The Sims 3 Supernatural Hands-On: part 1

(Voor de Nederlandstalige versie van onze handson moet je hier kliken)

Introduction

July 10, 2012 – This was the day that we, AnsjJ2 and I_mJimmy, went to the office of EA Benelux, together with some other fansites. And what were we going to do over there? Of course, playing The Sims 3 Supernatural! From magical scenes to creepy appearances, it’s all in it.

It was about eleven o’clock in the morning, both coming from different provinces, when we met each other at Amsterdam Centraal. From there we took the first train to Amsterdam Schiphol and took the bus to the office of EA. But we were so enthusiastic that we were too early! We decided to eat and drink something at Schiphol before we took the bus, still too early.

That was actually a hassle, because we didn’t know if we had to change busses and our mobile phones didn’t work well. Finally, we arrived at the office and we had to wait for an hour in the waiting room, waiting for the others, but we had fun!

And when I think about it, it doesn’t sound magical or exciting till now. No, not at all. But that will come! Jordy – Community manager of EA Benelux – picked us up, because meanwhile, everybody had arrived. Firstly, we got to see a presentation, where the most important points and aspects of the Expension Pack, The Sims 3 Supernatural, were highlighted. Everybody was sitting on the edge of his or her seat, because this is an Expension Pack that had never occured in the entire Sims franchise.

Okay, still no magical things for you so far. We were astonished during the presentation. Now we come to the point when we finally could play the game ourselves. This was the moment we had waited for all day long.

Before we can really start with our report, we want to make clear that we are going to put the report about witches and vampires online another day. Why? Unfortunately, we have an embargo till August 13.

Create A Sim

n CAS are, just as with every Expansion Pack, some things changed. Like the fact you can choose if you want to create a normal or magical Sim. This is a new button on the first page. You can choose from a fairy, werewolf, vampire, witch or goast. And of course the normal Sim. Now there are six in total.

When you create a fairy, there are six different wings available, from very large to so small that it’s almost sad. With creating a werewolf, you have the choice if you want to create him in the normal or the transformed form. With a goast, you can choose the cause of death – very nice! This choice changes the color of your goast. You know the drill, blue with drowning, red with burning and grey with old age.

There are a lot of new haircuts and clothes added with this Expansion Pack, even for the different age groups. Sometimes, the clothing only fits to one specific supernatural creature, but if you want to, you can dress a werewolf like a fairy. Whether it’s charming, is the question.

There are also many new characteristics, six if we are right, but we won’t tell which ones yet. But we can say some new characteristics are bound to the creatures you can play in the game. New life wishes, dishes and music are also added, but that was no surprise.

Moonlight Falls

A city full of mystery, different neighborhoods and typical inhabitants. It’s also much larger than expected, you can’t see on the pictures very well, but it’s much broader set than Sunset Valley or Bridgeport. If it’s nice depends on you, but we both liked it.

The rabbitholes are renovated as well, the Town Hall is changed into a kind of church, which fits very well into the city. There are also some new buildings, like the fairygarden and the caravan. We will discuss both later.

All families in the city have their own story and background. There are comibed families, consisting of both fairies and witches, and families consisting of only werewolves. You can play with the ones you prefer.

The houses are slightly different in this city. They are larger than the ones in Appaloosa Plains and very baroque. There is often chosen for Off-White for the windows and doors and the furniture is finished very well. We have seen worse, but honestly also more beautiful and unique sometimes. The style looks a bit like the one of Twinkbrook.

There are different types of puplic places for every creature. So you have clubs for vampires and a big garden for fairies. Over there you will only find this kind of creature.

Last subject about this city is this big circle that is floating in the air at night. Indeed, the moon.

With the announcement of The Sims 3 Supernatural, there was introduced a whole new system of the moon, namely the lunar cycle. This means that there is a different moon every night. Moreover, you can change this by yourself. You can even choose for a full moon every night!

But with a full moon there happens a lot in your city. You can hear the howling of wolves and shades pass by. And we hope you’re not attached to your flowers, because they can be destroyed when zombies are crowling out of the soil.

Build and buy mode

Normally there isn’t much to tell about the build and buy mode, but this time there are a few very nice and unique objects added! Some we already know from earlier Sims games and some were surprisingly new. We want to highlight three objects, just because they’re fun.

Bonehilde:

Bonehilde is a cleaner, consisting of bones and a dress. She sleeps in a coffin and does everything you want her to do. It seems to good to be true, right? Or is it too scary for your Sims? Whatever she might be, one thing is for sure, she is very useful and not to break (ha-ha)!

Beehive:

Have you always wanted to keep bees? Now it’s your time, because the beehive is added with The Sims 3 Supernatural. There are three options: giving them food, taking care of them and gassing them. And if you’re lucky, you can get some honey in the end.

Fairy house:

This small house looks like a letterbox, but is in reality a house for little fairies! Both toddlers and elderly can hide themselves, party all night or sleep in this house. It’s the perfect solution if you run out of space.

Fairies

So, we start with the first supernatural creature. We started to play with a fairy. They’re jolly, giggling, maybe a bit annoying and always up for a joke. I think you can a fairy describe like this. With their wings they fly around in the new city Moonlight Falls.

As far as we have tested the faires, we had only 3 hours to play, you can let them do some things. If you select the option ‘I can fly!’, they’ll make a exuberant roll in the air to show where the wings are for. The fairies can also activate an aura, the aura of the body, mind and calmness.

On top of thaht, fairies love gardening. In fact, it’s their main passion! You will regularly see a fairy who’s talking to a tree, so are not surprised!

In the special garden for fairies, you will see a lot of gardening. The nice thing of this lot is a kind of dome in the middle. In this dome, fairies can meet other fairies, find special things and a lot more! Unfortunately, this is a rabbithole, so you can’t see what’s happening inside.

Making a joke to random Sims is also one of their hobbies. Be honest, what’s more fun than embarrassing someone you don’t know? Fairies have an answer to that: nothing! With their magical powers they can enchant Sims whenever they want. But remember, one time these powers will stop.

Werewolves

You can hear the howling of dogs, late at night with full moon. Or wait, no, they’re werewolves… Be aware of these hairy creatures who are not so cute as most dogs are! Late at night they are running around on their four legs, hands, claws… How do you say that? Anyway, they are running around, searching for their prey, and they will find it.

So, what can you do with there animals? Aplenty, in any case. Werewolves are recognizable when they are transformed, before that you can actually see nothing, unless you look in the eyes of this Sim. And as soon as they are real werewolves and wander around with their flock, they are howling to the moon.

Actually they are just dogs. They destroy the furniture in your house, you can also let them do this if you want to get rid of that awful sofa, or if you’re searching for a reason to buy a new television. But after all, they are just Sims with a warm heart, and that’s what matters.

Goasts

Ghosts are actually the least surprising creatures of the game. We know them already, but we couldn’t play with them, and now you can create them in CAS. The unique goasts with their own cause of death are now part of you family in Moonlight Falls. They have no extra options, but they’re still terrifying!

One nice little thing is that there are new causes of death, which means that there are also new colors!

Fortuneteller

There is one thing that may not lack in such a great new Expension Pack: a new profession! This time it’s the fortuneteller, as we already know from The Sims 2 Nightlife.

Besides you can ask her advice, your Sims can also decide to become a fortuneteller himself. You start at the bottom and you are slowly climbing upwars on the ladder of success. At a certain point you have the choice if you want to become a swindler or not. It your choice!

Conclusion

Jimmy ~ It’s so much new information in such a short time, but this was my impression of this first hands-on of The Sims 3 Supernatural. I have got a very good impression of the game and I’m proud of how EA can make a completely new Expension Pack!

Because of this short time we’ve played The Sims 3 Supernatural, I actually know relatively little about the draft of this game, if you understand what I mean. I’ve seen just a little bit of every creature, because there are so many! I really hope everything is worked out well and not rushed if you’ve played the game for a while. Actually I’m a bit afraid for this.

Anyway, I’m sure I’m going to buy The Sims 3 Supernatural and I’m sure I won’t be sorry. Whether it has depth or not, the game is full of fun and new opportunities and it’s of course always about the fantasy you use. I want to say thanks to EA Benelux and especially Jordy for this great afternoon. So thanks!

AnsjJ2 ~ It was a day full of information and I’ve got a good first impression of this game. I’ve actually become quite enthusiastic. I went to EA Benelux with a neutral impression and had the idea ‘I’ll see whether it’s a good Expension Pack or not’. But it’s indeed a beautiful and well filled Pack. Most of the Sims fans will be really happy with The Sims 3 Supernatural. If I’m going to play a lot with this supernatural creatures, I don’t know, but I’m certainly going to buy this game.

I want to say thanks to EA Benelux and especially Jordy for this pleasant afternoon. It was a nice day!

AnSjJ2 and I_mJimmy


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