The Sims Mobile just recently soft launched in Brazil. Having written a release announcement the other day, I wanted to circle back and explore the gameplay in order to get a better sense of what this title offers. Do we finally get the Sims us mobile gamers have always wanted, or does EA do the expected thing by pushing out another substandard product? If you couldn't tell from the title, yeah, this is one of the worst games I have ever played.

Honestly, I am not really sure if I even feel comfortable calling The Sims Mobile a game. I don't mean that in the way that the core PC Sims releases are more or less a sandbox experience with little-defined gameplay, I mean more that this mobile version is just an abomination filled with wait timers. That is not an exaggeration. There is a wait timer for every single action in this release. You want your Sim to go to sleep, that's a minute and thirty seconds you will need to wait. Oh, you want to talk to an NPC, that's ten seconds you have to wait. You need to have a snack, that's another ten seconds. Even a shower, which is forced upon you just like sleep is, that will be two minutes. The timers never end. But guess what, Electronic Arts has ever so kindly blessed us with the option to remove these timers by paying in-game currency on an individual basis. As in, each and every instance where you receive a wait timer (which is every action you make in the game) you can pay to remove the timer. As you can guess, this will add up pretty quickly.

While it's hard to ignore the wait timers, I shall put them aside to go over the rest of the gameplay. To start, when you open the game you will create a Sim in the provided creator. There are a plethora of options, so you should be able to make a Sim to your liking. Once you have created your Sim, you will be dropped outside of your new starter house. From here you are walked through interactions with NPCs as well as shown how to decorate your home through ordering and paying for furniture. Once you are familiar with the housing aspect, the game moves you on to finding a job. This will take place in a separate environment. You can get there by using the world map since The Sims Mobile is not an open world game. Once you are at the coffee shop, you will start a career event. This means you will have a bunch of tasks to complete in order to finish the event. Which really sums up the gameplay perfectly. You jump in and out of these events ever so slowly leveling up your character and earning some in-game currency.

Currently, details on the pricing of The Sims Mobile's IAPs are still not released. Keep in mind the Play Store does list that IAPs will be present. It is also worth noting that the game contains advertisements. While there is built-in Google Play Games support, it is only for achievements. There is no cloud saving. If you had planned on playing this release on multiple devices with the same account, you might want to look for a different life sim.

Personally, I find it mind blowing that Electronic Arts ever thought it would be a good idea to place a timer on every single action you perform. Sure, the logistics of the gameplay sans timers are pretty standard fare for a mobile life sim. It could even be entertaining at times, but the presence of these timers is just too egregious. I mean seriously, what kind of business practice is this and why does EA find it perfectly acceptable?

The Sims™ Mobile Developer: ELECTRONIC ARTS
Price: Free
4.2
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