Since "Simpocalypse 2014" is finally upon us, and many of us (including me) don't have the game, I thought it would be a good idea to post some links to some reviews/let's plays (some may be biased fanboi reviews, just bear with me please). Feel free to comment any others that you thought were good.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1DLg1Um6dHo

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7A1PQbp5shM <--- fanboi Let's Play...just warning you

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dAqcrZqIM3shttp

http://www.incgamers.com/2014/09/th...start-appearing <-- non-biased collection of first impressions


Apparently big game reviewers (ex. IGS) haven't made reviews yet, but I'll post them when I find some.

Hope you don't mind a contribution

http://kotaku.com/my-first-few-hour...dium=Socialflow

@kennyinbmore
Not at all! Thank you!

I liked this one https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P3AqLzPXgt8 -- SimSupply (don’t worry, he calms down about 5 minutes in)

and the ones by lovcat (I’ve only watched two but there’s apparently more): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FrkS91YT2sg

Thank you so much! Exactly what i was looking for much rather read reviews /before/ pluking down $70 or more for a base game >.<

I've been watching the user reviews over at Metacritic. I trust user reviews more than the professional ones...though there are a few good pros. Right now Sims 4 is scoring 4.8/10 with 146 reviews in. It's still early, but the games not off to a very good start.

http://www.metacritic.com/game/pc/the-sims-4

@PoisonFrog
If you go to the last link I posted, you'll see that many users' first impressions are very negative. People are saying they can feel the cuts when they play, the game is boring/lacking, etc.

Well...there goes any chance for a 5th generation.

I really wish EA would get it together. I think the Sims series(at least until now) was among the very best games ever created. I'm often impressed by the creative talent displayed...but their business ethos is undermining all the good. I hope it's not the beginning of the end, but through my eyes, The Sims 4 is looking to be another nail in EA's corporate coffin...

It's getting destroyed on Amazon as well and apparently there is no physical version of the game

I don't know if I could trust reviews where they are either 0s or 10s. To me, that's just silly and a bit too dramatic. Out of all those user reviews, 3 of them are mixed reviews.

Kotaku actually gave it a very positive review too, I feel how they feel that the sims do have more character. I bet when the emotions of hate EA and everything they do wear off, people will come to like the game. Especially when it starts adding EPs.

Yes, thank you. I agree wholeheartedly with you. One EP's start rolling off the shelves, it'll become much more positive, better reviews.

Just imagine if the game could have been good without having to buy another $40 expansion pack.

The Sims do have more character but it still feels like something isn't quite right yet, and I'm not talking about missing pools or toddlers. I definitely like the multitasking though. I think I need more than 3 hours of play to fully decide. I've been playing since I got home and I played for about an hour when the game released at midnight EST lol.

I can't find this review on Amazon and was looking for it to see if there were any replies to it, because that's why I was going to purchase discs instead of downloading, which would take me days because of my crappy internet connection. Oh - Found the edition it was for seaarching for it now...
Moving past ambivalence, in a negative way...

To me the game is good. The EPs will make it better.

If people don't like EPs they should have jumped off this bandwagon years ago.

As a MMO gamer, I'm used to paying for extra content. I know the devs still work to put in new features, $40 every few months is cheaper than all sub MMOs.

It's here

http://www.amazon.com/The-Sims-4-Li...yStar=all_stars

5th post down

For me, the game feels isolated and soulless. That was my biggest impression when I was playing a single Sim. I never felt that in Sims 3 and often preferred to play one Sim because I would get overwhelmed trying to micromanage a family. I almost never lasted more than 30 Sim days with a family before giving up.

It seems to be the opposite with Sims 4, so far. I am enjoying it more playing a household of 3-4 Sims. I also am starting to warm up to the whole rotational gameplay. My creativity is starting to stir as I toss around the idea of adding my own Sims and when I get bored with one household, just bounce over and play a different one for awhile.

Anyways, it is an odd juxtaposition. How can Sims that have more character feel so isolated and soulless when alone? I think it's the lack of open world and the way you can't watch what the others are doing. It was my favorite thing to do while my Sims were sleeping or at work, I would spy on the town.

I'm really missing that. I don't hate Sims 4 but I'm really missing that open world.

Thak you! OK - here's a reply to that, for those of you who have internet connection issues:
JGP says:
This same issue happened with another EA / Origin game (Mass Effect 3), and it was possible for people to install from the disk by exiting out of Origin after the installation began (description of process at link). Hopefully that works for this game too and will cut out any download time:
http://answers.ea.com/t5/Mass-Effec.../m-p/1164#U1164

But, this is useless if installation doesn't begin until after it's completely downloaded. Sigh.

This response on Amazon is more hopeful!: "I bought the physical copy and played after about 20 minutes. It did download the patch and my exclusive content. The game is on the disks. "

Pretty sure the first 10/10 review, the one by angarvin43, is trolling. I don't mean that in a "10/10, whatever' way, but the whole "EA is the great", "Sim City's reboot was successful", "please release DLC's and not expansion packs" is too over the top.

Been looking around the net a bit for reviews and so far not a lot of pro reviews. User reviews seem to fall into one of two camps, love it or hate it. Either a ten or a zero. Usually more zeros to be honest than 10s specially over how bare the content is which makes me wonder a bit.

The base game here looks like a okay-ish, but to be honest, this shouldn't happen. A base game should be able to stand on its own merits.

I'm checking those reviews on metacritic and amazon...so far it seems it's a "love or hate" game. But I'm not sure I can trust all of them, at least when it's "verified purchase" I know people are giving their sincere opinion.

That's part of why I am suspicious of some user reviews.

Even here, our first impressions thread seems to be all over the map though. Love it, hate it, better than expected, not as good as hoped. I'm starting to wonder if this really depends on play style?

IGN has their review in progress. So far it's fairly negative.

http://www.ign.com/articles/2014/09...-4-review?watch

@tonicmole -- that link is going to a review of Sims 3 for console. Or am I missing something?

@spiritbw -- I'm curious to see how the opinions turn out over a longer period of time. People who like it at first may get bored/frustrated eventually, and people who hate it at first may come to like it. We shall see. (Also, when did you change your avatar? I almost didn't recognize you without the Killjoy pic!)