you can change this with ‘create a style’.
Modern
Innovative and dary, that is how you can describe the modern theme. With its strange shapes and bright colours these Furniture will give your house a rich and stylish look. The furniture is not something that everyone will like, they only fit in the houses of the rich and famous. But do not be mislead, this is a good thing. It is a good choice of EA to add furniture that are more logic to buy when you played the game for a couple of hours, this way the career and the house can improve together.
Chique
Don’t you like the strange shapes and bright colours? Than this chique theme is something for you. The furniture of this theme has a lot of detail and really differ from the other themes. Especially the outdoor items are gorgeous. The hottub is very chique and looks expensive, together with the beautiful chairs your garden will be a celeb’s garden.
But the livingroom will also look hot with the big screen, no celeb can do without.
Classics
Like you will probably know, The Sims 3 Showtime is reintroducing some items. A lot of players asked for this, and they are finally back. To be frank, I was amazed that this actually happened since some other old items were sold in the Store, so I thought these would be there as well. But luckily I was wrong and now we can laugh again about Sims who fall from the mechanic bull, smile at the woohoo-ing Sims in the photo booth and our Sims can earn some money as a DJ! Too bad that being a DJ and golf are not new skills. Being a DJ is a ‘hidden’ skill, you will become better in time but there will be no record of it, during gol there will be a skill recorder above your sim but this is for athletic skill.
This theme is all about having fun and that is why most of the items can be done with other Sims.
Stage props
The Sims 3 Showtime gives you a lot of opportunities to create your own stage. That is why there are a lot of stage props. What I found interesting is that you can use these props can actually be used as furniture. Even though it looks a bit silly when a Sim sits on the high hat, but this will give the dairy makers some new opportunities. You can even give your children’s room a bit of magic!
Build mode
EA, where are the round walls, the stairs which are larger at the end, the high ceilings and all the other items where my famous Sims are craving for? Instead they need to decorate their walls with cement wallpaper. Thanks EA.
Luckily EA gave us 7 windows, 3 doors and one pillar and we probably should thank them for taking the time to match the doors and windows, but they are really lovely! Unfortunately EA does not give any other new items to improve the houses while your Sims work hard on their career.
There is light at the end of the tunnel! There are items to improve the outside of the houses, with three fences to give the houses a more luxurious look. Something that I do not get is the amount of trees, there are 9 new ones! Even though the palm trees make sure that the temperature raises for some degrees, the amount is ridiculously high compared to the other items and build possibilities.
Monster?!
A new expansion pack, a new monster. Well, I wouldn’t call a genie who makes your wishes come true, a monster. You can get a genie by buying it with lifetime wish points, it costs 30.000, an old and dusty lamp will show up in your inventory and obviously you need to rub it clean.The genie will appear and you can ask several thinks, with a limit of three wishes of course. After this your can tell your genie to go back into the lamp again. When the genie is a close friend or your lover you can set it free, this means he will become a regular blue Sim in your household.
Even though this genie is not so angry and powerfull looking as the one of The Sims (1), it is good to see an old friend again.
Wanna play a game?
Besides all the new Furniture and the new careers, some other items have been added which will grant you a good evening. There are multiple games to play. You can put some hours by playing golf but there are also items to have a fun evening with others. Below you can find some examples.
Golf is a skill where people talked about a lot, but apparently it is not a skill! There will be a skill thingy above your Sim, but this will only add to your athletic skill. The animations of a failure are really funny and will even make Grumpy smile!
Skeeball is a well known carnival activity, but even though the score will be shown it is quite boring to watch and your Sim should only do this when he or she is really extremely bored.
The mechanic bull is another object on which players have been waiting for. It does not only sound funny when your Sim is on it, it is also hilarious to watch it and I will guaranty your that you will use this item over and over again.
Another acquaintance! The karaoke machine will definitely complete your night out of town. A lot of players thought that the karaoke machine will also improve your singing career, but this machine is really just for a good night.
There are also some arcade games which you can enjoy with a friend. I liked the fact that there are a lot of details, the screen even shows the game that the Sims are playing.
Careers
The Sims 3 is all about the new professions: singer, acrobat and magician. Whenever you have not seen every news item, reports or clip you are probably under the impression that you can also be a DJ. You can, in a way. Being a DJ is more of a hobby which can make you earn tips, so it is not really a career.
But about the careers, luckily but also unfortunately, the professions are a bit different than the regular careers. Because the professions have no building, your Sim will not be picked up by the carpool and be gone for a couple of hours. This career needs the involvement of the gamer from A to Z, you need to make your Sim to practice, perform, audition and actually be on stage. The player needs to be there every minute. Because of this you can see everything and you are really involved but it comes with a price, other Sims and pets will get less attention.
When you feel like you have some extra time and patience left in your game, you are ready for one of these careers.
As always you need to start from the beginning. Ea made some really good choices here, you really need to start at a terrible place and you are nothing better. As a singer you need to deliver sung telegrams and acrobats and magician need to practice and show their tricks.
When you reach level two you can audition at a owner of a place. When you are good enough you will get a performance. These performances also require a lot of attention from the player. You need to send your Sim and a few hours before the performance you can choose to either use the regular stage or decorate your own.
But that’s not all, as I said, the performance need a lot of attention. You need to control every single thing. You need to choose what trick or song you are going to do but you can also talk to the audience. When performing as a singer you also need to decide whether you want to do a couplet or a chorus. It is almost impossible to have a performance and a Household to control without having one finger almost glued to the pauze button.
The performance are fun to see, especially when your Sim is a higher level singer/acrobat/magician, they can pick more songs or tricks. Whenever you only have a couple of songs or tricks the performance will be boring, especially when this is not the first time you are a singer/acrobat/magician..
Something that is off, is that the promotion of the acrobat and magician is more interesting since you get a new trick. The tricks vary a lot and are interesting to see.
However you start off with the smaller and easier tricks such as making cards appear and mime, after a lot of practice your tricks will become more interesting. The acrobat will receive a ring of fire and a big ball to do tricks with and the magician will recieve two different boxes for daring tricks. Unfortunately it is not possible for the acrobat to have both items on stage at the same time, luckily for the magician he can.
The most fun part is when tricks go wrong. The reaction of the performing Sim is hilarious, so once you know the trick it is more fun to see them fail than to succeed. Your Sim will be ashamed for a few minutes but will try the trick over and over again.
Simport
Simport is one of the bigger new things of The Sims 3 Showtime. It is that new that some players even had trouble using it and there were a lot of questions about it. But Simport is created is such a way that you only have to use it once to understand. For everyone who has not used Simport yet: This program is in game and let your Sims tour in towns of your friends and friends’ Sims can come to your town to perform. By sending and hosting you will get stickers and with these stickers you will receive new items in game.
Although Simport is a much more fun than it sounds, there are some buts to it. You cannot send a Sim whenever he or she is the only (young)adult of your household. You need at least two (young)adults to use Simport. This makes sure you’ve got something to do while one of your Sims is gone, but you need to be a pro in multitasking when you want to work on the carreer of your Sim and when you want to keep the other Sim alive.
Simport has its problems every now and then. More than once a request is gone, your game will freeze or even quit!
Although the sticker system is funny, it is kind of unfair and it takes a lot of time before you will receive the sets. You need to collect 15 stickers per career for one set per career, these sets contain of 4 objects or clothes. Every location requires its stickers too! You need 9 sticker for all of the 5 locations. This means you need to collect 90 stickers to have all the sets! Luckily you will also get a sticker whenever you receive a Sim.
Conclusion
The Sims 3 Showtime contains a lot, from new online possibilities to new furniture and from performing to playing games all night long. The real problem is that The Sims 3 Showtime is a game that is completely on its own, there is almost no connection with the other expansions. A lot of elements feel solemn, like the Furniture and clothing that do not really match the idea of rising fame and there are almost no building possibilities to give your small house a makeover to a big mansion.
The professions, where this expansion is all about, have really nice details. There are a lot of possibilities, nice outfits and stunning tricks. The different things your singer/magician/acrobat shows are nice and worth watching. But the very first time you will play the Sims 3 Showtime is the most fun, this because there is not a lot of variation between the songs and tricks.
A real disappointment is the fact that there is nothing new for children nor teens. I at least expected a magic box for children.
There are only some clothes for teens, which can also be found in the (young) adult closet.
Although I do not believe that The Sims 3 Showtime will become a true legend, I think this game can keep you occupied for a couple of nice hours. The Sims 3 Showtime will get a 7 out of 10 from me.
Fransor
Opinions from our members
I like the new game, but I also do not. It is a good expansion pack, but I feel that the new jobs are not worked out entirely.
It is sad that every singer has the same songs, over and over again. What about the many times Sims need to sing one song in order to get promotion and one extra song, which you will also hate within a day. I already forward the game just because I am sick and tired of the repeating songs. EA should have taken more time and energy in The Sims 3 Showtime, this is just a waste. Like all the real star’s only have ten songs, all in the same genre and are completely the same.
Then the ‘career’ outfit. Again something that is not worked out to the fullest. It is good to see that your Sim does not have to wear a stupic plan outfit, but eventually it does not add anything. I thought ‘Fun! Sims will look entirely different when using Simport!’ but no, every singer wears the same outfit as all the other singers with the same level. Too bad, I would rather seen more diversity, this is what Simport misses at the moment.
The rest I still need to discover, so I haven’t seen everything yet..
ChanCake
I think Showtime is a fun expansion. Everything I saw up till now looks amazing. The new neighbourhood Starlight Shores is really beautiful and there are some nice rabbit holes. I also like the fact that there is actually an audience whenever you perform somewhere. I do think that it is a pity that there are not that many songs for your singers to sing, and there should have been some more famous songs. I really like the acrobat but the magician could have used some more tricks. I really misses the trick to saw a Sim in half! I really do not like Simporting, Sims will only come to perform and right after that they are gone.
Robin.
I played The Sims 3 Showtimes half a day now and my Sim already is a good singer!
Fortunately, my Sim does not sing off tune anymore! It was really really bad, but now it is good.
Geurtvdb
Personally I do not like this game, once in a while it is fun to when my Sim is a singer/acrobat/magician, but after one career I feel like I’ve seen it all.
The first time everything was fun, but I feel that whenever you start the same career for a couple of generations in a row it will become boring.
The Sims 3 Showtime adds, except for the new jobs, nothing much to my game.In short: When I need to decided again whether I would buy it or not, I would not buy it again.
Timmieuh