As a huge fan of the Sims series, the only thing that irritates me with the PC version is that it is on PC. While I do love playing it, it is one of those games that takes a lot of time to play and sitting hunched over a PC can get painful over time. I dreamt of a Sims 4 experience on the console where I could put my feet up and live my second life on my QLED TV with my controller in my hand without losing my vision as I glared into the PC screen. The Sims 4 on console is that but it has some serious issues that do get in the way. The Sims 4 PS4 Review
To start off the Sims 4 on PS4 has no DLC or expansions at all. It is the base game as basic as it was when it released on PC back in 2014. It is pretty cheeky of EA to release a game without the DLC that has already been out for years on other platforms as that content is already a thing so it is not like you need to create anything new. Secondly, the Sims 4 on PS4 has two versions, a Standard Edition and a Deluxe Party Edition that includes all the party stuff that we love so much, like a jacuzzi. This is not on as it costs a premium of R300 extra to play the game to its fullest. Maybe they should have had a different version that, I don’t know, maybe had different outfits or plants but do not lock me out of the Deluxe Edition content because I got a review copy that was the Standard Edition.
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Rant aside, the Sims 4 on PS4 is the Sims we all know and love. Everything you found in the first ever base version, besides the lack of party items, is included on the PS4 version. It even has pools, something that was not around back when the original PC version released. However, the game still feels empty when you take into account that there is so much content on the PC version that is just not around on the PS4 version now at all and we will probably have to wait a while and pay a truckload of money to get it. Still, you can have fun with what you are given on the PS4 version if you can work it that is. The Sims 4 on console is not easy as the lack of a mouse and keyboard leaves you with PC controls being used on a console. Perhaps Maxis should have simplified things much more but it seems that they rather carried over the controls than the content from the PC version.
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Moving your camera with one thumbstick and using a mouse pointer assigned to the other does get easy after a while but it tends to get in the way of your activities. The cursor is also slower than a natural movement and there is no way to increase the speed at all. This makes pointing to choose objects and Sims a chore. While some of the buttons and controls work well, others feel unresponsive. It was hard to navigate the buy menu, for example, as once you go into a menu the cursor goes away and you have to use a selection tool to choose an item. You never know where your current selection is sitting at and it is a struggle to work it out. It took me a few minutes to figure out how to go back to the menu to select the size of the grass paint tool as it was out of reach. Often pressing the touchpad to close all open menus and going back into each one was easier than trying to get back into the last menu you are in.
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Sims 4 on console includes the awesome building mode and if you have ever played a Sims game before then you would know that it is the best building mode in any game ever. The controls then get in the way of this too. While it is a chore at times it is not hard to master. The only issue is that the movement and buttons make building take at least double the time it would normally take on the PC. I legit made the same house at half the time on PC than I did on the console.
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Lastly, we have the bugs and performance issues. Sims 4 on PS4 suffers from some nasty performance jitters from frame rate drops to UI slowdowns and pauses. The worst of all is when the game engine cannot keep up with fast forwarding of the game and carries on fast forwarding when your Sim is not even doing anything. You have to now predict when you should stop fast forwarding to make sure you don’t waste time. It gets even worse as the game would sometimes pause the action you are doing like eating or sleeping but the time would keep fast forwarding. The bar would literally stop going up but the time would keep on rolling.
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In the end, the PC is still the best place to play The Sims 4 as the console version is just a mess with poor controls and bugs galore. Chances are you already own some content on the PC version and like I mentioned, EA has robbed the console gamer of this content with pricey extra add-ons. R700 for an expansion pack. You can keep that.
Available On: PS4, Xbox One, PC | Reviewed On: PS4 Pro | Release Date: 17 November 2017 | RRP: R779