The Sims 3 University Life

University Life is probably one of the strongest additions to the Sims 3 franchise, and I suspect a lot of its fun factor comes from the fact that its original creator, Maxis, is finally back on board after a long time separated from the title. I for one welcome our new reptilian overlords. This was a reunion that needed to happen a long time ago. The first thing you'll notice is that there's a whole new world that your Sim can go visit: the University. Similar to the vacation worlds in World Adventures, University is a separate, self-contained neighborhood where your Sim will find a place to live (dorm? Frat/sorority house? or rent an apartment or share a house with roommates or even rent his/her own house?), attend classes like a job, and do all those extra-curricular things college offers like parties, short-term temp jobs, library study, streaking, demonstrations, and visits to the new venues on offer like the Comic Shop, Bowling Alley, and coffeeshop. As usual, the world is extremely thematic and well designed. The cheap dorm feels like a cheap dorm. The frat house came right out of Animal House. The expensive sorority house feels like the sort of place a well-bred young woman would want to live. The object set is terrific and really shapes and sets the tone for the activities to come and the venues and houses in this new world. A Sim can go to the University at any time. The best time is after learning basic skills, since those skills shape how well a Sim does in college just as they shape how quickly a Sim advances in a career. Going to University can be expensive, but a Sim can get a scholarship by taking an aptitude test (thoughtfully dropped off upon entering game by a llama-costumed school mascot), which measures a Sims's traits and skills and determines how long the Sim will need to get a degree and how expensive the schooling will be. This evaluation is a neat bit of code that never fails to give me a thrill. There are several degrees a Sim can earn, each with its own schedule, study materials, and locations. While the Sim is in school, just as when that Sim's on vacation, the "home world" freezes in place, which isn't maybe so great, but I can see why it happens that way. A couple can go together, or one Sim can go alone. At the end you get a report card; you can't fail, but doing better gets you perks. This is not a world geared toward children. It's not specifically geared toward any other age except adults, specifically young adults, and the interactions are decidedly mature (allowing streaking, among other things, and "juice" pong). But that said, the object and CAS sets here are some of the best-realized in the TS3 franchise. This set seems like one of the most modern and au courant of the entire expansion library. The limited edition object, a statue that can be "set" to different types of costumes that any Sims present on its lot will try to emulate, is ingenious and charming. The new special objects include things like a bowling lane and a coffee counter, and to go with the coffee counter are new harvestables like various sorts of coffee beans and herbs (some fantastical, like Wonderpetal, and some real like cinnamon and chamomile). It's unfortunate that these new plants don't really interact much with the gameworld's existing expansions and base game; you can spice up dishes with herbs, eat the raw herbs, and throw them into a bonfire, and they'll give various effects to Sims who eat or smell them. Cinnamon, for example, makes a Sim more amorous and allows an interaction called a "cinnamon kiss," and eating raw cinnamon has the same effect as the YouTube "cinnamon challenge!" Otherwise, though, there aren't new dishes based on these herbs and they don't figure into the alchemy system. Other special objects include a megaphone that can be used for anything from proclaiming the Sim's love, complaining about things, or demanding social change, a whiteboard that can be used to scribble ideas in meetings, a portable radio station, a skeleton for studying anatomy, a brain-scanner and science lab, and a gigantic group-science machine that has some interesting effects. The cell phone every Sim has is upgraded to a smartphone finally, with skins the Sim can earn over time; the Sim can use this phone to make a blog, too--and blogging is unbelievably fun. Blogs can go up to 5 stars based on readership size; they earn their makers money ingame and can eventually be sold for cash. Sims have a skill in Social Networking that they can use to make their blogs more popular more quickly, and this skill also figures in to another cute touch, a Sim Finder that works a bit like a dating-site profile to bring potential friends and lovers to your Sim's door. Also, every Sim now starts the game with an actual camera object so they can take "real" pictures rather than having to have World Adventures to obtain cameras and the Photography skill. One new versatile lot type is the new apartment residential lot that allows a Sim to have roommates. These roommates aren't under the player's control, but make life in the house more lively and entertaining and presumably lower the rent. To make things a bit easier, the player can specify who's allowed to pass through the house's doors so that a room can be kept private (so Sims don't wander in and out and hog the bed or amenities). And I couldn't finish talking about this EP without mentioning the new caste system. Your Sim can belong to any, none, or all of three new social groups: Nerds, Jocks, and Rebels. Each group is ranked 1-10 like skills are, and the further you go in each group, the more interactions you get. Rebels, for example, can "show off a gizmo," Jocks can "take a photo" with friends, and Nerds can enthuse about comic books, among several other things each. When you get to level 10 in a caste, you are awarded an extra trait of your choice (YES!). Also, if you graduate well, you get another trait. So Sims can now have potentially up to 7 traits. YAY! In terms of mechanics, I bought the DVD copy rather than a digital download, so I can see how it runs on either the Mac or PC platform. It runs great on my PC. I waited until the 1.50 software update for Mac to install it there, and it seems to run just fine on the Mac too. I get error 12s on the Mac, but that's not really anything different. A Mac user with 4GB of RAM and maybe an older system (like mine) might do well to carefully consider how many expansions, Stuff Packs, and Store content is on the system first; when I tried to run University on my Mac when everything was installed (every EP and SP plus a slew of Store content), it barely even loaded a new game and almost immediately began throwing memory errors. I uninstalled almost everything (keeping only EPs with the exception of Late Night and Showtime since I knew I was unlikely to use those aspects of the franchise while playing on my Mac) and it's been all right since. So I'm going to say that there might be some serious problems running and using this expansion if a Mac user has too much other extra stuff in their build. In terms of age-appropriateness, I'd say upper teens and that parents need to exercise discretion; I can easily imagine that some parents might object to the more mature interactions. Overall, this is my favorite expansion. I definitely and heartily recommend it and consider it indispensable to my Simming experience.

Where do I begin? This expansion pack is loaded with so many new things! First of all, the University campus. Now, when I started up my game, I went to make a new character for a new game, and was confused as to whether this expansion pack actually had it's own town or not, and the answer to that is that it does, but the campus is a town that is only accessible through gameplay, and from having sent my Sim there twice thus far, assume that it is not possible to have a permanent residence in the town. The town is cute and has new features such as a bowling alley, café, and comic store and other places as well. What this town is lacking in is the stuff you see in other towns in Sims 3 that would make it a permanent residence such as a military base, office building, a school for Sims that are children or teenagers, and so on. This was a bit of a disappointment for me, but at the same time makes the University life so much more unique because of how exclusive it is. Back to the accessibility point I was making, you can't access it from the start menu where you start a game. To get enrolled you can do that one of two ways: the first way I found out was by enrolling at the primary school in town, where your Sim will go and take an "Aptitude Test", then soon enough leave. The other way to go is by using your new smartphone that comes in this expansion pack and enrolling via phone, in which you can do the test at home. This Aptitude Test is what determines the scholarship amount you qualify for, which that is based on your Sim's skill levels that usually have a correlation with the degree you choose (unfortunately unlike real life you cannot be undecided in your major at this university but at least you only got six to choose from). I did say usually have a correlation only because Jave (my Sim) took the test and qualified for a full ride scholarship to all major choices after her first one in Business including the Physical Education one, while Jace still after completing her second major does not have a single skill level in Fitness. Perhaps it's because she scored so well overall on the test? That I'm not sure about, but nothing of major importance. When you first get to campus, you get to pick whether you live in one of the three dorm houses, in the fraternity/sorority house down the road from campus, or you can choose to rent a house while on campus. The dorms and fraternity/sorority are free for you to house in (Jace has not lived in the sorority house but I assume there is no fee to join one like in real life), so the only reason you would pay for housing is if you rented a house. Jace lived in the same dorm both visits to the university (roommates change with each visit but there's a chance you may end up with a roommate or two you had previously), so I don't have a strong opinion on any other of the housing choices besides Abbot Hall dorms, which I won't go into detail here. Your Sim gets a premade schedule that shows all classes and classtimes. On a busy day your Sim starts at 8AM and ends at 6 PM, classes being two hours long and breaks in between two hours long. Because of the speed in which time passes in the Sims games, you're not gonna have time to go back to your dorm to make a meal before class and get there ahead of time still. For me, the in between time was when I improved Jace's new Social Networking skill made available through this expansion pack (which is a skill she mastered before leaving University the second time). Ah, yes, the new skills! Besides Social Networking, some new skills added include Street Art, Science, and Photography (which I hear you can get in World Adventures expansion pack too but I can't verify this). With new skills comes new interactive objects to increase your Sims skill levels in these new skills. All the new skills that are in the game also benefit certain degrees your Sim can achieve, and the degree in turn boosts your ranking and pay in working back in your Sim's home town in the specific field(s) the degree is geared towards. Like all expansion packs, University has new items for your Sim's home. You'll see these items on campus, but you can also buy them for your own home. One item that makes me excited is the bunk bed you can buy because I thought you could only get that in the Generations expansion pack (don't own it yet but assumed it from photos). This expansion pack is particularily full of new items, moreso than some other expansion packs too. Want a mini fridge? You got it! Want to get creative and have furniture made from other objects? Yeah, they got that, with a sofa made from crates and a mattress, and don't forget the matching chair. There's also shelving you can buy, so now you can put shelves in your home to display items your sims may collect (have yet to check but am hoping they'll fit the trophies one of my other Sim families earned from horse racing with the Pets expansion pack, though I believe it won't be a problem). New town? Check. New items? Check. New clothes? Got that too. Just like the items, there are many new options of clothes, and for both genders. From varsity jackets to a shirt and tie set that makes your Sim look like they come from boarding school, they got everything. New athletic wear, new shoes, new everything. There are some new hairstyles as well, though compared to the amount of new clothes and items this expansion pack contains it does seem to be lacking in hairstyles, of course nothing to make me dislike this expansion pack. A new feature of this expansion pack is a new unique kind of Sim species called PlantSims. I didn't learn of them until Jace went back to University for her second degree when one of her roommates was a PlantSim. PlantSims don't neeed to eat or use the bathroom, but like plants do need to stay hydrated. Though I have not played as one, I don't have complete information about them besides what I learned from interacting with one and reading the information the game gave about it. One thing I have come to understand (though am not completely sure on) is that PlantSims can bury themselves into the ground, where I've come to believe is where they can rest and gain their nutrients from. From what the game says, it seems that their children also are just pulled up from the ground when they want to have kids, and from my understanding (not completely sure again) they do not actually need to have a partner to make children, just like plants in real life usually don't need one. The PlantSim Jace was roomed with and friends with had the Vegetarian trait, and I assume that other PlantSims have this trait too but again this is information I cannot confirm. You can't make a PlantSim in the "Create a Household" either, but rather if you want one in your family you have to get them into your family, and that I'm unsure as to how you can do that. Social life! This is important in University. There's three social groups: Jocks, Nerds, and Rebels. Like you'd expect, these are all very stereotypically portrayed. They help your Sim make friends though, get invited to parties, and so on. There's also certain skills that can boost your level of influence within certain social groups as well, such as Street Art being a skill that helps build your Rebel rep. Eventually, if you reach the top of the social ladder of a group, you get to pick an additional trait for your character, and you can pick from any trait available. However, if you reach the top of two or even all three social groups, you won't get to pick new traits each time. Rather, you can change the trait you earned the first time you reached the top of the social ladder, and of course you don't have to change it if you don't want to. You don't get three traits if you are the top in all three social groups though. As a note, while you have a Sim in University, you only play as the Sim(s) you sent to school, and time is frozen back home. If you leave Sunday morning at 8AM, your Sim will return that same Sunday morning at 8AM. Also, if you have the Pets Expansion pack like me, your pet cannot go with you and it stays home. At least if you do have pets you won't have to worry about them while trying to make sure your Sim isn't sleeping during lectures or going streaking at Juice Keggers. Juice Keggers? Oh, yeah, that's a party. Kegs are set up and the purpose is to socialize and get "Juiced". In Sims, getting Juiced is the equivalent to getting drunk, and there's three different levels of it that are equivalent to the types typically seen with people and how durnk they are in real life: tipsy, drunk, and very drunk. You can also buy a keg of your own for your house too, and with this expansion pack you can throw Juice Kegger parties as well, and if I'm not mistaken you can have them in your hometown as well. I, unfortunately, do have two negatives about this expansion pack: getting the degree and relationships. If you want that degree, you not only have to do well enough in class, but you have to get to graduation. By the time Jace got to the Annex for graduation, there were at least ten other Sims waiting to enter in a big random cluster, nd one at a time they'd change into their cap and gown and one at a time walk through the doors. By the time Jace got to go in, she walked back out almost immediately, and she didn't get the opportunity to get the extra trait Sims get when they get a degree and didn't get the diploma either. The second trip to University, I had her tour the Annex during the day before the ceremony and as soon as it said it was starting she ended that tour and went to the ceremony and got the trait and diploma. I wish that your Sim could find the diploma in their mailbox at home if they didn't make it to graduation at least because that's what most universities in real life do if you for some reason can't attend graduation. This made it as though going to university was for nothing because there was no diploma or trait the first time around. I therefore cannot verify whether or not receiving multiple degrees will allow you to gain multiple traits or not, but from the way the social groups work with getting extra traits, I don't think you can get more tha one, but rather get an opportunity to change that one you earned if you want. As a side negative that's not too important, your social standing in these groups can go down in your hometown if you don't do the things that keeps your rep up at Univeristy. Another main negative is the relationships you make at University do not transfer back home. Jace ended up getting a boyfriend at University, so when she came back home I tried to get her to call him, but he didn't show up in her contacts. In fact, none of the people she met at University were in her contacts. When she went back for her second degree, her relationship remained intact with her boyfriend and her other friends. I really wanted to be able to have him back in the town with her so they could date and possibly get married. In the second trip back to school she even ended up getting the permanent Faithful moodlet for being loyal to him in their relationship, but when she returned home that moodlet was gone and not in the contacts again. I wish that they made it possible for you to invite your friends you made at University to your town so that way you can continue the relationships you had with them. Othewise, you only get to see them as many times as you can go to University until you completed all your degrees. I hate that Jace made so many friends only for those friends to not be able to be contacted at all. Despite the few negatives that I have about the expansion pack, I didn't take any stars off because of the positives. There's so many positives that it outweighs the few negatives there are. Yeah, it sucks that Jace never truly received her first diploma, but now I can buy bunk beds for some of my other Sim families that have children, something that I really wanted. I have so many new objects and clothes and oppurtunities for my Sims that it all works out for the best. Right now, I don't have any photos to share, but I will update this to include photos of the game and the way I received it and also screenshots of Univeristy and Jace's third trip there. I hope to include screenshots of most of the things I talked about in this review. Overall, this is one great expansion pack for Sims 3. New items, new town, new clothes, new adventures. Yeah, there's some small problems that it has, but they can't get it perfect. Afterall, the imperfections are what make the game so great. The imperfections of not keeping friends from University makes you treasure going there more for your Sim. Now, I can't wait to get more Sims 3 expansion packs.

I love the game its amazing. I did have a small problem with installing it. I have 2 other sims expansions and when I had finished downloading sims 3 university it said not installed correctly. I had to uninstall and install it again 3 times before uninstalling all my sims games and reinstalling all 4 again. It is now qorking perfectly. This has nothing to do with the retailer probably a sims 3 glitch. But i would recommend buying from this company.

¿Qué pienso del vendedor? El producto llegó en buenas condiciones. El servicio fue veloz y eficiente. El precio fue razonable. Me encantó que estuviese disponible, dado que es un producto cuyo lanzamiento fue hace años y era difícil de conseguir en México. Es la segunda expansión que compro aquí y estoy muy complacido con el servicio por los motivos expuestos. ¿Qué pienso del producto? Esperaba mucho de esta expansión porque suelen ser buenos estos productos. Pero era mejor de lo que esperaba y la inmersión que permite para el jugador es digna de elogio. No se conforma con ofrecer la "experiencia universitaria", sino que incluye varias funciones, herramientas y habilidades que pueden trascender la vida colegial. Una expansión divertida y muy completa.

gioco arrivato con molto anticipo! la persona ha cui l ho regalato ha gradito molto, ha detto che è possibile vivere nel dormitorio dell università oppure avere una casa propria ed affittare le camere, insomma davvero fantastico dovrebbero farlo anche per il 4!

ES UN JUEGO MUY ENTRETENIDO PAR LAS NIÑAS Y ADOLESCENTES, TIENE MUCHAS POSIBILIDADES PARA ENTRETENERSE , AUMENTANDO LAS ACTIVIDAES QUE PUEDEN EJECUTARSE

The game loaded and played flawlessly and the delivery was a day even earlier than I expected. I am more than pleased and happy with the service and will recommend Amazon to all I know and will use it for as much of my online shopping that I can.