The Sims 4 at Gamescom 2013

With the big reveal of The Sims 4 first game play just around the corner I just thought I would dedicate a post to some of the speculation about the upcoming game

By far the biggest argument is the art style of the new Sims. EA and Maxis wanted Sims 4 to be inspired by the previous games in the series, and to be an accumulation of all of the best features from the series. the new art style of the Sims is definitely more cartoony than the Sims 3, and nods to the more angular art style of the original game. As soon as the picture shown above was released a huge internet debate: "Realistic Sims vs Cartoony Sims".

 

I have read thousands of comments reading "I hate the new style" "I want realism" and "I want my Sims to look real not animated" but I can't help liking the new designs and I feel that people who like it are being lost in the sea of all those people quick to shout "dislike". Personally I feel the new Sims keep a very Simish feel to them and have the same charm and personality that we see in our current Sims. The Sims was never meant to be a representation of real life but a life simulation (see what I did there?) that embellishes the rather mundane world we live in, if it were not our Sims wouldn't be running around as Plant people or eating magic jelly beans from a bush. I feel the cartoony art style really fists in with the crazy Sim world and does something that more realistic Sims do not in fitting into this mad, mixed up world of the Sims. We like to care for our Sims and we all get attached to them (admit it, you do) but I don't think I could if they were too much like real people. We all know that characters trying to look human never quite cut it, which is why animation companies like Pixar use a stylised version to animate humans. In fact when things are so life like, but still obviously not they fall into what is known as the "Uncanny Valley", a dip in the scale of the human likeness chart that creeps out our brain (for more info on this check out Vsauce's YouTube video called "why are things creepy" and yes the video is free of scarring images it just Elaine ten science behind it)

Anyway, so there is my view on the new art style but I would love to hear from you guys what you think about it, and your expectations for The Sims 4 in the comments below

I'll be reporting on all of Gamescom 2013 right here on Clix It so watch this space

That's all for now guys
Thanks
Josh