This weekend I finally installed The Sims 3 World Adventures and blocked off a few days to try out this new Sim expansion. I got a taste of it when I went to the Blogger’s Day event back in September of last year and was excited to try this expansion pack. The World Adventures pack adds a whole new style of game play to a normal Sims 3 game. Face it, playing the Sims can get redundant, get up, go pee, eat breakfast, go to work. We all do that in real life and yet we play with our little Sim people and do the same thing. I’m not saying it’s not fun, it’s just the same grind. After the first few hours of playing World Adventures, I’m so blown away that this game has become exciting again. I can’t wait to turn it on and take my Sim on another adventure. I have so much to tell about it that I’m going to break my review into three parts, one to cover each country (China, Egypt and France) so be sure to read all three articles, I’ll give my final thoughts on the last post.  All of the photos I’m going to use are from my game and will feature my Sim.

This is me as a Sim. She is adventurous, dressed in Indiana Jones clothes and is ready to travel. Since she has no money, I had to get her a job so she could earn enough to take her first trip. Each location has a cost, China being the lowest and France being the highest. The Sim starts with a visa with no points and can only travel for 3 days. Seems like a long time until you get there and it’s over before you know it. Once she earned enough money, she made her phone call and booked a trip to China. The taxi picked her up and off she went.

Welcome to Shang Simla, China!! I have to say the scenery and landscaping done in this game are beautiful, they really capture the essence of the country they represent. In China you see the Great Wall, the Terra Cotta soldiers and other famous landmarks as well as temples and traditional style housing.

The Sim starts at base camp, this is the home away from home with all the amenities from bed and shower to food. From there you can explore around and find locals or other explorers to interact with or you can find objects on the ground like silver, gold, platinum or maybe dig for a relic. All objects can be sold to make money or saved for other uses. I chose to jump right into an adventure. Click on the bulletin board at base camp and you get assigned your first adventure. The notice suggested bringing a tent, dry food and shower in a can. After shopping at the local store, I could find none of these things. I did find them later but I’ll get to that.

I quickly found that these Adventures were down right fun. They were like a scavenger hunt giving you a starting location to collect an object, once collected you take the object to a certain Sim and he would send you on another mission. My first mission was to find an ancient object in an old Chinese tomb. With a special key they gave me I could access the door and gain entrance. Each room had a different puzzle to solve, some were really easy and others a bit harder. The puzzle might include a pad on the floor to stand on, a hole in the wall to inspect or a pile of rubble to clear. Each new room was dark until entered, using the same concept as a fog of war.

Along the way I found ancient coins and treasure in boxes that I later sold to get more money to pay for more trips. The three days went by very fast and I was not able to finish my first adventure. My Sim got very tired and dirty and without the items I needed, I couldn’t stay in the underground tomb for long. When the time is up the Sim is sent back home. Remember the visas I mentioned? Each time you complete a mission you earn visa points. Once you reach visa level 1 you can book a trip for 5 days. This continues and eventually you can book as high as 12 days. The higher level visas also give you more challenging adventures and the ability to purchase a home.

Exhausted and tired, my Sim went home determined to find a tent and the other items she needed to finish her adventure. Tomorrow we go to Egypt.

[A copy of the game was provided by the publisher for review purposes.]