The Sims 3: Late Night Review

You know those God-awful internet personality tests? The ones that tell you which Harry Potter house you’d be in, or which superhero you are? Let’s do a quick, one question version of them. If I tell you that The Sims 3: Late Night adds in elevators, how do you respond?
If you’re the sort of chap or chap-ess who wonders why Late Night is even getting words written about it, then Sims expansions probably aren’t for you. If you’re curious as to why I’m talking about elevators in the opening paragraphs, rather than vampires or celebrities – two other things this expansion pack adds – then this might well be an expansion pack for you, so stick around. Finally, if your response was to excitedly plan where you can slot an elevator into your existing house, and how it’ll be placed behind a secret door and will lead down to your mad scientist’s lab, then you’re clearly a Sims fan, and… well, you may actually in for a bit of a disappointment.
See, the one thing that needs to be made clear about Late Night is that this isn’t an expansion pack that slots neatly into your regular Sims game. New bits and pieces like elevators and pianos can be dropped into your existing games, certainly, but if you want to experience everything Late Night has to offer, you’re either going to have to spend hours editing your town to put everything in, or you’ll have to bite the bullet and either move your family to Late Night’s towering metropolis of Bridgeport – losing your relationships and the like in the process – or create a family anew, geared towards the new content.
If you’re willing to embrace the new features that Late Night has to offer, though, you’re going to find a rather new experience. There’s sufficient content in Bridgeport that, if you pick a career in film, aim at raising your celebrity status, and spend your nights out on the town, you’re unlikely to repeat too much previous content.
Bridgeport is geared around celebrity: as The Sims’ analogue to Hollywood, being Someone is important. If you wander the streets or go shopping, your Sims will doubtless bump into celebrities and try taking photos on their cellphones or getting autographs, and they’ll certainly want to impress and befriend them – no mean feat, as the more famous a celebrity is, the more wealth/status/skill you’re going to need before they’ll pay attention. If you go out on the town at night, you’ll find VIP sections of clubs barred to you unless you’re famous enough. Celebrities get access to these areas, but that’s not all: they get discounts; they get happy moodlets from being recognised; they get free stuff; they get invited to celebrity parties. In Bridgeport, being famous is the be-all and end-all.
Chances are good your Sims will want to get in on the action. As your own star status rises – whether from being seen accompanying more famous celebs out on the town, or from work and celebrity challenges – you’ll get these discounts, freebies, and recognition. But fame is a double-edged sword, and any public indiscretions will lead to you becoming a pariah… until you sue the tabloids and get things straightened out, at least. It’s a system that works well, and actually requires you to play a little differently. Becoming famous takes effort, no matter what line of work you’re in.
{PAGE TITLE=The Sims 3: Late Night Review}
If you fancy something a bit different, you could always become a vampire, which is remarkably easy because roughly half the total population of Bridgeport are vampires. All you need to do is make friends with one, ask them to turn you, and within a few days you’ll have a more pallid countenance and a burning desire for blood.
Becoming a vampire results in a bevy of charming stylistic changes. Sleeping vampires have V’s, rather than Z’s, flying out of their heads. The icons for being tired, well-rested, hungry (well, thirsty; they are vampires) and satisfied change, as do their tooltips. The Need bars on the UI turn purple. These aren’t really the important changes, but – as with the elevators – they’re nifty little touch that made me smile.
But it’s not just about the style. Sims Vampires have most of the classic movie powers: they can move faster than other Sims, they can read minds, they can plant thoughts of themselves in the minds of others. They’re almost immortal, with ageing up taking far, far longer. They need blood rather than food and can hunt to single out a Sim they want to feed on (who they then need to ask for permission) although they’re just as happy snacking on “plasma juice” from a fridge. They’re happier at night, and supposedly suffer mood problems during the day (as opposed to bursting into flames and dying) although, uh, none of my vampire Sims appeared to mind. Even if they did, though, their celebrity lifestyles led them to be more active at night. Playing a vampire Sim isn’t a huge change, as they still need to get on with jobs and socialising, but it does present a set of unique new toys to play with – and The Sims has always been a playground.
On paper, the other changes aren’t as impressive but have arguably more impact on the game as a whole, assuming you’re going to create Sims that aren’t focused on the cult of celebrity. You can now control other Sims by proxy, at parties or gatherings, through a new dialogue option that lets you convince others to do things, for good or ill. Play matchmaker, or convince your boss to make out with the rising starlet on the dance floor, and then watch with glee as his wife berates him. There’s also a Group function, which lets you head out on the town with a group of other Sims and keep them with you whenever you decide to change venue. Considering the focus on nightlife in this expansion – on going out drinking, dancing, and having fun – that’s an incredibly useful tool.
There are other little tweaks that, again, come down to style more than actual gameplay change. Living in high-rise buildings and hiring a butler is nice, though the actual functionality doesn’t change much from living in a house and hiring a maid. You can mix drinks for tips, or play in a band now that there are finally instruments other than guitars, but in terms of mechanics it’s not a huge change to how you play. Make no mistake: the real meat of Late Night is in the celebrity system and the way it dominates and changes your goals.
I suspect we’re coming to the limits of The Sims 3, in terms of what expansions can do while remaining worthwhile, so let’s enjoy it while we can. Systems like convincing and grouping are the big mechanical changes, and the ability to take your Sims out clubbing in groups in The Sims 3′s free-flowing towns works wonderfully. If you’re willing to abandon your old Sim life and move to Bridgeport then there’s a lot to be found here, but as ever, it’s less about what’s added and more about what you choose to do with it and what stories you create.