The Sims games have a big legacy behind them. With the Sims and the Sims 2 being the best selling PC games of all time, they define fun simple game play at its best and I consider myself a fan of the series.

The Showtime Expansion pack gets you in a new town called Starlight Shore based off southern California towns, like Venice beach, where people go in hopes of making it big. The town has lovely locations and many places both you and your Sims can visit (you can’t get an inside view of some locations) such as karaoke bars and museums. However the game’s biggest features are the three new careers available for your Sims. They can be an acrobat, a magician, or a singer. These professions come with their own noble lifetime wishes, Master Acrobat, Master Magician, and Vocal Legend, which all require you to reach level 10 in your career. To try all the new careers, I made one household with an acrobat, a singer, and a magician.

House party
It isn't always like this...

All three of them can perform in any location for tips, but the best location that can be chosen is after a SimFest when there are many people still lingering about. The more people around you the more tips you get. Even if no one is present when you perform you still gain job experience.

What all three performers can do is perform for tips and also venues, and as you become more proficient at your job you come closer to becoming famous. To get a gig you must audition in front of the proprietor. This doesn’t guarantee you’ll do well however, as there are many times when you begin you will mess up, even if it’s somewhere as embarrassing as SimFest.

Magician throws wand
It's a park, not a 10,000 seat stadium.

The singer has a special service she does to further her career called Sing-A-Grams that are preset but not a requirement. There are several types of grams Sims can get, like Romantic Grams and You’re Special Grams. In addition to that, your Sim can sing specific songs of your choosing.

Romantic Sing-A-GramMeiko outfit on singing singer

The magician can be made to perform trademark magic tricks such as flowers from wand or instant cards. However, he can become extremely repetitive and mess up a lot, but he’s still in his first level so maybe he learns some new tricks later on.

Flower in wand trick

Socializing with booker
The only thing he's good at is socializing and cleaning.

The acrobat can be made to juggle various things including swords and mime. Whether it’s running against the wind or the invisible box it’s always amusing to see. Although you’re pretending to run against the wind, an actual wind forms and blows you away, which is fine because logic doesn’t apply to Sims games.

Miming with windjuggling with swords

I’ve been keeping my Sims living poor because it seems time is against me and I can never get enough money as a performer, even as a group of three! Maybe it’s just that controlling three Sims at once can be a challenge, but the energy bar is my worst enemy.

sleeping in public place

Also, everything in my house constantly breaks and needs cleaning. I would buy new fixtures but everything can be

Broken sink, wet floor, and hungry Sim.
Pictured above: Normal state of the house

fixed for free and my Sims don’t make much money. I gave the magician the neat trait and later on the speedy cleaner trait with his Lifetime Rewards points. I then made him the unofficial household maid and repairman, which hasn’t given me much time to develop his magic skills. Even so, the other Sims constantly need to be kept energized, fed, entertained, socializing, and all that good stuff. Also he complains about staying in the house, I thought because he’s family oriented that wouldn’t be a problem but apparently stay at home Sims need a life too.

My Sims experience overall has been pretty fun, the graphics are decent and the houses are very customizable. One of the best things about the game are the smooth controls where you can use either your keyboard or mouse to adjust your view, which is an integral part of the game. If you use Origin to play the game you can download new content, some of which is free. SimPort is a feature that I have not yet tried. This option allows you to travel to the town of another friend or transport him or her to yours. I’ll be playing some more and see if I can make my Sims’ Lifetime Wishes come true and showcase some more of the game. I hope you look forward to the second part of my review, because I know I am.

bow
Thank you, thank you!