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Hi everyone! It’s Peter (Wee Albet) here and I wanted to share with you all some of my experiences with The Sims 4 Get to Work! I was extremely fortunate enough to attend a The Sims 4 Get to Work Producer Tour in EA’s Guildford studio on March 13th where I had some hands on time with the upcoming expansion pack.
The Producer Tour consisted of a short presentation from game producer SimGuruAzure, hands on time with The Sims 4 Get to Work and an interview with Azure. During the presentation Azure was showing off one of her scientist Sims on his day at work. He had made a SimRay previously and decided to use its mind control ability to make one of his co-workers get dressed in the sleepwear. He then went to his Invention Constructor to start brainstorming with it. I was very impressed with this little machine and it seems to have it’s own personality! Azure told us that Brainstorming will help to invent things quicker too, another handy little thing this machine does!
Azure also showed us this teleportation device thing (I forget it’s name but I totally want to call a StarGate!). Her Sim used the device and travelled to Sixam, the new alien world in The Sims 4. While there her Sim interacted with some aliens then the surprise happened! Azure had said we may have noticed something a little “off” with her Sim. I stared harder and all I could see that look odd was his monocle, goggle eye patch (which looks awesome!). Then suddenly, her Sim revealed his true form! He was in fact an alien with a human disguise! When this happened, those of us who were there all started laughing at this.
As a player who isn’t overly fond of supernatural elements, I must admit that the aliens in Get to Work haven’t been that interesting to me. After what I saw and heard yesterday though I am very curious about them now. Sims can get abducted (YAY!) and male Sims can even return pregnant! I believe The EnglishSimmer had an alien baby during her time with the game. The “secret identity” feature seems amazing with aliens too! I’m already thinking of an alien household who have a secret lab in their basement who try to be normal human Sims.
We were also told a few bits and bobs after the presentation. Doctors are able to misdiagnose Sims’ symptoms causing different outcomes. Sims may be put to sleep if the wrong treatment is administered and wake up angry (can you blame them?). Pregnant female and male Sims are able to go the hospital to have their baby. Sickness isn’t exclusive to the Doctor career either, all Sims can get sick now. Sickness will also be contagious. While you won’t be able to take you sick Sim to the hospital for treatment, you will be able to order medicine for them online. Detective Sims will be given a case to work on and look for clues to fill out the crime board. Once they fill it out enough they are able to solve the case!
Other information included the upcoming Game Update which will be available for all players which will include basements and an extra floor above ground. Basements can be up to two levels below ground and you will be able to build 4 levels above ground. This will give all players the ability to create 6 levels in their builds! This game update should be out by the end of March too!
Hands on with The Sims 4 Get to Work
Now that I’ve got the general information out of the way, I think it’s time to get down and talk about the stuff I did with the game myself! When I first sat down with the game I created a new household. Not wanting to make things difficult for myself I opted for a single Sim who I called Brad Dale. While in Create a Sim I checked for new Aspirations and Traits. There weren’t any new ones included but I didn’t mind too much – from the ones we already have it seemed possible to have Traits and an Aspiration aligned with the Detective career. I gave Brad the Athletic, Ambitious and Hot Headed traits, while his Aspiration was to be a Body Builder. This seemed like a good mix for someone in the police force.
Once I’d finished in Create a Sim it was time to move Brad into the world. Straight away I noticed (and loved) the new World Selector. Gone are the days when you are automatically shown Willow Creek. Instead, you are met with a screen and some large circle graphics that you can select (or hover your mouse over for some adorable animations) that represent the worlds in the game.
Now, as much as I love building I didn’t want to waste any time in getting down to the action, so I moved him into a pre-made starter home in Willow Creek and got him to find a job in the Detective career. As the game started on a Sunday and Brad’s first shift wasn’t until Monday morning I sent him out to Magnolia Promenade, the new retail district that came with Get to Work.
I was a little saddened to see that there are only 3 pre-made retail establishments (along with an empty lot) in Magnolia Promenade. However, I was still excited by the idea of taking my Sim shopping! So I sent him to one of the clothing stores and purchased him a few new outfits. I love how purchased outfits don’t replace the current outfit, but rather add to the selection of outfits for that category. I sent him to another store and had Brad purchase a large mirror because why not? After he was done I sent him back home.
As it was getting late Brad decided to have some quick dinner and get an early night in preparation for his first day on the beat. The following morning, Brad woke feeling bright eyed and bushy tailed! He grabbed some pancakes and it was time for work! As Brad is part of the new “Active Careers” system, a dialogue box appeared asking if I wanted to follow Brad to work. I did (of course I did!).
When Brad arrived at the station he was told that as he was new to the job he would require some training and would be working alongside a fellow officer for a few days until he learns the ropes. He was told to search for currently unsolved crimes on a computer. Brad did so and was told to go to one of the local residences where a crime had taken place. He arrived at the house with his fellow officer and told to interview witnesses.
There was only one other Sim present there and she didn’t seem to know much so brad was instructed to search the house for evidence. There were a lot of clues around and it seemed this household had been a victim of an arson attack! Brad started searching for evidence. This is a neat little feature, you click on the ground and select “Scan for Clues”, when you do that a “sonar” type effect emits from your Sim and nearby clues are highlighted. You then take photos of the clue and dust it for prints before collecting it. Once you have all of the evidence from the lot you return to the station to analyse the clues. By the time Brad had finished all this his shift was over and it was time to go home. Brad didn’t do much when he got home. He was hungry, tired and grungy from his first day. After a quick shower, setting the kitchen on fire, some dinner and lazing in front of the TV for a few hours, Brad called it a night and went to bed.
Brad’s second day on the job required him to get out on the town and mingle with the community. This part of the job requires you to hand out citations for people fighting and dropping litter. Brad was sent to Acquisition Butte, the high class neighbourhood in Oasis Springs. Straight away he noticed something wasn’t right! There were two ladies arguing in the street! Brad went over to talk to them and try to calm things down before the situated escalated and got out of hand. But it wasn’t to be. Both lady’s were Angry and no amount of chatting was calming them down. Instead one of them started arguing with Brad! This then caused further arguments between both ladies and Brad was caught right in the middle!
Brad became Angry himself and instead of arguing with the two ladies, he went to a dustbin behind one of the houses and kicked it over! This made Brad calm down enough to go back to the two angry lady’s. Only there weren’t two, a third had joined in with the arguing! Before Brad knew it, the two Sims who were originally arguing started fighting! Brad waited for the dust cloud to settle and issued both of them a citation for public disorder. While not happy about it, the two Sims took their ticket and went their opposite ways.
Brad was told to head back to the station where he received the big break he was waiting for! A description of the Sim suspected of committing the arson attack was given to him as well as the last known location! Brad travels to the local park in Oasis Springs to do some searching. He pulls out his notebook (found in his cell phone) and pulls up a description of the suspect.
After a little look around, Brad couldn’t find the suspect so he starts asking the local Sims. Some information is helpful, but a lot of the Sims hadn’t seen the teenager. While in the small building at the back of the park, a teenage Sim somewhat matching the suspects description walks in! Could it be the Sim who carried out the arson attack on Sunday night?!
Brad goes up to the teenager and attempts to arrest her, only to discover that the teenager he was trying to arrest wasn’t the culprit! Feeling embarrassed and slightly annoyed at the loss of Job Performance, Brad apologises to the Sim and lets her go. Brads second day was over and it was time to head home, but the suspect was still at large!
Brad was hungry but he wasn’t as tired as he was the previous night. So he jumped in for a quick shower and headed to the local Nightclub for a few juices and a bowl of chips. He also danced some before returning home and heading to bed feeling somewhat Dazed from all the juice. I decided I didn’t want to follow Brad to work the following day. I was happy to see that the usual Career Interactions are available and told Brad to Work Hard. With work over Brad came home and took a nap on the sofa to recharge his batteries a bit before dinner and a quick shower. He then headed across the road to speak with Summer Day, one of the Sims he spoke to at the nightclub the night before. He returned home and went to his bed. When it was time for Brad to get to work the following day, he was told that his training was complete and that a new case was waiting for him at his work station. Brad would never catch the Sim behind the arson attack.
It was at this point that my hands-on time with The Sims 4 Get to Work ended and I interviewed SimGuruAzure! Be sure to watch that interview where I asked some of your questions! I was very impressed with what I saw and played with The Sims 4 Get to Work. The Sims 2 Open for Business and The Sims 3 Ambitions are among my favourite Expansion Packs in The Sims series, so having them return together is a very exciting thing for me! I’m particularly excited for the retail side of Get to Work, I am already planning on making a wedding shop and a grocery store (using harvestables!). Even the Aliens are interesting me which is odd as I don’t like non-human Sims! Overall I am excited to see what new things I can build with the game and seeing what other members of the community will do with it! For a first The Sims 4 Expansion Pack, Get to Work is a LOT better than I was expecting! I can’t wait to get the game myself! But I’m curious, what are you most looking forward to with The Sims 4 Get to Work?
The Sims 4 Get to Work releases on March 31st 2015 in America and April 2nd in Europe (including the UK). Thank you for reading and thank you EA UK, Maxis and The Sims Team for an amazing day at Guildford! For now, here are a few extra pictures I took of the Police Station! Enjoy!
