Get To Work Preview!
Get To Work. Really says it all. I had the opportunity to view and play the new EP Get To Work on Friday at EA UK. I was quite excited as we all asked for this in Sims 3 and never got to have the EP we all loved from Sims 2 days.
I tried to get a handle on everything to let you all know what was coming with the EP but 3 hours was hardly enough time and I found myself all-over-the-place! I wanted to be a doctor to see patients as Sim Guru Azure explained we could. I wanted to be a detective and solve a crime. I wanted to be the scientist that discovered a porthole to the Alien world. THAT'S RIGHT ALIENS! SQUEEEEE.
I wanted to start my own business, hmm what would it be....Bakery, clothing, just couldn't make up my mind! Snapped pictures as I went, but not enough, went in the game in a frenzy trying to do everything and I mean everything. Think about this, 3 hours. That's it! They give you the best EP EVER and give you 3 hours.
So I will try to give you the lowdown on what I did and saw.
You get a new neighborhood. Not sure if I should call it that as it's a new section with 4 lots, 3 are prebuilt retail stores. We were told you can build your business in any of the neighborhoods so I checked out the old community lots and sure enough there is a category now called retail. So technically you can knock down the 3 businesses and live in that new 4 lot section building your businesses elsewhere. I'm not sure if 4 lots was for the demo or if that will be the way it ships. That was unclear. As far as I could tell you couldn't have a home business, it must be out in a store. You can hire employees. In retail you have to sell your product, they aren't just going to buy off the shelf as far as I understood. You transfer money from your household to your business to run it and you can also transfer back to the household if you do well.
I got the business and set it up then played for what seemed like 5 minutes selling, setting prices, getting the business going really well, then looked up and Oh No T-I-M-E! I had to move on.
I moved on to the scientist as when I watched the Demo Sim Guru Azure played I knew that was to be a fun bit. I loaded a pre-load game as it takes a while to get your Sim up to science levels that you need to have the skills for calling on the aliens. You will have the ability in your scientist job to craft a porthole to the alien world. YES! We finally get to see where the aliens live! And they like to "Partay". I took my scientist to their world through the porthole and interacted with them a bit.
The aliens also have a new twist. They have the ability to disguise themselves as humans and walk among your Sims unnoticed. All jobs have set goals you must accomplish in a work day and his was to lie to the aliens about what he did for a job. I could not for the life of me get that to happen, but again it was time so I had to move on.
I then went to be a crime solver and had one of the Sims be a detective. You actually go to the police station and all sorts of tools you need are there. You get assignments on crimes that are being investigated Detectives find crime assignments from the computer and travel to a crime scene from the crime board. Once at the scene you look for clues, take crime scene photos and question witnesses. While I didn't have time to actually put together all my clues (as I wanted to try the doctor too) I did have time to gather all the evidence. It was really fun and threw such a different level into the Sims game.
So now I was off to be a doctor. I went to the hospital and there were actually patients waiting to be seen. You have to diagnose them, treat them, and do all the things a GP may do. But wait! An Emergency arises! Someone having twins and you are needed in emergency! You run to the emergency and BANG...Time over computers down. No more play. You have to wait until April (here in Europe). I will never know if I could do the twins. Ah well.
So to sum this up here are a few tidbits I picked up along the way:
1. There are vending machines and bathrooms in the workplace in case of an emergency and you forgot to feed or toilet your Sim before work.
2. There are a lot of new science items I could see including a cloning machine and ray gun.
3. Loads of new objects and clothing. New items you would find in retail.
4. You can have several careers in a household but only play one at a time, so if you have a husband doctor and a wife detective you can only follow one or the other for the Sim day. You do have the option to let them go on their own to work when it's time.
5, There are many retail things you can do, not limited to but including gardening, baking, retail clothing, art gallery, just to name a few.
6. Aliens are back and you have the ability to visit their
world, but only through a science porthole.
7. You can again have alien babies and men can get pregnant.
8. Aliens are creatable through CAS
I really wish I could have this now. It is going to be one of the best EP's we have seen from EA in a very long time.