The Sims 3: World Adventures - Expansion Pack (PC/Mac DVD)

As so many reviews have focused on the bugs the game has, I will try to focus my review on the gameplay itself, as the bugs will eventually be resolved through patches.

World Adventures is an attempt to take the Sims series in a new direction. It adds a puzzle element to the gameplay. Sims go abroad and whilst there can go on 'adventures' which include collecting objects, visiting places, befriending locals and perhaps most significantly exploring tombs. The tombs are a series of rooms filled with hidden doors, rock falls, traps, secret levers and treasure. The puzzles you need to solve in order to explore the tombs are generally quite simple- pushing statues onto pressure panels, 'inspecting' suspicious wall panels and so on. They may challenge younger children, but teens and adults will have no problems with even the more advanced tombs (which are longer, but not really any more difficult).

Though there seem to be a large number of tombs, they are not randomised, so once you have solved them once working through them with a different Sim family becomes a slightly dull exercise in just clicking in the right spots. This leads to limited replay value for this expansion pack, however with the possibility to download user-made tombs, this should keep the interest going.

In order to travel your Sim must pay a fairly large amount of money, and can only stay in the destination for a few days. Later trips can last longer once you have earned enough points for a higher level of visa, but this does lead to some frustration when your Sim gets sent home half way through a tomb. Many people have complained that travel is too expensive, however Sims come home with large amounts of treasure which can be sold and will easily cover the cost of the next trip. There is also a compulsory two-day wait between trips which prevents you working through the expansion pack too quickly.

Sims do not age whilst on holiday, so Sims cannot live in the holiday worlds and babies, toddlers and visibly pregnant Sims cannot travel. Sims needs still have to be met, and you can purchase dried food and a tent to use inside tombs to avoid having to go all the way back to base camp in the middle of a level. Friends and relationships can be made, and if you wish your Sim can invite a 'foreign visitor' to stay at their house for a few days.

As you would expect from an expansion pack, the game also adds in some new wants and lifetime goals, a few new skills (such as martial arts) some extra personality traits and some new objects and building equipment.

All in all, not a bad little pack which adds a decent amount of content, but nothing so exciting that I would recommend it to someone who isn't already a Sims fan.

I have posted this review after reading many misleading reviews about sims 3 world adventures. I bought this game about a month ago, and although I have not been stuck on it and playing like crazy, I am sure this was worth my money.

The Bad:
*Hard to play between characters - It is very hard to be searching through a tomb and then look after a child ( they can't go in tombs ) as well. However, this minor glitch can easily be solved by either only taking one of your sims on holiday or just creating one character to play with. Altogether, I don't think this was the creators fault,I am certainly at a loss on how they could have improved this in playing.
*Not much to do - I found in some places, there was not much to do. It is more like just playing in a different village but I still felt this is a great game. It depends on what your characters like. Of course, going on holiday is fun anyway because you do not have to worry about school, homework or even your job - and you don't get sacked or demoted for it.

The Good:
* Fun and interesting, a great change in scenery.
* New activities, traits and styles.
* Exciting new places and people, tombs to explore and new friends to invite over to your house as well!

Just to say, on my laptop ( a £520 Packard Bell) it works perfectly ( make sure you can run it and have enough space for it as it is rubbish when slow). I could find NO glitches or actual problems in the game, It does not shut my down. Those who complained either had a faulty disc ( not sims 3 world adventures fault) or their computer/laptop could not run it.
Also, tombs do not become THAT boring. There are many to do, if you are quick with things like that, take it easy and do NOT keep going to Egypt. Not to mention that some tombs are easier than others. I found one in Egypt exceptionally hard.

Did you know:
* You can invite foreign friends to your house in the usual simsworld
* You can marry foreigners ( but sadly not live in their houses)
* How expensive each holiday is is chosen at random. In one game France was cheapest ( like in our normal human world) but in one, Egypt was!
* IT IS A GOOD GAME

To finish this review, I would just like to day that, overall I enjoyed this game and think it is worth your money and time. I also hope you found this review helpful and do buy sims 3 world adventures. Thank you for reading.

Purchased as a Christmas pressie and then could not load due to region incompatibility. After 'googling' it appears that the game, purchased through Amazon, is the Asia-Pacific Edition (Not for sale in Europe clearly marked). Managed to get the game working but not impressed and would have reservations about future software purchases on Amazon.