The Sims 3 Supernatural
Written by Travis Huinker on 11/9/2012 for
PC
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The Sims 3 Supernatural
Expansion packs that have been released thus far for The Sims 3 have consisted of the standard fare, ranging from adding cute and cuddly pets to a wide variety of additional career paths. The seventh expansion pack, Supernatural, incorporates various quirky and magical elements into the world of The Sims 3 with the most noteworthy including new playable fairies, witches, wizards, werewolves, and vampires. The introduction of these supernatural elements suggests a possibility that the developers behind the newest expansion pack either have been watching too many episodes of True Blood or films in the Twilight series. While a few of the new supernatural elements seem a bit out of place, the majority of content feels right at home in the quirky and charming world of the Sims.
The most touted feature of the newest expansion pack is the ability to create a supernatural Sim from choosing to be a fairy, witch, wizard, werewolf, and vampire. Players can also become infected by roaming zombies and then temporarily transform into a brain-hungry walker. Each of the new supernatural Sims have their own unique magical abilities, traits, and interactions. While some, like the werewolf and fairy, don't offer many expanded options for their supernatural abilities, others, such as witches, are a blast to play with their use of magical spells and flying broomsticks. An icon has been added to the interface that indicates the current phase of the moon. Once a full moon arrives, all sorts of mischievous Sims and activities will occur in the world ranging from werewolf transformations to groups of roaming zombies. All of the new features added in Supernatural that involve the special characters and world events can be turned off in the game settings.
In addition to the new supernatural Sims, a host of magical abilities and items have been added to the game ranging from spells to home-brewed elixirs. Some of the magical abilities and items can only be used by select supernatural Sims, such as witches being the only ones able to cast spells. Witches can learn from either the good or bad sets of spells and even challenge others to duels which takes a few cues from the Harry Potter series. Fortunately, even non-supernatural Sims may collect ingredients from the environment and use them in elixir recipes, which in turn can cause a variety of magical effects. Sims that wish to follow a supernatural career path can hone their mystic skills as a fortune teller at the neighborhood gypsy wagon.
Magical and other quirky items have also been added to the game's buy and build modes with a variety of objects from magical broomsticks and wands to talking mirrors and sliding bookshelf doors. Supernatural allows players to create some truly creepy and Gothic-inspired houses that weren't quite possible before without downloading user-created content. As well, Supernatural adds the new neighborhood of Moonlight Falls that's situated by a range of snow-capped and gloomy mountains. The game's world is saturated in an eerie shade of green whenever a full moon looms in the sky. Moonlight Falls is host to supernatural locales that include a vampire lounge, elixir store, and a haunted cemetery to name a few.
In comparison to past expansion pack releases, Supernatural offers a far greater deal of content in the create a Sim, buy, and build modes. The new clothing alone is some of the most creative in awhile for the Sims series with werewolf-torn outfits to fancy vampire attire. Content collectors will swoon just over the amount of new items that have been added to the various furniture sections, which are great additions to even non-supernatural lots and neighborhoods.
The Sims 3 Supernatural strikes a difficult balance between introducing quirky and magical gameplay features, while still adding a great deal of worthwhile and varied content for populating lots and neighborhoods. While not all of the newly added supernatural Sims are equal in terms of content and features, the majority introduce engaging abilities and interactions that result in a more diverse gameplay experience. Supernatural is undoubtedly one of the more content rich expansion packs, which will either be loved or hated depending upon the Sims fan and their interest in magical content. No matter one's love or hate for the magical elements, Supernatural marks The Sims 3's return to more of the series' roots in which entertaining havoc was favored over aspects of realism.
The Sims 3 Supernatural is now available for Windows PC and Mac.
The most touted feature of the newest expansion pack is the ability to create a supernatural Sim from choosing to be a fairy, witch, wizard, werewolf, and vampire. Players can also become infected by roaming zombies and then temporarily transform into a brain-hungry walker. Each of the new supernatural Sims have their own unique magical abilities, traits, and interactions. While some, like the werewolf and fairy, don't offer many expanded options for their supernatural abilities, others, such as witches, are a blast to play with their use of magical spells and flying broomsticks. An icon has been added to the interface that indicates the current phase of the moon. Once a full moon arrives, all sorts of mischievous Sims and activities will occur in the world ranging from werewolf transformations to groups of roaming zombies. All of the new features added in Supernatural that involve the special characters and world events can be turned off in the game settings.
In addition to the new supernatural Sims, a host of magical abilities and items have been added to the game ranging from spells to home-brewed elixirs. Some of the magical abilities and items can only be used by select supernatural Sims, such as witches being the only ones able to cast spells. Witches can learn from either the good or bad sets of spells and even challenge others to duels which takes a few cues from the Harry Potter series. Fortunately, even non-supernatural Sims may collect ingredients from the environment and use them in elixir recipes, which in turn can cause a variety of magical effects. Sims that wish to follow a supernatural career path can hone their mystic skills as a fortune teller at the neighborhood gypsy wagon.
Magical and other quirky items have also been added to the game's buy and build modes with a variety of objects from magical broomsticks and wands to talking mirrors and sliding bookshelf doors. Supernatural allows players to create some truly creepy and Gothic-inspired houses that weren't quite possible before without downloading user-created content. As well, Supernatural adds the new neighborhood of Moonlight Falls that's situated by a range of snow-capped and gloomy mountains. The game's world is saturated in an eerie shade of green whenever a full moon looms in the sky. Moonlight Falls is host to supernatural locales that include a vampire lounge, elixir store, and a haunted cemetery to name a few.
In comparison to past expansion pack releases, Supernatural offers a far greater deal of content in the create a Sim, buy, and build modes. The new clothing alone is some of the most creative in awhile for the Sims series with werewolf-torn outfits to fancy vampire attire. Content collectors will swoon just over the amount of new items that have been added to the various furniture sections, which are great additions to even non-supernatural lots and neighborhoods.
The Sims 3 Supernatural strikes a difficult balance between introducing quirky and magical gameplay features, while still adding a great deal of worthwhile and varied content for populating lots and neighborhoods. While not all of the newly added supernatural Sims are equal in terms of content and features, the majority introduce engaging abilities and interactions that result in a more diverse gameplay experience. Supernatural is undoubtedly one of the more content rich expansion packs, which will either be loved or hated depending upon the Sims fan and their interest in magical content. No matter one's love or hate for the magical elements, Supernatural marks The Sims 3's return to more of the series' roots in which entertaining havoc was favored over aspects of realism.
The Sims 3 Supernatural is now available for Windows PC and Mac.
The Sims 3 Supernatural is by far the most engaging expansion pack yet with its variety of quirky and magical-inspired gameplay features. While most of the content feels at home in the Sims world, the inclusion of some elements such as fairies and zombies are questionable. No matter if one loves or hates the idea of magic in The Sims 3, Supernatural adds a great deal of varied, worthwhile, and most importantly, entertaining content.
Rating: 8.9 Class Leading
* The product in this article was sent to us by the developer/company.
About Author
I've been writing for Gaming Nexus since 2011 and focus primarily on PC games and hardware. I'm a strong advocate of independent developers and am always seeking the next genre-breaking and unique game releases. My favorite game genres are strategy, role-playing, and simulation, or any games that feature open worlds and survival elements.
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