Sims 4 CAS Demo: Initial Thoughts (Part 1)

The Sims community has been going crazy over this for the past few days. Some lucky people got the demo, others didn't. There has been an awful lot of complaining about this, due to some people feeling hard done to because they preordered the game, play the Sims alot, etc.

I won't lie, I wanted to be chosen. I logged on to Origin on the 9th of July to check my games library, and it wasn't there. I wasn't surprised or even disappointed; after all, it'll be out to everyone in just a few weeks. I ended up buying Theme Hospital for £3.99 on Origin, and had a few hours of fun there. I've always loved that game, and I go back to it every few years. I last played it on my PS3, but I found it less enjoyable on a console.

Anyway, last night I logged into Origin to play the game (totally unaware that I didn't need to launch Origin to play), and the demo was just sitting there waiting for me. I honestly had to question whether I was actually awake. Once I was mostly sure that I wasn't dreaming, I downloaded the demo and set about playing.

The first thing I noticed was how much better this looks than the Sims 3 CAS. It is cleaner and brighter. It is easy to navigate and very intuitive.

I started to make a Sim. I wish I had thought to take a screenshot of what I started with, because within just a few minutes I had transformed a random Sim into someone completely different. Here she is, Sophia Webb:

Sophia after 10 minutes in CAS

I was able to visualise what I wanted her to look like, and I found it pretty easy to bring that to life on the screen.

You'll only find two sliders in CAS now, one for weight and one for muscle. You can push and pull on pretty much any part of your Sim's body to mould it to your liking, and you can take it to the extreme if you want to. I don't think there will be any need for mods in that respect.

One thing I was not expecting based on the video previews is how shaping your Sim feels. When you are fine tuning a feature on your Sim, it feels very heavy, like you're dragging the cursor through quicksand. I actually really like this, as it means that you don't need to use too delicate a hand when creating your Sim. If it was "looser", I imagine that people would be sitting there for ages moving their mouse back and forth trying to get something just right, because every movement drags something too far. I hope that made sense!

Sophia's Party Look

Overall, I am pleased with the different hairstyles available in the game. On the three Sims I made last night, I did tend to find that only a few styles suited each of them. That's mostly personal preference though. The colours are fine, but I think they need a couple more options. I'd add in a softer black rather than the super-shiny blue-black we have now. I'd like some cooler browns in there too.

Eyebrows also need some cooler tones in there. The browns and blonds are very warm, and look quite odd against the crazier hair colours. I don't like brows to be unnatural in colour, but the red tones in most of the brows mean that I either have to have a dark colour or the lightest blonde.

Clothing options are good too, and there are plenty of colours for each item. I would like to see more items added in when the game launches, especially in the Formal and Sleepwear categories, but I'm happy with what's available.

Casual Wear

 The eyeliner and eyeshadow options are pretty nice, but could do with extra colours. A lot of the eyeshadow is garish, and needs some toned-down options. The eyeliners are pretty good, but I think they need a darker brown.

I'm not a fan of the blush option. It's quite saturated, so the colours all look a bit much on pale skin. For darker skins, most of the colours are too light. Apart from the orangey blush, the rest look quite pastel to me.

The lipsticks are a bit of a letdown. The coloured squares looks fine, but they translate very differently on the lips. There is a mauve square, but the lipstick is actually bright pink. The lighter colours are WAY too light, but then the rest are too vivid. There isn't much of a middle ground.

The skintones seem good, but what you're seeing on this Sim is basically the lightest usable skintone. There are a couple of lighter options, but I found that they had an odd tinge to them and looked a little glowy and unnatural. They might grow on me, but I'd like to see a paler skintone without it looking like it belongs on a vampire.

Freckles are finally attractive. You can see that Sophia has a smattering of them across her nose, and they are super cute. There is also an option of having freckles all over the face, which I like as well. The only problem I have is that there are no freckle options for other parts of the body.

Sophia's Personality and Lifetime Wish

I have freckles on my face, mostly across my nose and cheeks. I also have freckles on my shoulders and arms. I think it looks a little bit unrealistic to use the second freckle option when you can't get them anywhere else.

I gave Sophia some tattoos. I really like the available options, especially the full sleeves. I'd like the option to layer tattoos, as there are many designs for the back that can only be selected one at a time, even though they would not actually overlap on the Sim. There is only one ankle tattoo, and nothing for feet or legs. I'd also like to see ones for the hips added.



This pretty much sums up my thoughts after my first 90 minutes on CAS. Stay tuned for more pictures and thoughts to come.


Emma.