INTRODUCTION
Well! What a major difference when you experience a pleasant game play! This review will be based off WA that is installed on my laptop due to previously explained issues with my desktop. My game is also patched/up-to-date because I decided to just go ahead and try the patches since there was another one afterward. I had no CC when I first began and then later I added only Store CC because of the latest .package issues.
SPEED
The installation took quite a long time (over ten minutes) but fortunately no issues occurred like for some of you. The game loaded very quickly; about a minute. No WA version of “Reticulating Splines!” I was a bit bummed because that became such a famous trend and it was fun to see how each new EP or SP would revise it. I also liked how in the loading screen you see a plane quickly flying around the WA logo.
Once the game fully loaded, I went to visit all three countries first in the “edit town” section, but I didn’t edit them. I just wanted to see how quickly they would load and they loaded in less than one minute. I chose Agnes Crumplebottom as my first Sim to test the game with and played around with her through Sunset Valley for a moment just to test the speed, and still, the speed has not changed since having the base game alone. This also includes CAS, which loads fast, and saving and quitting. Also, like The Sims 2 Bon Voyage, you cannot change active households while on vacation. This is a major bummer for those who want to take a very long vacation. You’ll have to leave the trip early if you get bored of playing in a vacation destination for too long or because you are impatient to wait until you play with the next family.
When your Sim sets the travel arrangements, a taxi can come and pick you up (unless you have your own vehicle) and you drive around your home town for a few seconds until the loading screen that takes you to your destination begins. This is so that you can see the Sim driving but you get the idea that it is driving to the invisible airport. Sometimes your Sim will just take a few steps after hanging up the phone and the screen will immediately load to whatever destination. Sadly, you can only stay for three days until earn a higher visa level. I also looked through the families that lived in each country and sadly you cannot choose to play with them. They are NPC’s until you marry them or ask them to move in.
FRANCE
Only because I chose this location first when I tried to play WA on my desktop, I figured I’d continue here to explore some more. I have to say that France is rather beautiful because of the European architecture and it has a very clean rural style. Some spots could look a bit avant garde, which I absolutely love because I‘m very artistic in real life. The houses are beautiful and France seems to have the most lots (or at least homes) of the three locations. The locals there are all with French names and they look French, more or less. But of course they still sound exactly like the rest of the Sims.
In France you do not start off at a campground with tents like hinted in various WA reviews, but at a huge house that seems more like an inn. It makes sense since France has always been looked at as a luxurious trip. The inn, however, is still known as the base camp because it’s just the name of the place you start off at for each location, regardless if the lot has tents or not. The inn is very nice and cozy with five bedrooms, four of them with a double bed in each while one has six single beds. Best of all, it’s free, as it doesn’t function like a hotel but more like your own house in your home town (no hotels or any of the like in the game). So, you can cook and use any household objects as normal. However, you can go out to eat at the café if you prefer.
When you order food from the café, a list of meals pop up for you to select from and this list is the only one so far that offers the French-exclusive foods. Agnes tried crepes and she was stuffed immediately. The general store is nice because it sells many useful objects such as a tent, scooter, camera, incense, etc. It even sells three different qualities of dried food (price difference and most likely moodlet difference), which just looks like a block of green coal or something of the sort. There are random tourists there from China and Egypt whom you can interact with like with the locals. I found it cute that when you hover over their names, if they are special NPC’s like tourists or store clerks, it will specify with a comma after their names. The default vehicle you ride in is the scooter. There are no cars here. One thing I have notice that could seem like a bug was that this tourist from Egypt came near me and he was in decent shape and all of a sudden… BOOM… he blew up and became very overweight. I just though that was a bit strange. I’ll consider this to be the first bug I found.
I also enjoyed finding treasure chests and opening them to collect coins and money. For some you need a key to open. Later on I decided to look for places to visit in search of keys, coins, and secrets until I noticed a public restroom in the middle of nowhere that actually had gender-specific doors. Looks like in this pack EA decided to put them in the game. Thank God! No more downloading the ones that the one creator at MTS had found (which I was grateful for at the time) and it‘s still great for those without WA. Then I tried some nectar at the nectary and apparently you can have free tastes which serves up to four glasses per bottle. But one glass barely fills up your hunger. Then I tried a cheese plate, which is a new food in France for only $10. It filled up the hunger bar all the way, which is a bit strange for just a cheese plate.
Aside from the stores, the only other place I had Agnes visit was a cemetery which had five little rooms and each room had a treasure chest in it. The middle one was locked and I didn’t bother finding a key. I gave her a makeover as well, just to try out the new WA styles. Since Agnes kept thinking of the “return home” symbol, I figured it meant she wanted to go home, and it was also a wish of hers. So, I left a day early. When you call to return home, the screen immediately loads back to the home neighborhood. There is no driving back or anything. Now, when the home neighborhood is loaded, then the car Agnes used randomly appeared in a spot on the street away from her house and then she drove home. I guess this is to pretend as if she drove from the invisible airport. One thing that struck me as a bit odd was that she reverted back to her original appearance. Either this is a bug or when you plan outfits and change appearance in a travel location, it is only for while you are there. What a waste of time planning outfits. The whole point was so that she could remain with her new look. Oh well.
CHINA
Because you have to wait two days before going back to a vacation destination, I chose another Sim to play with to avoid the wait. I chose Erin Kennedy and decided to try China. I wanted to focus on single-family households so that I wouldn’t have to feel as tied down or feel badly for leaving the other members at home. China loaded in about a minute; the usual loading time in between destinations so far. And that is just for the first load, as when I return to a saved game, it speeds up.
The first thing I noticed was that in China, just like France, you do not start off at a campground. Perhaps you do start at an inn at each destination. This inn was huge with ten bedrooms, each with a single bed except for one, which has a double bed and is all the way up in the third floor. And what was pretty cool about the inn was that you now get to have “roommates” in it. They are titled explorers and are NPC’s that stay with you. This was a surprise, as none of the reviews I had read even mentioned this. I’m not sure if the inn in France does this because I had not noticed any NPC staying with Agnes. And it makes it easier to socialize and meet new people.
Aside from making some physical changes to give her a more sporty look, I decided to focus on martial arts for the time being by buying a book to learn the first few skills. After about skill 3 (which I reached), you have to learn the skill physically. And since Erin is athletic and in shape, it’ll suit her well.
So far from the random Sims I have seen who are from there, it doesn’t seem as if they have a special face template because they didn’t seem to look as Asian as I had hoped they would, but more Eurasian. That was disappointing because I was expecting a better Asian facial type. But maybe it’s just me and my old eyes.
I visited a few places, including the Terra Cotta army, which takes forever just to walk there. Having not realized that time flew by, I accepted my first adventure via the cell phone. At the fist retreat, I stood on this floor matt object with footprints on it and it opened a stairway nearby that was invisible at first, which led to a basement with a locked door where I was able to use the pick ax to clear two rubble piles, one revealing a switch and the other revealing eight ancient coins. One thing I noticed was that while axing, the ax is faced backward. Shouldn’t the sharp point face forward? I smell a mod coming. So, I went to “report in” to the lady who requested for me to find an ancient relic and I was given ten visa points and I would receive a handsome reward if completed. Above the moodlets section, a new transparent tab appears that tells you what to do next when it comes to adventures, which you can collapse if it is in your view (it’s not that large, honestly). I tried looking for a tomb since it was supposed to be nearby. Wow, lots of walking you have to do around many areas! But when you don’t walk, you ride a bike, as there are no cars in China. After several gems and coins found, I found another tomb in the basement of some place in the village market. I have to admit, I am starting to like these tombs. Though I have yet to explore many of them, I can already tell they are going to be very interesting. I can only imagine the ones in Egypt! So, I completed my first tomb which was very easy and not dangerous at all, and I got a decent reward. Tombs have lots of treasure chests and some of them even contain dried food to help you along the way.
Because I only had hours left before my trip was over, I didn’t bother to explore anymore. I received a total 45 visa points (looks like you need 50 points per level) and I’m at 90%.
EGYPT
For Egypt, I chose to play with Christopher Steel, just to play with a male Sim for once for this review. So looks like Egypt is the only one that starts you off at an actual campground, as there is no inn in this one. But it’s cute; I like it. It’s surrounded by palm trees with plenty of single tents to choose from. The restroom is partly covered with huge stones and there is a kitchen area and bathroom as well. A tomb is very near; in the same grounds, but just a little bit away from the kitchen area.
This time I decided to go ahead and explore more tombs since I had not realized before how fun they truly are. When you check for adventures in the post with the mailbox, it gives you a different request at a time. You just have to cancel and select the option to check again until you find one you are interested in doing. Finally I accepted a seemingly easy one where I had to help clear the traps in the basement of the Rashid household, which is a tomb.
One thing I noticed that could be a bug is no matter how well I got to know the general store clerk, the traits remain unknown. Home, which says Egypt, Career, and Partner are known, though. I already know he is childish because of the way he acts. I know his favorite color from chatting, etc. But my Sim is like if he knows nothing else about him. That was strange. I hope that gets fixed.
So after a few purchases, I started the tomb. I noticed that I was able to pick away at the rubble pile. I guess we never really needed to go to China just to get the pick axe since it automatically appears when we choose to clear the rubble pile, despite what past reviews had said (could have been a cancelled idea). That’s cool. Well! This tomb sure was not safe, as I got electrocuted many times (though you don’t die, you just get a negative moodlet for being singed). I’m sure you could die if you get electrocuted again while still singed or soaked with water. There were fire and dart traps everywhere as well. But this tomb wasn’t too difficult overall, just slightly. Then I finished another tomb which was much easier.
I eventually made a romantic interest with an Asian explorer there who stayed at my base camp and I invited the Sim over when I went back home. It takes about a half day for the foreign Sim to arrive after inviting them over to your house. You can also chat long distance over the phone. Unfortunately, I still wasn’t able to figure out the traits of the Asian explorer after even doing woohoo and going steady. This is definitely a bug.
CONCLUSION
I had a very fun time playing the game. I thought I was not going to be much of the adventurous type, as I didn’t get WA for the tombs and what not. However, it’s now great to have that option because it’s so much fun and it’s still fun for those who enjoy that aspect of the game. I still mostly like going to the locations for a vacation purpose, though. If only Sims could swim in the ocean so that the vacation could be even more enjoyable. But other than that, it’s a fun EP. It’s definitely not going to be my favorite, I can already tell. I always have preferred nightlife, weather, and apartments. I’m sure we will get them in due time, though. Two things I noticed that I liked very much as new features were the gender-specific restroom doors and the ability to drag the windows of the relationships and inventory panels in order to view more at once. Regardless, I will enjoy the game with a vacation aspect because it‘s still more to the game than just the base game. I think many of you will enjoy it, too.
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