Review of Sims 3 Late Night Expansion Pack for PC

Like any fan of the Sims series, I made sure I had pre-ordered my game just to ensure that I would have a copy on street delivery day, as I have encountered issues in the past with finding my copy of newly released games do to stock being sold out. I'd be a dummy to repeat that mistake.

When I heard that the next expansion pack Sims 3 Late Night would be hitting fans up this October 26th, I placed my pre-order immediately.

Now the first thing that disappointed me before even getting the copy in hand to play was the fact that this new release looked like it would deliver an awful lot of the same content we saw in the Sims 2, nightlife.

This version however does in fact copy a bit of the older version of the game when it comes to certain objects, but at the same time adds new twists and elements of game play into it that will tickle the fancy of any Sim fan.

The very first thing you will need to do after launching Late Night, is create a new game, and choose Bridgeport as your town. This is the newest town available to play in the game. However if you like the town you are in now you can simply add the new buildings to free space lots to have a city like effect in your present town. However I would suggest just giving Bridgeport a look, if even for a bit.
Bridgeport is a tightly packed little island featuring city buildings, high rises, apartments, and it has a whole city vibe going on, right down to billboards. The only thing missing is wandering hobos and shopping carts filled with old clothing or cans.

Anyhow before even getting a feel for the new town, you will want to create your Sims. I decided to make just 1 Sim, figuring it would be easier to keep track of him and it would give me a deeper player experience if I focused my attention on just 1 Sim.

While creating my Sim, I noticed a little something new added to the making of my Sim. A muscle slider. This newly added slider allows you to give your Sim more toned and defined muscles. It's a welcomed addition, as you will no longer need to download custom skin tones just to get that burly ripped look.

The women got a new slider too. I was hoping for a butt slider, but the new boob slider is neat too. It allows you to make your female Sims a little larger in the chest department.
There are a slew of new club goer fashion assortments for you to choose from in both male, and female departments.

There are also new traits for you to pick for your Sim, as well as new lifetime aspirations. This game pretty much focuses in on the celebrity aspiration, which is awesome.

I wanted my Sim to be an famous actor, and at the same time I wanted him to be in a band. I knew I would not have much time for scooping up a girlfriend as I would keep my Sim so busy trying to climb the ladder to fame. Once completed, I called him Eddie, and he was a Taurus.

I am not sure what the point of having horoscope signs added into the game were for, but I am sure it has something to do with certain Sims clicking or not, based off of their birth sign.

At any rate, Eddie was a thin muscle bearing stud. I dressed him up in some rocker fashion, gave him a piercing, a few tattoos, and eyebrows that made him look mad all of the time. He was rock star and movie star quality. The bad boy, with traits that included: charismatic, party animal, star quality, virtuoso, and great kisser. His lifetime goal was to become a famous actor.

Once Eddie was complete I now had to figure out where he was going to live.

Bridgeport
 
The town of Bridgeport looks tightly packed with high rise buildings. Running the mouse on them shows you how many bedrooms and bathrooms the loft or apartment will include. Some buildings are more expensive than others, like any other town. You also have the option of living in a house, but who would want to do that with this neat new option of apartment living?

I chose a nice 1 bedroom, 1 bathroom apartment for Eddie.

I had no idea where in this large high rise building Eddie would be living. He stepped inside of the building and entered an elevator. I was only given 1 option, which was level 18. Cool! A nice high view of the entire city.

Once on level 18, I was a little disappointed with how cramped Eddie would be living. His 1 bedroom, 1 bathroom apartment contained a small kitchen, a small bathroom, and an empty larger room which was supposed to be where Eddie slept or watched TV.

I was not able to adjust walls or anything, all I could so was decorate the apartment and move around furniture. On Eddies level there were 3 other doors in which I could ring the doorbell. These doors were the apartments of other pre-made Sims which became his neighbors. I really liked this feature as I could throw a quick social party right in my apartment with these neighbors.

Eddies neighbors consisted of an unemployed Sim with a strange club like nickname. In fact all of his neighbors on the floor level had these same odd club nicknames. It reminded me of Jersey Shore. All I had to do was create a Snooki Sim and I was good to go.

Besides this unemployed Sim, Eddie got lucky and discovered that one of his neighbors was a vampire. She was easy to spot because she had fangs and paler skin. I wanted Eddie to befriend her in hopes that she would eventually transform him over to a vampire. I mean how cool would it be to have a celebrity Sim, who is in a band on the side, with fangs!? Eddie however did not like being around her much as it put him in a bad mood. No matter though, I knew I would eventually become one with her, and suck the life out of Bridgeport.

After becoming acquainted with my neighbors I decided to take Eddie for a walk outside to see what this new town had to offer. I round a few Jacuzzis randomly places in alleys and Eddie took a dip without being directed. No matter though, because I was enthralled with the pool, and the new shapes and graphics of the water. A stunning improvement on EAs part, and something I knew I had to explore further once I decided to move Eddie into a ritzy home near other famous Sims.

You will notice these homes on the hills but your Sim will not be able to visit them, as a dollar sign shows up instead of the option to go visit. I imagine you will need to either be very rich to obtain access into visiting these homes, or you will have to gain some star power. At any rate I liked the fact that I had to work towards reaching the goal of being able to visit these upper class dwellings.

Game Play
 
The next thing I wanted to do was check out the new club scenes. You can easily find clubs located around town by looking for glowing green lights outside of the building. Once inside you will find a few other Sims playing pool, darts, or other new billiard games.

Eddie entered and found a male vampire entertaining a crowd while he strummed a giant guitar, bobbing his head wildly, and his glowing red eyes just gave the entire place a really neat vibe. When Eddie saw this commotion going on he suddenly got a lifetime wish to jam with another Sim. I directed him over to the drum set on a small stage in the club and got to playing.

Apparently he did such a horrid job, that the talented musician vampire Sim packed his guitar and left. Eddie had cleared the entire room with his horrid music skills. A few hisses and booing followed while the bar room emptied out in a hurry.

Once back home, I realized that Eddie would need money in order to pay his rent. Granted I could always cheat using the motherlode code, I decided to play this game the legit way, so I used what was left of Eddies funds to buy a PC and have him find a job. Naturally he was going to work in the film and acting department.

No less than a few moments after taking on the job Eddie wished to gain star points. The higher the star count, the more famous Eddie would become.

The following day he got his first star point for making friends with a famous Sim celebrity.
All in all game play is really interesting, and a whole lot of fun. There are plenty of new things for your Sim to do, and the added addition of celebrity status, vampires, and becoming a famous band are much appreciated. New clothing and furniture is actually done up nicely for a change, and I have to say this has been the funnest expansion pack in the lot.

Another thing you will notice is that Sims in general are more animated, they seem to have a new dialog when they talk which gives off more emotion than ever before. You will also notice that when Sims have certain behavioral traits they will act upon them a lot more than they used to.

Graphics:
 
Graphics in Late Night also seem to have been pushed up a bit. You will notice water seems much more realistic and enticing. Sims in general remain looking the same for the most part, but with the new sliders they look a lot more realistic, and less clay like than what they used to look like.

Controls:
 
Controls in Sims 3 Late Night all remain the same. They are easy, flawless, and glitch free. That is of course, if your PC can handle the games requirements.

Overall:
 
The Sims 3 Late Night is a wonderful expansion pack for the Sims 3. It brings all new elements of game play, really neat new situations, and the town is a lot less boring. Vampires, famous rock stars, famous actors, it's all there.

What I would have loved to see though was real celebrities added to the game like in Sims 2. Guest stars like Drew Carrey and so on. Seriously EA, give us the Jersey Shore cast. Haha.