Sunlit Tides announced
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The Sims 3 from EA
It’s no coincidence that this world coincides with the release of The Sims 3: Seasons; with Seasons we’ll get a variety of weather, including hot summers where our Sims can get sunburnt, and with the latest game patch our Sims will even be able to swim! Sunlit Tides is described as a scattering of islands, which our Sims can now swim between. We’re told that it is a ‘modern downtown’ giving way to ‘waterfront vacation homes’ and an ‘island waterfall’. The beach/jungle theme suggests light and lush colour themes, so white ‘exotic bungalows’, green palm trees, sandy beaches and an inviting ‘sun kissed’ blue ocean. The screenshots and swimming made me think of a Lost-type grouping of islands – I’m definitely looking forward to playing this!
But who’ll be buying Sunlit Tides? With two much-anticipated new expansion packs already on the way (Supernatural and Seasons), expecting fans to fork out for a new world might be pushing it a bit. One hang up is that we already have an ocean-themed world, Barnacle Bay, in The Sims 3 Store. We also already have a hot, desert-themed world, the recently released Lucky Palms. Some fans have complained that after spending their money on Lucky Palms, Sunlit Tides is just too similar to be worth the extra money. Some even said it was unfair of EA to release the worlds together, and that they should have kept either Lucky Palms or Barnacle Bay to be combined with Sunlit Tides, later released alongside Seasons to make use of our Sims’ swimming abilities with the island layout. Other fans have been confused as to the release of a summer-themed expansion for Seasons, as we can’t make use of all four seasons – no one wants to see palm trees in the snow!
Whilst I can understand these complaints, I also appreciate why EA have only released Sunlit Tides now, and released Barnacle Bay and Lucky Palms earlier – because they hadn’t perfected the Seasons interactions yet, and they wanted to give us something to satisfy our ocean/beach world cravings until they had. As we know, fans have been craving Seasons for years, and EA waited until they had it right before they chose to release it. I think the same can be said for Sunlit Tides (i.e. with its islands and swimming). However, being a recent (and rather skint!) graduate, I certainly won’t be spending any extra money on a new world any time soon – two new expansion packs is definitely enough for now! So, sorry Sunlit Tides, I’ll be keeping myself busy with The Sims 3: Supernatural’s Moonlight Falls - you’ll just have to wait!
