Notable Additions

Notable Additions

With each of the expansions to the game comes new content of several types -- the more obvious new content being the activities and destinations that your Sims can complete and visit -- but in addition to those, there are some hidden additions that are not so obvious, the most significant being the added music and entertainment options (like TV).

-- Music --

The proper score to The Sims 3: World Adventure and much of the establishing and mood music in it was composed by Steve Jablonsky, who had previously composed the score to The Sims 3 base game as well as other Sims series games. What is not purely instrumental with respect to the music is, when there are vocal elements, a mixture of music and Simlish (the Sims language) that is largely lyrical, but that is not the complete story with respect to the soundtrack (if you will) for the game! You see in addition to music and Simlish songs there are proper regular songs in languages OTHER than Simlish in the game!

The Nudist Guitarist - Raw Ambition?

The more traditional songs in the game were recorded by a collection of very-well-known artists and groups -- many of whom in addition to providing music and songs for the game also happen to be fans! -- and this wide selection of music includes (but is not limited to) the following:

Audrye Sessions performing the song "Turn Me Off"

Broken Heart College performing the song "Na Na Na"

Cassie Steele performing the song "Summer Nights"

Esmee Denters performing the song "Outta Here"

Fefe Dobson performing the song "I Want You"

Friday Night Boys performing the song "Can't Take That Away"

Hot Chelle Rae performing the song "Say"

Katie Melua performing the song "If the Lights Go Out"

LeAnn Rimes performing the song "You've Ruined Me"

Madina Lake performing the song "Lets Get Outta Here"

Manchester Orchestra performing the song "I've Got Friends"

Matt and Kim performing the song "Daylight"

MeTalkPretty performing the song "Wake Up, Wake Up"

Natalie Portman's Shaved Head performing the song "Me Yr Daughter"

Nelly Furtado performing the song "Manos al Aire"

Pixie Lott performing the song "Mama Do"

Stefanie Heinzmann performing the song "No One (Can Ever Change My Mind)"

Young Punx performing the song "Juice and Sim"

The game is not limited to just the above songs, which are most often heard on the radio in the game, but also allows players to add their own songs to the game using the standard MP3 format, by placing them in the directory "My Documents->EA Games->The Sims 3->Music" which neatly explains how my Sims rock out to Tom Petty and AC/DC among others. Adding your own music to the game is a really good idea, especially if your Sim is one of the type that has to have some background sound all the time to be content...

-- New Lifetime Rewards --

Lifetime Rewards are both the best thing that ever happened to the series -- and the worse thing that ever happened to the series -- IMOFWTIW. The reason that they are the best thing that ever happened is that many of the rewards you can buy with your Lifetime happiness points are incredibly useful and important -- the Collection Helper, the No Bills Ever, and other such rewards are simply awesome and, more is the point, make many of the really annoying bits of the game less so. The problem though is that some of the most powerful rewards are also the most abused -- for instance the Moodlet Manger is probably the worse thing that they could have added to the game and easily the most abused.

The point behind moodlets is not for good or for bad, but to inject into the game both of those elements. There is an old saying that you cannot have good without bad because if you did, how would you be able to tell how good -- or bad -- it was, whatever "it" is, since you have nothing to compare and contrast it with? That being so, giving you the ability to simply negate any bad moodlet is easily abused, and what is worse, detracts from your overall enjoyment of the game in much the way that every cheat in a video game does! As a gamer and a serious Sim-fan, I never (NEVER) use cheats. Ever. If I have a tasty set of recipes to cook it is because my Sim learned them. If my Sim is wealthy it is because they earned or otherwise legitimately acquired that wealth, and not because I knew how to use the cheat system. I am just saying.

You must choose what you must choose, but I feel duty-bound to at least point out that you will appreciate better and more fully all of the many accomplishments that you obtain in this game if you do it the right way; using cheat codes is the one thing that can (and usually does) destroy your enjoyment of a game overall, and your enjoyment of The Sims in particular.

The focus of many of the activities that gamers pursue in the game ultimately is to increase their bank of Lifetime Reward Points in order to purchase the various special items and abilities that can only be acquired using those points -- and as a result the developers have always tried to add additional rewards to each expansion, and World Adventures is no exception.

There are an additional 11 Lifetime Rewards to be obtained in it, including Jetsetter, which reduces the costs for travel and trips, Prepared Traveler, which allows travel parties to stay at their destinations longer, No Bills Ever, which means just what it sounds like -- your Sims never have to pay the weekly bills! There is the Learned Relic Hunter Reward that sees your Sims finding much more valuable Relics on their travels, and Vacationer which allows them to take the odd day off of work without getting into trouble.

Getting robbed in the middle of the night

-- New Objects --

Each expansion adds objects, and in World Adventures those objects include domestic-types as well as the sort of culturally centric types that come from each of the three vacation destinations, but one of the most exciting additions to the objects are new items in the collection sets for rocks, seeds, bugs, and Relics, which of course are found while your Sim is on holiday.

Rocks can be turned into ingots and gems (for your ingot and gem collections) but it is the Relics that have most adventurous Sims excited. Sure, many if not most of the Relics your Sim will find are trash and worthless, but when your Sim lucks onto a very valuable one it can make their whole vacation that much better! Not only that, but once your Sim starts to collect Relics and you begin building your "trophy room" in your house, they make for some stunning displays!

-- A New Life State: Mummy --

The new life form of The Mummy was introduced originally in The Sims 2, and makes its debut in The Sims 3 through the World Adventures Expansion, taking the traditional form of the cloth-wrapped zombie-like creature, but in this case a cloth-wrapped zombie-like creature that is an expert at Sim-Fu!

Not only are they encountered in Tombs, but if your Sim makes the mistake (or the choice) of sleeping in a Cursed Sarcophagus of the Kings, they can then turn into a Mummy as a result, which depending upon how you look at it can be both a good thing or a bad... Personally I do not like them -- they scare me -- and the idea of having one of my Sims (who I have worked hard to develop and grow) turn into one is way down at the bottom of the list of things I want to happen, sandwiched between a Sim-Russian ICBM attack that wipes out my Sim's town, and Sim-AIDS sweeping through the Sim world. I am just saying...

In addition to presenting a random threat while adventuring, the Mummy doubles as the defacto guardian of the treasure in Tombs, and Mummies enjoy longer lives than mortal Sims and have no energy or bladder requirements -- but there is a price for those bonuses; they cannot reproduce for instance, and they are much slower than regular Sims, which means that getting them to complete time-based events or actions can be especially problematic...

If you want them to, your Sim can summon a Mummy using Canopic Jars that they can collect, but the summoned Mummy will be an older and slower variety than the ones you are likely to encounter while robbing Tombs... Bear that in mind, right?

-- Mummy Mechanics --

To have your Sim become a Mummy you must have them sleep in the Cursed Sarcophagus of the Kings twice -- the first time for a full sleep period, and the second time for a similar sleep period, and then they may/will emerge as a Mummy. To reverse the Mummy state and return to being a normal Sim again, you simply have your Mummy sleep in the Blessed Sarcophagus of the Kings twice.

-- The Mummy's Curse --

If your Sim has an encounter with a Mummy and the Mummy breathes a dark foggy cloud on your Sim they may be cursed. The game will tell you when this happens. Once cursed you need to cure the curse soon, as it has detrimental effects! There are five ways to cure this curse:

(1) Have your Sim buy a snake charming basket in Al Simhara and then practice snake charming to unlock the option to upgrade to a King Cobra. Once you have done that, charm the King Cobra until it kisses your Sim and that will cure the Mummy's curse.

(2) The Sim appeal to the Sphinx in Al Simhara, then explore the Tomb completely, and use the cleanse interaction on the special statue.

(3) Have your Sim rebuild both King's Sarcophagi -- the Blessed and the Cursed -- and then sleep in the Cursed Sarcophagus first (turning the Sim into a mummy) and then in the Blessed Sarcophagus (turning them back into a Sim).

(4) Have your Sim meditate for a few hours and that will lift the Curse.

(5) Obtain the Moodlet Manager Lifetime Happiness Reward and then click the Mummy's Curse Moodlet.

Bear in mind that if you fail to remove the Curse your Sim will die after two weeks of being afflicted.

-- Expansion Conclusions --

It is evident from the focus of the improved activities as well as the new ones clearly flows towards providing a more touchy-feely game play experience in which near-instant and instant gratification as well as instilling the sense of progress has been emphasized. This is not a bad thing, and keeping in mind that this section of the guide was not intended to be an inventory of all that is new in the game for this expansion, but rather to provide a very general sense of the major additions, it is safe to say that the development teams that worked on the World Adventures Expansion succeeded in nearly every way!

As you adventure in the game you will discover that far from restricting their efforts to the named (and unnamed) aspects and additions covered in this guide, a great deal of attention and thought has gone into improving the over-all game and the experience of play as well. When we say that we are not talking about the missions so much as the game interface itself... Bear with us for a moment and you will see what we mean.