This is really tricky to rate, because everything is brought down by the inherent predatory nature of EA's microtransactions and pricing tactics.
The base game itself is hollow, soulless, and corporate. Basic content that was always available in earlier games is now parceled out in sectioned DLC and 'kits' that cost extortionate amounts of money and will only give you a piece of each previously-complete category of content - for instance, Sims 3 gave you Pets (which included cats, dogs, horses, foxes, small animals like hamsters, all of the furniture and items for pets, etc). In comparison, Sims 4 gives you Cats & Dogs, then a separate DLC for Horses, THEN a separate Stuff Pack for My First Pets Stuff for furniture and items. They sell a DLC for their fucking DLC.
If you download a ton of custom content, creating Sims is as fun as ever. The graphics are a step up, and it makes it (unfortunately) difficult to return to older Sims games after getting accustomed to this one, but everything else is a huge step back.
Once you've created your Sim, it's pretty much just empty repetition. You have to make your own fun via legacy challenges, mods, etcetera.
So: my rating is not for what the game can be with your own additions and downloaded custom content, because then it's what you make of it. I am rating it as it is vanilla, which is, frankly, barely anything at all.
Pirate it. Genuinely. At this point, pirating EA games is almost less ethically questionable than funding them and allowing their practices to be worth continuing. If they don't get their shit together, I can absolutely see the Sims franchise being run into the ground, which would be a sincere shame.
The base game itself is hollow, soulless, and corporate. Basic content that was always available in earlier games is now parceled out in sectioned DLC and 'kits' that cost extortionate amounts of money and will only give you a piece of each previously-complete category of content - for instance, Sims 3 gave you Pets (which included cats, dogs, horses, foxes, small animals like hamsters, all of the furniture and items for pets, etc). In comparison, Sims 4 gives you Cats & Dogs, then a separate DLC for Horses, THEN a separate Stuff Pack for My First Pets Stuff for furniture and items. They sell a DLC for their fucking DLC.
If you download a ton of custom content, creating Sims is as fun as ever. The graphics are a step up, and it makes it (unfortunately) difficult to return to older Sims games after getting accustomed to this one, but everything else is a huge step back.
Once you've created your Sim, it's pretty much just empty repetition. You have to make your own fun via legacy challenges, mods, etcetera.
So: my rating is not for what the game can be with your own additions and downloaded custom content, because then it's what you make of it. I am rating it as it is vanilla, which is, frankly, barely anything at all.
Pirate it. Genuinely. At this point, pirating EA games is almost less ethically questionable than funding them and allowing their practices to be worth continuing. If they don't get their shit together, I can absolutely see the Sims franchise being run into the ground, which would be a sincere shame.