Oh hi? I bet you didn’t hear this from me first, but the new sims 4 expansion is out, Lovestruck! I am no reviewer, I just like writing up little informal blogs by having a thought dump about my feelings on CAS, build&buy, the world and gameplay. Also, I bought this pack with my own money, and even if I was lucky enough to be gifted from EA, no one could ever take away my honesty.
Lets start with CAS. I love it. I’m just going to attach a screenshot showing all the new items that I love! If you want to see all items, you can check out all the new items in game by clicking on packs on the main menu and clicking on lovestruck. As shown below, you can scroll through all the CAS and build mode items added!
Anyway…here are the items that I love and will see myself using!
If I were to make a tier list, both the earrings, sunflower shirt, ombre oversized shirt and the ombre oversized jumper would be in the S tier. The earrings are my favourite and I love the colour range they come in. I think CAS overall is very solid and the tattoo of the crossing out of names is hilarious. There are no CAS items for kids/younger aside from some of the hairs crossing over. It is a little disappointing as a cute love heart printed jumper for kids for example would be fun. It makes sense they got nothing though given this pack is about adult relationships.
Alright, onto build mode, again, I’m going to add a series of screenshots of the items I like then talk about my thoughts!
Build mode…build mode…build mode… where do I begin? First of all, the plant selection is chefs kiss, but once again, they have added in a plant where it is two plants joined into one item, WHY? Just let them be placed as individuals!!! I am still mad over the growing together plants too cause that set of four plants is so cute but placing it is a nightmare. Why do the Sims team hate us so much! Also, I am SO glad they added jacaranda trees cause they are one of my favorite trees! They are so pretty.
The new backsplash tile is very pretty but lacks swatches imo. I hope they add more backsplashes in the future. The new animal statues/plushies are so adorable. I love plushies and animal statues in my game so I will be using these a lot. I also love the curtain beads!! They are very hip and cute. The new artwork is chefs kiss and I love that we have new LED wall decals cause I loved the ones from the High school pack! Speaking of High school years, the style of this pack pairs well with Lovestruck!
However, I am critical of the build mode selection. I wish the giant mirror was placeable on the small wall height. Considering they added no new doors and windows for medium or tall wall height, then we get some giant mirror that can’t even be placed on the lowest wall height kinda ticked me off. I also just wish we had…more. We got a lot of romantic-styled furniture, which makes sense, it is a love pack. However, we got this beautiful new world called Ciudad Enamorada, inspired by Mexico! It feels like we have barely any items in build & buy that represent the culture and style. Build & buy had so much potential here and it flopped. You can also absolutely say the same for create a sim, the clothes lacked representation of Mexican culture. I feel like if the sims are introducing a new world that clearly represents a location, the build & buy and create a sim should be following those representations.
I think for the reasons above alone, I will die on the hill that this pack should have been a game pack similar to parenthood. The romance systems, the app along with romantic style build & buy and create a sim would have made for a great game pack. I had the same conclusion when growing together came out. I think the world of Ciudad Enamorada hasn’t been done justice and it would have been better suited to a different style of expansion. I think it would have been fine if we had more representation of Mexican culture, there is some, just not enough honestly.
Whilst I am on the talk about the world. I think Ciudad Enamorada is gorgeous. There are a lot of pretty romantic spots to put down a blanket and get some cute moments. I love that you can travel via the bus stops, I waste so much time with sims running around trying to get home. Overall, there isn’t much to do in the world. I get why it is like this, and it is a common theme among all the words, I just wish worlds were more engaging. As for the separate areas in Ciudad Enamorada, Plaza Mariposa is by far the most gorgeous area. Vista Hermosa is pretty too but it feels like it is missing something. Nuevo Corazon, whilst it is nice to have more penthouses (even though I low-key hate them because taking screenshots on those lots is an awful experience,) that area has like…nothing in it, meh.
One more thing I want to add, which may be a hot take; I hate the emphasis this pack puts on exercise and health = love. You don’t have to be ripped and the epitome of health to be loveable.
Okay, I have waffled ALOT. Onto a random thought dump with some screenies…
Yeah…. Justice for the loners, please? I wanna just sit and watch the sky. Alone.
Summary; Axolotls carry this pack.
Romantic satisfaction is bleh, this could have been done so much better! Cupids corner is okay but where are all these gallery sims we were promised? All I have seen are the regular townies and the random generated townies. The dates suck, having to go through all the menus just to get to a specific interaction is boring. Especially when you need to complete so many just to get gold, it feels like the gameplay consists of just spamming out socials and doing nothing interesting.
Positives? Axolotls, cuddling is cute, some nice items, the new gift menu is useful, and a lot of the new animations are cute.
I think I have constructed most of my thoughts? It isn’t a pack you can solely play alone, it is more of a nice background add-on to the game. So if you are looking for an expansion pack that really gives oomf to your game, this pack isn’t it. If you are looking for an expansion pack that adds more to relationships, I would recommend it, but I would actually recommend growing together instead if you are more interested in family gameplay!
Okay, I think this sums up my messy brain dump!
Chronically Cosy, aka Georgia :)
