The Sims Social Facebook Game Review

The first major difference between The Sims and The Sims Social is that in The Sims, you create family units (even if said units only consist of one Sim). In The Sims Social, you only create one individual. You don’t have to make them represent yourself, but I did make my Sim a little animated version of myself. The create-a-Sim section was always my favourite part of the PC game, and the Facebook Flash version was equally fun. It did not offer quite as much variety in hairstyles or, disappointingly, body types (everyone has a model-thin or model-muscular frame, which is nice, but some added reality would be nice). However, I did enjoy that the process was not laggy or slow at all as it is in the PC game. It was here that I first noticed that for the game ran very quickly for being such a graphically detailed game.

The graphics only looked sub-par when full-screening the game, which makes it appear somewhat pixelated.

After I made my little cartoon self, I was thrust into the tutorial portion of the game. Much like its PC counterpart, the tutorial portion of the game can be a little disruptive and cover things that are annoyingly obvious, but unlike the PC game, you cannot skip the tutorial. Still, it did teach me the basics: your Sim has motives – fun, hygiene, bladder, hunger, energy and social. When your motives are high (fulfilled), your Sim will be more productive. As a “creative” personality Sim, when my Sim had high motives she was “inspired” and would write better manuscripts and songs. There are also tasks for you to complete, such as cutting your grass, making friends with your neighbours, furnishing your house, tending to your garden, and making Simoleons (money).

Each task uses energy to complete, and when you complete them you gain money (the common silver credits and the less common but more valuable gold credits) and other points such as social points or experience poi

nts. All of these points go toward advancing your Sim up the social and professional ladder, unlocking more interactions and enabling the purchases of better furniture for your house and more land.

Technically, there is no “winning” or “losing” in The Sims, but the general goal is to create a Sim who is happy, healthy, and successful. Keeping the motives high should obviously be the first priority – much like in real life, taking care of yourself always comes first! It’s pretty easy to figure out what to do when your motives get low (which you will notice when they fade from vibrant green, eventually to bright, threatening red).

Low energy means clicking on the bed and picking “sleep,” low bladder should see your Sim using the toilet, low hygiene is fixed by a trip to the shower, and low hunger is solved by the fridge. Fun can be replenished a few ways, and that largely depends on your Sim’s chosen “personality.” Creative Sims can play their guitar for fun or look at art. Socialite Sims have fun by socializing and dancing. Nerdy Sims love playing the computer. The social component in Sims Social is really fulfilling because not only does it open up a lot of possibilities (yes, much like the PC version, your Sims can still “WooHoo” with one another, meaning you can technically “WooHoo” with your Facebook friends), but it is rewarding.

Every social interaction gives you credits and experience, and since it’s a popular enough game, your friends will almost certainly be flocking around. Since you’re living in such a stimulating world, it may be tempting to go out and try to accomplish a million tasks on your first day as a Sim – tend to your garden, plant some tomatoes, buy new clothes, hang with Bella Goth, etc. Each action does use energy, so it’s important to be conservative in the game. Fortunately, energy replenishes very quickly. You can approach your friends for additional energy or buy it, but there are some very easy ways around these restrictions.

First of all, like all Facebook games, The Sims Social has to find a way to monetize. Credits and energy can be purchased, but unlike most games, energy and lives replenish after only a few short minutes, so you never have to “take a break” from The Sims Social.

As it turns out, EA has come up with an admirably clever way to make money from The Sims Social – by integrating advertising. Your Sims’ little missions may include watching a TV commercial about the new Toyota Prius or a Samsung phone and telling your friends all about it. It can be a tad annoying and lacks any subtlety, but it’s still an admirable strategy that allows EA to give its users a slightly more inexpensive experience.

Unfortunately, unlike the original PC version, there are no real cheats to help you out in The Sims Social. Sadly there is no equivalent to “Rosebud” or “Motherlode” on this game. Gold SimCash is at a premium, so EA has not enabled any cheats to help players gain said cash.

However, there are some little tricks to gain energy even faster without really doing anything. Social interactions can give off rewards, but cost energy for you to instigate. I
f you are low on energy but want some rewards, the best thing to do is to go over to Bella Goth’s place and just stand there. Eventually, Bella will start to talk to you, unprompted, which will give you social rewards. Any other attempts to conspire or cheat, however, are not looked kindly upon EA, and some players have actually been banned for attempting to cheat.

The best thing about The Sims Social, though, is that there really is no need to cheat or split hairs trying to figure out how to advance to the next level, because of how quickly everything replenishes. It’s definitely worth a play, but it may result in a dangerous addiction.