The Sims 4: Adventure in the Jungle PC Review
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Our favorite virtual doppelgänger go to the jungle. Electronic Arts brings us The Sims 4: Adventure in the jungle in its latest pack of content to make us wrap ourselves up with our pith helmet and our machete ready to become an Indiana Jones without a whip and live the adventures that our usual place of virtual residence does not allows us. The Sims 4 are an infinite source of content, after passing through the box office, which make this series one of the longest and most vivid in the history of video games. If it's worth the investment or not in this particular pack, we'll see it right away.
About the Game
As we all know, the additional content for The Sims 4 is divided into three categories. The expansion packs are the packs that contribute the most content to the game . They are those that add playable content in addition to hairstyles, clothes and accessories and are usually the most expected by the community. For example, the last of them, Dogs and Cats , which expanded the Sim universe with our four-legged friends. The second category of these add-ons are the content packs . Although sometimes the line that differentiates these packs from those of expansion, as a rule they are satisfied with adding some new buildings where they can play and add new interactions between our sims and the world around them. Finally we have the accessory packs , which this time clearly limit us to offering a series of thematic content that does not go beyond some furniture and objects, clothes and hairstyles.
The one we will analyze today belongs to the second group, that of content packs. In addition, its mechanics is very similar to the existing "Camping " pack . Adventure in the jungle takes us on holiday to Selvadorada, a holiday destination that shows us the charms of the jungle and gives our sims another place to escape from the routine of their pixelated lives.
Gameplay
To access some of the new place, just use the phone or computer and use the option to go on vacation . The game mechanics is not new, since once you start the holidays you must choose the place that will be your temporary residence in your new destination. The options, although not very numerous if they are varied, and the price per night depends directly on the amplitude of the site and its comfort. The cheapest one has two rooms but with the handicap you can find in it plagues of spiders. The rest, although much more expensive, have different advantages associated with the place as we already saw in the Urbanitas expansion . Some, for example, propitiate the romantic state of the people who inhabit it, so it can be the ideal place if in your journey through Selvadorada you intend to explore something more than the depths of the jungle. We also have a resort with eight beds, if what we want is to spend a vacation with our group of friends or if we have a family nucleus as wide as unsettling. As said before, the options cover the whole range of needs without being too many.
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Before going on vacation you have to have some savings and have days off at work . A concept painfully similar to real life. Money is the only way to rent a home for a specific time, so if you do not have enough you will have to get settled in a cheaper destination or you will have to cut back on your vacation days. Regarding work, being out more days than you have will result in a drop in performance in your profession, something that you may not care too much while you are on your summer break, but that will make you turn the most difficult reality if possible . Therefore the advice is clear, save time and money before going on vacation.
Once in Selvadorada you will spend time in two main places . The canteen, where you can taste the local delicacies and chat with the locals, and the depth of the jungle. You also have a museum to visit, but the lack of material in this will make you rarely repeat visits once you've seen it. The canteen however will become your usual starting point, since it also has a street market in the backyard, and will be the place from where you get supplies before starting your journey through the jungle. In it you can buy all kinds of souvenirs and supplies that you will need later.
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The real purpose of your trip is to discover the secrets of the deep jungle , and although there are several sites to discover, initially marked with an interrogation on the map, you will soon learn that it sounds better than it really is. In practice, you will limit yourself to approaching some gates covered with vegetation that you will have to eliminate to be able to cross. For this you have two options, with a machete that you bought at the market, or with your hands. If you choose the first option (you will do it if you carry one of those precious knives with you) in a moment you will be going through the portal. If you prefer to do it with your hands, half of your work will be so painful that you will have to rest a few hours, always attending to your basic needs. In the end the result is the same, but with a consumption of time and resources that you avoid using the machete.
Once you cross the portal there is a random text event of the kind that happens from time to time as you work. On this occasion we have three options. Do nothing, intervene with a level of success determined by our vital abilities (such as charisma, for example) that will be indicated to us, or use a specific object if we have it in our inventory. The first of the options does not report a prize, the second depends on the skill level and a luck component, and the third one assures us success in the event. In these events invariably failure can report a bad state of our sim, such as fatigue or illness, and success brings us objects with which to fill our inventory and the shelves of our house.
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This action is something that is repeated every time we access a new area, and although these are not many, the biggest incentive to visit the jungle is to discover all those points of tourist interest . Some of them are natural waterfalls that bring out our most romantic side, other thermal baths in which to recover the energy consumed by the road or a temple that will fill our pockets with simoleones if we decide to sell the treasures found in it. Perhaps in the section that most promises is where the expansion is shorter. Trips to the jungle, which we will have to repeat several times since there are areas that are not unlocked in the first visit, turn out to be very monotonous, something that is ironic when we assume that what we do when going on vacation is precisely to escape from the monotony.
The Pack's Add-ons
As regards the rest of the pack's add-ons , if it can be said that it complies with what is expected. The new aspiration of archeology will force us to study the excavations that we find in the jungle and the objects that we find in it. Progressing in this race will allow us to even join some of the pieces and gems found to build mythical figures with magical powers that we can use on ourselves or other characters. Before using one of these pieces, we do not know its effect so the surprise component gives us extra fun. Some of those that I have been able to prove have caused my sim to contract an infectious disease that made him sneeze compulsively - and who had physical contact with him those days - and another one turned him into a skeleton with exclusive interactions and that allows you to forget about the needs basic and power, for example, improve during those days the skills you want without having to sleep, eat or go to the toilet.
Another one of those reasons to want to progress in the game is the interaction with the natives of Selvadorada . As we talk to them, new options will be unlocked, such as using the local greeting, asking for specific locations in the jungle, sharing photos or even, when we reach the maximum knowledge, ask for the secret food they serve in the positions only suitable for chosen palates.
Also as it could not be otherwise the pack comes with a good handful of new items so we can build a colonial style house, new clothes and hairstyles for our sims and what is most remarkable for these extras, the new rhythm musical, Latin rumba, that we can learn to dance exclusively.
Game Details
Developer---------Maxis, The Sims Studio
Publisher----------------------Electronic Arts
Series-----------------------------The Sims
Platform---------------------Windows, OS X
Release date------------February 27, 2018
Genre--------------------------Life simulation
Mode----------------------------Single-player
Media-----------------------------Digital only
Themes----------------Vacation, Traveling, Adventure
Creature----------------------------Skeleton
World---------------------------Selvadorada
System Requirements
Minimum system requirements
REQUIRED: Internet connection required for product activation.
OS: Windows XP (SP3), Windows Vista (SP2), Windows 7 (SP1), Windows 8, or Windows 8.1
PROCESSOR: 1.8 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo, AMD Athlon 64 Dual-Core 4000+
MEMORY: At least 2 GB RAM
HARD DRIVE: At least 9 GB of free space with at least 1 GB additional space for custom content and saved games
DVD-ROM: DVD ROM drive required for installation only
VIDEO CARD: 128 MB of Video RAM and support for Pixel Shader 3.0.
Supported Video Cards: NVIDIA GeForce 6600 or better, ATI Radeon X1300 or better, Intel GMA X4500 or better
SOUND CARD: DirectX 9.0c Compatible
DIRECTX: DirectX 9.0c compatible
INPUT: Keyboard and Mouse
Recommended System Requirements
REQUIRED: Internet connection required for product activation.
OS: 64 Bit Windows 7,8, or 8.1
PROCESSOR: Intel core i5 or faster
AMD Athlon X4
MEMORY: 4GB RAM
HARD DRIVE: At least 9 GB of free space with at least 1 GB additional space for custom content and saved games
DVD-ROM: DVD ROM drive required for installation only
VIDEO CARD: NVIDIA GTX 650 or better
SOUND CARD: DirectX 9.0c Compatible
DIRECTX: DirectX 9.0c compatible
INPUT: Keyboard and Mouse
Conclusion
The set in general that is found in the pack leaves the feeling of good investment. It offers a few hours of specific entertainment trying to unlock all the locations of the jungle and leaves us for the posterity of our game enough additions to justify its price. But it is true that also the sensation of lost opportunity. In previous installments we have seen specific content such as The Shipwrecked Sims or The Medieval Sims that offered us a type of game that would have come as a surprise to this expansion. It does give the feeling of traveling to another country, as it should, and it's because the idea, so requested by the community, was good. The Sims is a franchise that seems immune to the passage of time, and many of the players who today sit down to spend a few hours with their virtual pets have been able to enjoy them, literally, all their lives.
Happy Gaming!!!!