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The Sims 4 Free Trial Draws More Criticism For Maxis

By Erin Staley
Published on: 13:58 PST, Jan 25, 2015

In a move most likely designed to drum up lagging sales figures, EA games subsidiary Maxis has offered consumers a free trial of The Sims 4. Maxis’ latest entry into the flagship The Sims franchise has been met with mixed reviews from consumers and critics. While some have praised The Sims 4 for the overhaul of the Create-a-Sim system and the Build and Buy modes, others criticized the long list of features missing from The Sims 4 which had been franchise standards. The missing features range from appliances like trash compactors to entire life stages, like the much bemoaned missing toddlers.

In an effort to lure fans who were reluctant to join the new era of The Sims, Maxis added The Sims 4 to Origin’s Game Time service, which allows a limited time sample of a game. In the case of The Sims 4, the sample is 48 hours. Of course, the trial is not without some rage-inducing hoops. On the official Sims 4 forums, users complained that the Game Time system counts time spent on the Create-a-Sim trial released last summer ahead of the official game release. Users have also complained that the trial is for 48 hours from the time The Sims 4 is started, meaning if player starts the game and can’t get back to it before the trial runs out, they are out of luck.

The complaints about The Sims 4 have been more nuanced and varied than simple gripes about the trial period. Maxis isn’t running away from the mountain of complaints about The Sims 4. In fact, they are almost begging users to comment on what they think can be done to improve the game.

And so far, they are getting plenty of complaints. One user made a very succinct post about their gripes to the official forum.

“What disappoints me: That there are no toddlers, I’m a family player and this is something I cannot play without. That the world is very small and that I can’t edit it. The lack of open world, this is probably something you can’t fix sadly. The textures of the game, they’re flat and make the game look childish for me, another thing I don’t think can change. Babies are just objects, this really upsets me. That teenagers to elders are all the same height. It just ruins the immersion, there is little that separates them gameplay wise, aesthetically they look exactly the same as YA and Adults. There’s a loading screen everywhere. No cars. No services.”

Several players have gone to the forums to thank Maxis for the free trial, but say they won’t purchase The Sims 4 until the lack of content is addressed. Not everyone hates The Sims 4. One Twitter user shared plans to hunker down during a blizzard with the new game pack, The Sims 4: Outdoor Retreat.

Will you purchase The Sims 4? Have you tried the demo of The Sims 4?

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