The Sims 3: Pets (3DS) Review

Once every year, for about a week, I am nearly inseparable from my computer. I still eat, I get minimal sleep, and I work, but other more social aspects of my life are moved aside. The reason for this is that I’ve realised once again that I own a Sims game, and it has consumed my life. This being said, there’s always that moment that follows. Your Sim is at the top of its career path, has made sweet, sweet “woohoo” with every Sim in town, and has more simoleons than you could ever dream of, and all you have to say for this is some missed calls from friends who are wondering if you’re still alive.

The Sims 3: Pets had much the same effect on me, only this time I was more concerned with how good my dog was at digging than if my human went to work or not. It feels odd to play a Sims game on a console, let alone a handheld, but I was pleasantly surprised with the 3DS’s capabilities. The controls do take a while to get used to, and the tutorial doesn’t run you through as much as I think would be necessary for a newcomer to the series, but the good news is the stylus and touch screen allow a much more PC-like control than what I’ve experienced with other console versions of this franchise. I still found myself pushing the wrong button, or having to pause the game to remember how to bring up some commands, but it’s still far and above other console attempts that I’ve tried. There was one console-specific place the game really did let me down though, on the 3D aspect. I don’t understand why this has come out on 3DS and not just DS; there’s little to no difference in visuals between having the slider all the way on, or not at all.

I began my experience by creating my family. The idea of an all-pet household was fairly tempting, but I kept a human in to bring in the money and feed the furrier members. This is the first Sims game where the pets are playable as Sims, so they have desires, habits, personalities and even goals, just like a regular Sim, and it’s your job to direct them through life. As per usual you chose all these things when creating the various characters, along with their appearance, and their relationships to your other Sims. There are heaps of breeds of dogs and cats to choose from, and you can change their fur colour and give them crazy accessories. I couldn’t help but give this game a few points from the moment I’d created a lazy blue Ragdoll cat in a top hat, and a German Shepherd whose main goal in life is to “woohoo” with as many other dogs as possible.

When it came to actually playing as these Sims it felt a bit odd at first. My human would slave through the day at work, and then come home and only have enough time to do things for the pets. Throughout the day their home had turned into a dog brothel as my canine’s wish came closer and closer to coming true and the lazy cat, despite always looking classy lived up to the trait, and spent about 70% of its time asleep. It feels odd playing as these animals; some of the things they can do are hilariously true to nature, while others feel weird and alien. On almost every household item, the cat has the option to “sleep” “scratch” or “pee on”, which seems a lot like cats I’ve owned, but it can also demand to be taught tricks, or even hunt for things that gain money for the household, which seems almost the opposite to most cats.

Relationships with other animals don’t feel quite right, and after convincing my dog to mate with her fourth conquest, I started to feel dirty. Just like people, you have to grind a few positive actions towards another to go up the scale to friends, and then eventually something more, but there’s just something that feels wrong about actively pushing two animals to fornicate, and I’m wondering if the police will be around shortly. Sadly though, when it really boils down to it the gameplay of the pets is just like with regular Sims, only with less options.

As per all Sims games there are the small simple things you can do to amuse yourself. The music on the radio was of particular joy to me, as they sound like very real songs but in the Sims gibberish, many of which are quite catchy. Your pets can ruin household items, knock over garbage cans, get into fights, and actively “reject” people, which I imagine does wonders for a Sim’s self esteem. Then there are always those moments that are eerily true to life. My Sim felt weary, but had to shoe the dog out of bed before falling asleep. The Shepherd snuck back in on the other side moments later. Then after a few precious hours of sleep they were both woken by a burglar, which the dog fought with and scared away. Sleepily they returned to bed, to find that the cat was now asleep right in the middle.

My time playing this game was brought abruptly to an end. I was still in the midst of slight addiction, still enjoying the quirks, and was at least a few more hours of gameplay away from feeling that inevitable repetitive grinding boredom that comes with a Sims game. My 3DS froze. Now I know I should save more often, but it had been a little while, and I’d achieved so many things. My dog had another sexual conquest up its sleeve, my cat had gotten even lazier, and my human was even up a notch on the career path. I don’t know if this is the fault of my 3DS or the game, and it was the only real glitch I encountered, but it’s enough to keep me away for a while.

As a whole, if you’ve played a Sims game before, it’s much the same, only now your Sims are furrier and will spend their time randomly barking at objects in your home if you leave them up to their own devices for too long. You can tell for the PC version of this game that it’s an expansion, as gameplay-wise there’s nothing that new, but the solid gameplay that has made the franchise its millions is still there. If you’re looking for a game for short commutes on the bus, this isn’t for you. Like most Sims games it takes a bit to get moving, and a few minutes on the bus here and there aren’t really enough to achieve your goals, but if you love the Sims, and you like pets, then you could do a lot worse than The Sims 3: Pets.