hkellick | A Quick Review - Sims 3: Ambitions

I don't have alot of time to go in depth on this game, what it is, how it plays, etc.

Sims 3 Ambitions adds new jobs for your Sims to play, not the usual "Disappear into a Workplace" for a while jobs, but ones you actually have to help them play out. You can be a Private Investigator, a Fireman, a Ghost Hunter, an Interior Designer/Architect, a Beautician, a Doctor a Sculptor or an Inventor.

I made the mistake of picking the five careers I was most interested in and setting up a family that would play all of them.

The Inventor and the Sculptor are two of the new skill-driven careers and were, thus, low maintenance. Set them up a Queue of actions and check up with them occasionally to make sure they haven't burned the house down. The Sculptor, oddly, seemed to have an easier time of it. She woke up, took care of her needs, and knocked out a sculpture that was worth a couple hundred. My inventor got up, took care of his needs, had to go to to the junkyard to get more scrap metal and could take forever trying to figure out how to turn them into a Widget, or the one invention I found, though I know there are a few more.

The Private Investigator needed all my attention, however. Obviously, the PI has cases to solve. At first, you have no tools, so you basically end up wandering around trying to solve cases by talking to people, but as you get better, you get tools that help you search a crime area, dust for fingerprints, even break into people's houses to look for clues (which makes them mad if they catch you!) Amusing, but I had to keep my eye on the investigator at all times or he didn't do very much. Much like the adventures in World Adventures, I get the feeling that if you're playing a PI, you shouldn't intend to play any more professions

The Interior Designer was hard. I always got OK to Mediocre reviews for my work. I'm still not sure what I was doing wrong. Maybe because while I enjoy poking around with objects and the create-a-style tool, I won't pretend I have any flair for this sort of thing. Would like to keep poking at this career until I can get how to get great reviews, though. Sadly, the PRIMA guide doesn't give any good advice on how to do this. :/

The Ghost Hunter and the Fireman were both fun. The Ghost Hunter, sundown comes at 5 PM and it lets you know there are ghosts to be caught. They easiest ghosts look something like Slimer, just this colored blob of energy hanging in the air. As you get better, you have to deal with Poltergeists which make the furniture jiggle and toss in the air. Then, as you get better, you have to locate ghosts that look more like ghostly people and either capture them or convince them to move on.

The Firefighter works.. similarly. You go to the fire house at the beginning of your shift and you can do WHATEVER, though it's suggested you make sure the Fire Engine and Fire Bell are in good working condition. Then you can do whatever.. work on your skills, be chatty with other firemen, watch TV.. until the bell rings, then you get to the scene of the emergency immediately and put out the fire, save the citizens and be a hero.

I didn't play the Doctor or the Fashionista. So I have nothing to say about them at all.

I did end up creating a new family last night, just a firefighter and an inventor. Hopefully they end up being more manageable. I want to give the other professions more tries later, but.. not all at once. That was a mistake.