The Sims 3 (Nintendo 3DS)

The Sims 3 is a handheld game, developed by Electronic Arts for the Nintendo 3DS handheld systems.

For the first time ever, players can experience a full life simulation in 3D with Nintendo 3DS.

Description
Controlling your Sim is an exercise in patience. You may be able to see the item you want to interact with on the top screen, but you'll need to find it on a horribly confusing map on the touchscreen and tap it to choose what you want to do.

Get your Sim to step outside into the wide world and you'll be presented with a grand total of two different locations to visit - a park and a shopping square. Even the iPhone version of the game had more locations than this. It's frankly pathetic.

On top of all this it features choppy animations and looks horrible. We don't like suggesting games are rushed out for launch but when a game's framerate is ropier than an assault course it's clear that very little time has been spent optimising the game.

The Sim Of All Fears We haven't even told you the most annoying thing yet. For some reason, the 3DS version of The Sims 3 has removed the mood bars that tell you how hungry, clean, tired and so forth your Sim is. No big deal, you know, it's only the WHOLE POINT of the entire game.

Instead these are replaced with pithy little 'moodlets' that simply pop up just as things are about to go horribly badly. As a result you have no idea how hungry your Sim is until you get a message telling you they're absolutely starving and you don't know how clean they are until there's literally green stink clouds coming off them.

This would be manageable if two or more of these dilemmas didn't happen at the same time but you're regularly told out of the blue that your Sim is starving, bursting and exhausted at the same time.

Since this is all a game about time management this just ruins the experience and many a time we've had our ravenous Sim frantically cooking dinner only for them to wet themselves then fall asleep on the floor next to a puddle of their own urine through no fault of our own.

The Sims 3 is a disgrace. The gameplay mechanics have been savaged, the graphics are choppy and the user interface makes the simplest of tasks frustrating.

"Create Sims with unique personalities, fulfill their desires, and control their lives within a living neighbourhood that you can customise. Unlock all-new Karma Powers and unleash them on your Sims: help your Sim get lucky with the power of “love connector”, bless them with the power of “age defier” or 'instant beauty' or curse them with an 'instant enemy'. Use these powers wisely, because they may have unexpected results! As you guide your Sims through life, you can complete challenges to unlock additional items, new buildings and landmarks."

Features

 * It features a new Karma system.


 * "Create any Sim you can imagine – give them unique personalities! Fine-tune your Sims’ appearances and personalities. Make them evil, romantic, paranoid, kleptomaniacs, or a mix of something completely different."


 * "Unlock all-new Karma Powers. Wield the ultimate control over your Sims giving them wealth, beauty, and love—or take it all away with the click of a button."


 * "Control your Sims’ destinies – Choose whether or not to fulfill your Sims’ destinies by making their wishes come true—or letting their dreams die. Will your Sims be rock stars, world leaders, or expert thieves? It’s up to you."


 * Complete challenges to unlock additional items, new buildings and landmarks.


 * New camera angles that take advantage of the 3D view.


 * Face-mapping feature.


 * Players being able to take a photo of themselves and have their Sim look like them.


 * Possible online functionality.

Trailer

 * The trailer for The Sims 3 for Nintendo 3DS was released on March 23, 2011, and shows many features from previous The Sims games, such as Karma Powers, Create a Sim, Build mode, and socialization. It also shows features exclusive to the N3DS version, emphasizing the 3D capability, and showing that it is possible to take a picture of a real-life person and have them created as a Sim, and trading Sims with the Nintendo StreetPass.

Videos
Video:The Sims 3 Console Commercial

Video:The Sims are Alive!: The Sims 3 Console TV Spot

Video:The Sims 3 on Nintendo 3DS Launch Trailer|The Sims 3 (N3DS) Launch Trailer

Reception
Poor due to lack of mood bars. ONM gave it 20%.

Trivia

 * The idea of Karma is taken from the Hindu religion. However, the Western interpretation of the term more accurately describes the Karma system in the game.