What's Next After The Sims 3?

What's Next After The Sims 3

I’ve only spent a few hours playing The Sims 3 to fantasize at what lies ahead of this historic franchise. The Sims 3 is in pretty good shape and GameSpot surprisingly rated it as 9.0. The virtual community with no loading time and the simplified and more enhanced sim meters will surely give the players a lot of time to spend more on the details of Will Wright's legendary game.

Yet apart from this, I thought it would be great to expect these things which I have in mind in the sure fire expansion packs coming along our way and perhaps even begin dreaming of The Sims 4:

Weather/ Climate - Following the early stages of The Sims 3 in production, I do recall (or maybe I'm just daydreaming of it) something about the adaptation of the weather in the game. Though I haven't played the Seasons expansion pack for The Sims 2, I think it would be a great addition to the virtual community.

Pets/ Animals - As always, Sims gamers expect pets to be included in the package. Imagine your Sim jogging along with his pet in Sunset Valley. It's also great to include birds chirping on top of your Sims roof, fishes in the aquarium, dolphins on the ocean, stray cats and dogs and maybe even exotic animals.

Sim City - On The Sims 2, gamers were delighted to here that if you have Sim City, you can incorporate it with the game. However, to others, it was quite a disdain to hear that only created lots from Sim City are allowed to be imported to The Sims 2. While I haven't tried it out yet, don't you think it's time to start incorporating some of the nifty logic and features in Sim City to The Sims franchise? Building bridges, circus shows, flyovers, tunnels, subway may be a good addition too.

The Trends and Fashion - Everyone knows this is one of the best selling points of The Sims. Customization and Design. How about making it into a fad on your community? This idea came into my mind when I remembered the yester decades. Imagine having some trends being popularized by your Sim or other Sims as well during the decade? Sporting something like Ashton Kutcher's outfit in That 70's Show would become a fad and then other sims will be wearing those kinds of outfit as well.

Travel - Well, the virtual community (in which I still think came from the idea of Grand Theft Auto) has certainly gotten the attention of the gamers especially the biking and riding a car part. As the franchise continues to improve, why not add intercontinental or perhaps inter-community travel thru seas and the skies.

Special Abilities - Ever wondered how the Sims would look like with special abilities ala Heroes, Marvel, DC Comics or even Anime? Imaging the Sims flying, being immortal (well it has happened before), getting elemental powers like fire and water? Not being hurt? This sure will be a great fun factor to the game. Also, why did they take back the Alien-thingy?

Sims in Mars/ Mythical Tribes - Just to add to the fun factor that the game is, how about making Sims actually live on other planets? Or perhaps under the sea like mermaids? Live like the Vikings, Cowboys, Indians and other cultures? Maybe co-exist with other mythical creatures like the dragon, unicorn and phoenix as well?

Community Mini-games/ Events - While I was impressed with the mini-games/ events that the game (latest version that is) has shown to us, there are a lot of things in real life that they might consider adding in the game. For example, rush hour traffic before going to work? Surely, they have found a way to incorporate transportation. But in a more realistic way, they could include driving as a mini-game too like putting the pedal on to a full stop if sims are crossing the street. Inter-community sports activities, watching a basketball game as an audience simulated by the game, pet competitions and other trivial but real life situations often neglected.

Object aging - Ok so the sims are actually getting older, dying, getting pregnant and giving birth. Why not evolve the game and let the logic happen to the objects and communities as well? We all know that our homes deteriorate thru time. Roads are also reconstructed since it also needs repair from massive transportation load everyday. Even our computers, furniture and appliances need replacement as well as time goes by. Other sims may also automatically upgrade their homes as though they are actually controlled by the gamer. For example, on the first generation, Goth Family buys a bungalow. However, the second generation has been successful in his career, they thought of adding a new floor, buying a new car, expanding their lots as on the other hand, other families may experience bankruptcy or moving on to another place in generations to come.

Outbreak/ Natural Calamities - This is perhaps a negative input though but hey like it or not, in our daily lives we encounter these things. If real people get diseases and recover from them, why not let the Sims experience it. Of course, there’d be hospitals etc. Sims won’t be able to go to work and skin diseases like chicken pox will let them experience the feeling of being an outcast for the moment from other sims.

Additional movement - I was very much delighted with the great deal of movement controls the game offered. But talking about other basics such as being able to jump, run and other stuff would also be a very nice addition. It would also be great if they add a custom action creation for the sims. Players may be allowed to create their own menu of things they’d do and when the choices begin to pop up for them, they’d choose the option and see how the action’s consequences are in a positive or negative way.

Well I guess that’s just about it. Like it or not the Sims franchise will still have that great of an influence to gamers and will still have a long way to go. I certainly hope so. So as an avid fan, let’s hope for a continually improving Sims game especially now that Will Wright is hands-off to the Sims). Kudos to Rod Humble and the rest of the Sims 3 team though.