Tag: better graphics

The (Frustrating) Sims FreePlay

On By Michel McDonaldIn GamesLeave a comment

The_Sims_Freeplay_1

I have been hooked on “The Sims” since the late 90’s when I first heard about it.  I was living in Hollywood and talking to someone on AOL who lived in Michigan and he told me about it and so I started playing.

I have the original Sims game with all the expansion packs.  I don’t have The Sims 2 or The Sims 3, but I heard they have way better graphics and are way more fun.  Although, I do have The Sims 2 Pets on my PSP, but it’s not the same thing as the PC version.  I also have The Sims Castaway for my PSP, I played The Sims Online when that was available and I play The Sims FreePlay on my Android phone, which is a ton of fun, but it can also be frustrating as hell.  Here is my page dedicated to The Sims.

The Sims FreePlay runs in real-time.  Like, say I have 16 Sims, which I do, and 2 of them go to work at 9 a.m. and 2 go to work at 10 a.m., well, I have to get up at 8 a.m. to get my 9 a.m. Sims needs filled up so I can send them to work.  That only takes a few minutes, but then I close the game and wait until 9 a.m. so I can get my 10 a.m. Sims to work.  That again only takes a few minutes.

So then I close the game and come back to get my noon Sims ready for school and work, but while I’m in the game, I go to use the wardrobe and it crashes the game and when I come back into the game, all of the Sims that I had sent to work are back in their houses.  All of the Sims that I had put to work in their garden who don’t have to work until later tonight aren’t working in their gardens anymore, they are standing in the front of the house or sitting on their couches picking their noses.  What the hell?  Seriously?  Why the hell did I wake up at 8 a.m.?

I don’t really care that that happens because the Sims end up making more money with gardening anyway, but I would love to not have to wake up early specifically to get the Sims to work and then have that BS happen.

My other grievance isn’t just with the game, but I think it also has something to do with my phone which is a HTC One V from Virgin Mobile.  Sometimes when I play the game it’s fast and I don’t have any issue getting around, while other times it’s so slow that I can’t get the screen to move at all.  The Sims characters are all either just standing or they are in mid stride trying to get to where they were going.  Then every minute the screen dims and then in a few seconds the phone goes to sleep and then I have to push the power button, slide the ring up and then wait for the screen that tells me how much my town is worth lol.  To prevent that from happening, I have to be very quick and pay close attention, but it’s hard when the game is sluggish.  The other way to prevent it from happening is to keep it plugged in while playing.  When it’s plugged in, the screen dims, but it doesn’t go to sleep.

I have to admit that it really is a fun game to play, even though it is laggy and glitchy.  I just built a Medieval Castle and it’s pretty cool, although it only had 1 bedroom which sucks because I have 2 Sims plus their 2 teenagers.  It had 2 dining rooms so I converted one of the dining rooms into a bedroom for both the kids.  It has both of their beds which they never sleep in since I have them drink an espresso to fulfill their sleep need lol.  The bedroom is more for decoration really.  I also wanted a place to put their study desk and their bookshelf and to showcase their Karate and Ballerina lamps LOL.  It seems silly, but it’s fun for me.

sims medieval castle sims kids room medieval castle

To answer your question, yes that Sim is wearing an Easter bunny costume lol.  I just took him out of it today and put a more medieval costume on him, the King costume.  Both of my Sims in this house are wearing a King costume, since they are a same-sex couple.  I tried getting the son to use the wardrobe to see if there was a prince costume, but naturally they only had kid clothes.  That’s why the game crashed.  I guess I have to build the costume shop to see if they have kids costumes.  My same-sex male couple have a son and a daughter and I would love for their clothes to match their house, even though I have added some things to the house that aren’t medieval lol.

Well, I just had to rant about it lol.  I guess there isn’t anything to do about it but just deal with it I guess.  I did install the original Sims game on my computer just so I could see the differences, and trust me, there are huge differences lol.

WizOrb PSP Mini

On By Michel McDonaldIn Games, PSPLeave a comment

wizorb_titlescreen

I have been spending a lot of my time lately either resting in bed, getting a shiatsu massage or a vibrating massage because of the chronic pain that I have been suffering in my back lately.  I say lately, but I have had Degenerative Disc Disease for a few years now, or longer, I only found out a few years ago from an MRI that I had it because of my shoulder pain.  I have actually been suffering chronic pain for a long time, but it comes and goes and this time it seems like it doesn’t want to go because I have been in constant pain for the last couple of weeks.

Because I’ve been spending a lot of time resting my back, I have been wishing I had a more mobile computer than my Chromebook which doesn’t seem to want to be used anymore since it disconnects from my WiFi as soon as I start typing.  I have many devices that I can use besides my desktop and my Chromebook, but they don’t load websites as well.

My cell phone is, as I like to call it a dumb phone, since it’s not a smart phone.  I would love to buy an android phone from Virgin Mobile so I can do all of my internet stuff while laying in bed, but since I don’t have one, I figured I would go onto the MediaGo Sony Store to see what new game I can download for my PSP.  I had $2.09 available in my account, so I figured I’d find something around that price, and I found WizOrb in the Mini section for $1.99.  That should keep me busy since it’s a new game I’ve never played before.

I loaded the game and played the first bit of it and was a little confused because it basically looks like I’m playing pong, but with better graphics lol.  Speaking of the graphics, it reminds me of The Legend of Zelda for my old Game Boy from 1994, except in color.  It’s like Link’s Awakening to Pong.

That’s just my first impression, I haven’t really gotten to know the game yet so I can’t really form an opinion of the game until I get really into it.  I do look forward to playing it though because it does look like a ton of fun, even though it’s a PSP Mini lol.

I will come back and blog about how much fun I am having when I get to play it more.

Update: This game is really hard lol.  I give them props for difficulty, even at normal pace.