Review: The Sims: Medieval

When I first heard about The Sims: Medieval I thought that the developers simply wanted to transfer the traditional Sims gameplay for a fanciful medieval setting. And by all means: I think actually it sounded like a pretty good idea, as long as it is implemented with some care and attention to quality. The Sims: Medieval is not some medieval version of The Sims. Instead we get a strange genre mix that certainly builds on the basic concept of The Sims, but include much else that it is difficult to describe it properly.

People are stupid

It all begins with a mildly excellent introduction, in which Patrick "Captain Picard" Stewart tells you about a seemingly idyllic medieval world where people are happy and free. But happiness does not last. People are just stupid and it takes one bad choice after another. "Free will" perform poorly, and they need someone who can control their lives on track. Here you come into the picture. You are a kind of god-figure, and your job is to take control of their lives so you can make sense of things.

You start the game by making a king or queen. This is then the main character in your kingdom. Creating new characters is a reasonably simple affair, and in addition to manipulating the appearance and clothing need to choose two positive qualities and one negative feature of your royal highness. He or she may be brave and good to speak for themselves, but have excessive sex drive or a serious gambling problem.

When majesty is created, take you into a little too long øvingsdel where the games' details are explained. The Sims: Medieval does not have the free sandkassegameplayet from the other games in the series, but focuses instead on the mission. Time moves forward only when you have active missions, and by solving the mission you are rewarded with points that you can use to build new buildings, and thus attract new characters (which you can create from scratch if you want).

You begin as mentioned by the king, but may eventually attract a magician, a fiddler (or woman), a "doctor", a blacksmith, and so on. All of these have different properties, and certain missions can only be solved completely by selected shapes. How a random assignment must be solved also depends on which person you select as the main hero. Some missions also lets you choose the helpers. Only the chosen heroes you have control over when the mission start. All the other heroes in the kingdom live as ordinary, non-playable Sims in the background during the assignment.

Kiss a frog and kill a dragon

The missions can be anything from small items that are over ten minutes to large and comprehensive affairs where you can risk your Sims dies. A take for example the old tale of the prince in frog form, while another is about the hunt for a legendary, magical source. The missions are not particularly difficult. Instead, they are almost completely linear, and gives you all the specific step-by-step order on how to solve them. It's a bit like playing through an adventure game where the next step in the solution all the time on screen.

However, this does not mean they are fun to solve. The missions are often fanciful and humorous, with small and big surprises along the way, and even though strictly speaking only sit and perform the orders of the game is enjoyable to work through them. Moreover, the game has enough traditional Sims items that you feel you have control over the action. The mission tells you that your character might have to kiss the frog to transform it into a prince, but when it's done, for example, your choice for your hero to continue courting in true Sims style. The rest of the mission can wait.

Sometimes you also get various options that you can take a position, and helps to create a personalized experience. These choices can also have relatively large impact on what happens next, so completely pre-determined solutions are rare.

Each day of the game has the characters under your control also two different side tasks should preferably be completed. This depends on what kind of heroes you control. A king may, for example, the task of writing a couple of new laws or stay open in the throne room so that residents can come and ask for guidance or assistance. Playing a fiddler you can, for example, be commissioned to write three new poems or perform some music. To carry out such missions help the kingdom, while it makes your Sims in a better mood. The latter is especially important. The chances that a sim succeed in what you ask for increases in line with the mood and if you ask an unhappy sim to do something difficult or dangerous chances are that it is wrong.

The Sims: Medieval is packed with fun smadetaljer. Unruly Sims will be placed in the pillory, so you can throw tomatoes and eggs at them, and "doctor" is using leeches (which he or she obviously needs to collect himself) to heal all kinds of diseases. The game is generally just the same charm and focus on small, witty details (whether visual or textual) that The Sims franchise is known for.

Streamlined for better or worse

Medieval Sims may not go to the bathroom or bathe (even if they can do both if you give them orders to do so). You do not have to make sure they at any time have fun - the mood is determined by the specific things that have happened, not how much time they may have used to look at the village jester. Thus streamlined experience something, and the traditional retail management of your Sims life removed in favor of the focus on missions. The game has not completely forgotten its origins, you must still make sure your Sim gets enough food and that they get enough sleep.

The Sims: Medieval focused as I said not on the free sandkassegameplayet from the rest of the series, and it also means the freedom to build things even limited. All the buildings you can put out is actually pre-designed. You can buy new furniture and little change in decor, but you can not make big changes to the buildings.

On the one hand this is understandable, as the game has a different focus and you certainly do not want the players to get overly much to keep track of. However, it is a bit sad. Much of the fun with The Sims franchise is exactly what it means to build their own houses, and I'm probably not the only Sims player who has gone with a little desire to make a real medieval castle of my Sims. I think the best solution would be to allow players to build the buildings even if they wanted it (as with certain requirements for what you may have with), or placing pre-designed buildings if they would rather that. But this is therefore not, as for now I must continue to live out my fantasy castle built in My Craft instead.

Conclusion

The Sims: Medieval boasts a surprisingly fresh twist on the classic Sims recipe, and provides an enjoyable experience with lots of funny humor. The traditional Sims elements have been streamlined and simplified, while we have received additional elements from RPGs, adventure games, and even strategy games. It is an interesting mix that actually works pretty well. The different missions may be very linear, but they are also imaginative and full of funny sequences, and combined with the free life simulator concept from the other games in the series in a way that creates a feeling that you have control over the action.

The game is hardly intended as a substitute for the "big" games in The Sims series, after which the focus is so different. I do not think that the game will remain fun as long as the more sandbox-like games in the series. Once you have built up a kingdom, it is not necessarily very tempting to start over with new people, and although it has many missions, it is inevitable that there will be a little refresher the next time you play. But the game definitely has enough content that it stays fun for a while, so the duration, I will not complain.

I think The Sims: Medieval will appeal to both series of the show's traditional supporters who are looking for something a little different and fresher than a new expansion for The Sims 3 Perhaps even those who liked the concepts of life simulator The Sims, but feel the series has traditionally lacked purpose and meaning. If it is to build a hefty new house is one of the main reasons why you like the series you will be disappointed, however, The Sims: Medieval, for the opportunity you will not be here.