Sims 3 World Adventures review: First look

If only travelling abroad was as easy in real life as it is in Sims 3: World Adventures. All it takes is a walk to your nearest airport, the purchase of a plane ticket and you’re good to go.

There’s no four hour wait in the airport, no watching everyone else’s baggage do more laps on the conveyor than Jenson Button does in a Grand Prix, and no cramp-inducing seating if you are anything above 3-feet tall.

Instead, should you travel second class, is a mini-game requiring you to tilt your iPhone until the scene from the window is no longer blurred; in first class, you don’t even need to do that before touchdown.

The downside is you would be tied to where you could go. However, Al Simhara (Egypt), Champs Le Sims (France) and Shang Simla (China) all sound like nice enough places, and each one is true to the country’s culture it resides in.

So if your Sim is in Shang Simla, you can happily send him or her round the Wall of China and other tourist attractions unique to that country. The reward is an educational fact overlaying a picture, a far cry from the exhilaration of the real experience but a reward nonetheless.

Like in other Sim games, everything costs simoleons. Fortunately, new careers, personas and quests have been added, so there is more of a choice than ever when it comes to funding your Sim’s lifestyle needs.

There are also 52 new goals and four mini-games to master, which should keep even the most diehard Sim fan busy for quite some time. And if you want to import any Sims from the first game, as well as any downloaded content, you can.

The Sims games have always been open-ended, and The Sims 3: World Adventures looks to be no different. Whether it’s a Sim’s career path, home design, relationships, marriage and anything in between, you control it.

There are a few new additions to compliment the usual sandbox gameplay. One is the ability to marry Sims from abroad, and doing so allows you to import your partner’s belongings, adding a cultural touch to your house. You can also dress your Sims for any occasion whenever you like, if you are so inclined.

In the short time we had with The Sims 3: World Adventures, we were rather impressed. Each location looked the part, and the graphics were more than just functional. We couldn’t complain at the amount of content, either.

We only question just how long it will be before the mini-games become tedious, and if the ability to travel warrants a whole new purchase?

Find out in our forthcoming review.