One of the things I had trouble with at first was trying to figure out how to get INTO a house. The method is a little strange, but simple once you get used to it. First what you want to do (aside from loading the game!) Is to pick a neighborhood, then on the left to the bottom corner you will notice that there are several options. Click on "choose household" A little box should pop up. Once you've decided on the family you want to play, click the select button on the family's screen. The family's picture will then be brought down to the left hand side, and all you need to do after that is click the check mark to play.
Embarrassingly enough, that did take me a few minutes to figure out. Haha.
Okay, now that that's out of the way we can get onto the good stuff! There are several new interactions I like, including "Clip Coupons". To be able to clip coupons, your sim must be Frugal and you must have a newspaper. Select the newspaper, and click the option to clip them coupons! The coupons can be for a lot of different things - like food or spa trips. The coupons themselves are good for three days. I like to stock up on them for a few days then make a day out of it and take all my sims out for a nice outing. I thought this was an indescribably cute idea, so in my neighborhood Mrs. Crumplebottom was constantly doing it!
Within the decorating tab, there are tons of items I had wanted SO badly for the sims 2. You can get toilet paper, tissues, fire pokers, and paper towels to help decorate the place and make things seem more like real life. The objects themselves can be placed at an angle, off centered, to the front or to the back. You can put several different objects on one single surface. Chairs, tables, etc can all be placed at an angle to give the room a more realistic and interesting apperance. I'm in love with the decorating aspect in this game. The colors are easy to change and DO NOT cost aside from the first purchase. Also, if you walk around the town you will find various things for your sim to collect. This includes gemstones and seeds both of which can be used.
Now, as you will come to notice if you continue reading my blog, I LOVE having sim families. I loved the sim babies (Yes! I really did, even though you couldn't do much - they were adorable!) Well, in the sims 3, you are granted a few more options. Although the basic interactions between mother and child are still nearly the same - you can do so many other things not directly to the baby. What I mean is that instead of feeding the baby, cuddling the baby, then putting it in the crib for a few hours to just do the same thing again your sim can take the baby out of the crib and SIT DOWN WITH IT!
Yes, I said it. Your sim mother can actually bend her legs with her baby in her arms. Aside from that, she can talk to people! Imagine that! She can walk the baby around town, or take it to a spooky graveyard and explore the crypts! Yes, I really did take an infant to a graveyard to explore crypts that you could possibly get chased out of by bears!
Okay, now for the lows. The only one I've really come across is this ; When your sim gets a newspaper and reads it, as soon as they're done reading it it goes straight to their inventory. So, if you don't recycle it, your sim could have TONS of newspapers collected throughout their life. In the same respect, books will be placed in your inventory and can be taken out to the park to be read.. but you know what, I actually like that!
Some of the new options in the game are ghost babies, triplets, mean forum posts, specific grocery shopping and lots of buffs/debuffs.
You can search the newspaper for various weekly events that will happen a specific day, at a specific time.
Your sims now actually CARE if another sim is single or not! Under romance, they can ask if a sim is single or not. I LOVE this feature, it's amazing.. like, I can't even begin to say how happy this makes me. I hated finding out that a sim was infact married and still all over my sim in ts2.
You can cook so many more items! The foods actually have a recognizable sequence too, like if you have them make PBJ then you see them with a peanut butter jar. It's cute. You can go to the book store to buy different recipies as well.
The only bug I know of is in Mrs. Crumplebottom's yard, the grave there is supposed to be of her husband Richard. While I DO think it IS her husband Richard, the gravestone (and I'm assuming ghost..) is named Erik Darling.
Handy Tip Number 1 : If your sim is out and starving, try going to the park for a free meal. Often times sims will set out picnic baskets and abandon them. Click on the basket for a free meal!
Our sim enjoying a borrowed picnic.
Mrs. Crumplebottom is a Frugal sim, who likes to clip coupons.
