New Create-A-Sim Mode

Welcome to the Sims 3: Supernatural First Impressions preview.

We watched the live conference with Producer Megan Myers and Product Manager King Choi and were able to extract some juicy details.

What is Sims 3: Supernatural?

Sims 3: Supernatural is an upcoming Expansion Pack, set to be released on the 4th of September 2012 for NA and 6th of September 2012 for the rest of the world, that adds 4 new active character types: Fairies, Wizards/Witches, Zombies and werewolves.

Unlike previous expansion packs that included supernatural characters, like wizards and witches on Sims 2: Apartment Life where players could only become wizards and witches by asking a previous magical character, Supernatural characters can now be created on the create-a-sim-mode.

The new create-a-sim mode was tweaked and includes depth customization. Taking a look at the first screenshot (to the right), you can see you can now select the character’s race. An unknown race (the last one) still remains a mystery and will probably be revealed on the next conference.

Anyway, many questions were answered during the conference and thus we highlight:

A supernatural couple will have a supernatural child. The chances are equal and so a fairy paired with a werewolf can result in either another fairy or another werewolf.

There will be special skills for supernatural Sims. Only the alchemist skill was revealed and it will be available for human Sims too.

The Lunar cycle will affect all the Sims on the town, whereas it was revealed that (obviously) werewolf Sims will transform into their gruesome forms.

There will be three new death types which will lead to three new ghost types with three new colors.

There are visual optimizations. It’s worth mentioning the new lunar cycle effect and the fog on the cemetery, as well as the clouds on the sky - a possible introduction to a possible Sims 3: Seasons Expansion pack..who knows?

Fairies will have special pixie dust that can affect Sims’s lives. When creating a fairy you will be able to choose the color of the wings, as well as their form.  The producers also revealed that fairies will be able to shrink and fly – pretty much Peter Pan inspired.

Werewolves will come with special body hair effects, both male and female and their clothes will have special animations – well not so special – they will be ripped off if the Sim transforms but from what we’ve seen, this effect will be locked to special outfits to which it was actually implemented. Werewolves can also hunt for food and other objects – some of them required to produce Elixirs. New social interactions are also available.

Regarding witches and wizards not much information was divulged other than the potion/elixir brewing. It functions pretty much like in Sims Medieval – Sims need ingredients and special objects (obviously) and as they create new and more elixirs, the skill level goes up, unlocking new types of elixirs, whereas at level 3 players get the zombification potion. Nothing else was leaked – we were hoping for some magic action or some broom flying. Maybe next time.

As for zombies, we got the impression they will only appear if zombification potions get thrown at Sims and the effect is temporary, though it was mentioned it can be permanent. Apparently there will be no zombies rising from the graveyard or at least that wasn’t reveled yet. We identified plenty of opportunity to do so. Anyway, zombies will also get new social interactions though, those we saw, seem a little…amateurish:  nothing scary or out of the ordinary.

Unfortunately, nothing was revealed about Vampires. In fact, the producers seemed to ignore a particular question made by one of the fans watching the live conference which was: “Will we need Late Night to have Vampires?” – kind of makes you wonder really. My guess is yes. It was mentioned Vampires will be “tweaked”. Vampires will probably be locked for those who don’t have Sims 3: Late Night, just like spending earned lifetime points was locked for those that had Sims 2: Apartment Life but didn’t have Sims 2: Freetime.

Just like with any new Expansion Pack there are new objects, clothes and hair styles but the producers didn’t focus on them for a bit and so we didn’t really extract any worthy information of mentioning.

We did get a small peek of the new MoonLight Falls town which seemed to still be in development. Take a look at screenshot number 2 (down) to see the new moonlight effect on MoonLight Falls.

Fans comments and reactions through tweeter and the comment section of the live conference were 100% positive and most of them were stating that Sims 3: Supernatural will be the best expansion pack ever released.

Our final comment:

Sims 3: Supernatural is looking good 3 months away from its release but, as it is now, the new content seems worth 3 or 4 hours of gameplay that include mostly exploring the new social interactions. We hope more will be added. The new character’s race won’t be enough to satisfy the hungry fans craving and starving for Sims 3 Seasons, University and Open for Business Expansion Packs and disappointing them again is not something fans who have been supporting the Series since 2000 deserve.

The new Moon!