Hi, everybody, a while ago I wrote an article on Sims4Fan.com, but I wanted to share it here in English, with a little update, anyway there it is:
Since the announcement of The Sims 4, we’re all so excited to discover more about the game, but today I will talk about neighborhoods that we could probably found in the base game. Yes, I said "neighborhoodS" !
First, let me remind you that we have identified several types of environments over time:
( The official concept art of Rivera)
(The neighborhood inspired of New Orleans)
(The modern style one from Gamescom)
(An unconfirmed concept art inspired by Vernazza (Italian city) by Tony Ianiro)
But only two (for the moment) seem to be confirmed as part of the game: Riviera (confirmed by EA), and the New Orleans inspired neighborhood (the first official images of the game). But you’re going to say "yes, but the area with houses with the northern European style, and the modern area were also taken from the game”.
The problem is that the Nordic style, although it seems to be advanced, enough to probably not be just a simple test area for developers, this image comes from the first leak in August. However, after the revelation of The Sims 4 to the world, why has it not been published by EA as an official image (unlike all the others)? The answer to this question would it be relate to the design of GUI that could displease some players? Hope it’s just that ...
For the modern area, it is (for me) much less sure, since the picture comes from the Sims Camp at Gamescom, which had here the goal to show the capabilities and opportunities for building, etcetera... But if we think about it, it may just be a residential area, a group of modern houses that would be in any neighborhood. Like in the image of Nordic style area, look at the house in the foreground...
And finally we have the Vernazza inspired concept art. There is, in my opinion, a very little chance that it is in the base game because of its aspect maybe too touristy. Maybe on a vacation themed EP, or for the Icarus project, which we know absolutely nothing so far. Only the future will tell !
We can also mention the other concept art of Tony Ianiro, with this neighborhood that strangely looks like Strangetown of The Sims 2:
(Strangetown from The Sims 2)
But also to its Sims 3 version, Lucky Palms:
And even if those are not official (which is why I prefer not to dwell on it), I cannot stop telling myself, with this diversity of environment and nostalgia, that it is likely that the base game will offer several neighborhoods, and perhaps even those of The Sims 2. Which wouldn’t really be a surprise, because The Sims 4 seems to be very close to The Sims 2, graphically and spiritually.
But it was after long hours of searching and viewing images on the web, trying not to say stupid things, that I realized that many of these environments could be in one and only neighborhood: Rivera! And I know that for some people it seems obvious, but for a French person like me, or anyone who doesn't live in the USA or who has never visited New Orleans, it is NOT, simply because this city has a very diverse architecture which change from neighborhood to another!
Anyways, for those who didn't noticed that, Rivera is not only a neighborhood with old buildings along the water, it is actually completely inspired by New Orleans, and several cities in the southern USA !
Thus, we would found in Rivera:
- Buildings Inspired of the French Quarter of New Orleans:
- But also inspired by the Riverwalk of San Antonio (for the lights):
(Elements that we can found in the official concept art of Rivera)
- A New Orleans style inspired by the famous St. Charles Avenue, with rich mansions and the famous streetcar:
(Elements that are found in the first official images of the game)
Oh God ! Jazz absolutely has to be back in the Sims now !!
But what about the Nordic style one?
It is, indeed, impossible to see timbered houses in Rivera, as the architectural styles do not come from the same areas of the world, so it would make no sense! But strangely, the image reminds us a lot of Veronaville from The Sims 2:
(Image of Veronaville from The Sims 2)
There is also something really intriguing that I found on Twitter recently, published by @SimsDomination, which reveals that in fact all the modern houses presented at Gamescom come from the Nordic style neighborhood, see:
SimGuruGraham said on Twitter: “What we showed at Gamescom was a tiny fraction of the content that'll be available in the final game in nearly every way.” I think he’s completely right, and that he was also talking about Sims 4 neighborhoods.
To conclude, we can say that from all we know for now, we might expect The Sims 4 to offer a minimum of two neighborhoods, Rivera and Veronaville’s successor, maybe even a third one with Strangetown ! Or even more ! Who knows? Well… EA knows, of course! Hope we get real new informations really soon. Maybe on March at the Games Conference 2014!!
And sorry for my bad English, I'm French so... ;)
