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Electronic Arts have revealed the first details of the seventh - and possibly last - expansion pack
for The Sims, which has a working title of Makin' Magic.
With development well underway on the already superb-looking
The Sims 2 (look out for a preview of this next week), what looks to be the final add-on for the original Sims is, as the
title kind of suggests, based around casting spells.
Like its predecessor, The Sims Superstar, it bases its appeal
around the premise of being able to do stuff that you couldn't do in real life. The primary gameplay objective is to collect
ingredients in order to cast spells, with three constituents required for each trick. There's also a sub-theme based around,
remarkably, cooking.
Most spells are, like the Sims themselves, very much domestic and suburban orientated - creating
food, boosting relationships with people and even decorating your home (look out for the tasteful line in Tuscan-style objects
for your house).
So, Dish Wish clears all your washing up for you, Horn of Plenty covers your dining table with food
and Reign of Riches obviously sorts you out with some dosh. Naturally, all spells can backfire if they're performed in the
wrong circumstances - with suitably punny consequences. Suffice to say if Reign of Riches goes wrong, all you get is lots
of rain.
The ingredients for the spells come from three key sources: making them in the home, buying in Magic Town
or going on quests for them. While you're provided with a spell book that gives you details of all (well, most) of the possible
permutations of ingredients, it doesn't actually tell you what each spell does until after you've tried it out. Cue plenty
of random spell-casting on hapless Sim guinea pigs.
You'll need a Paul Daniels-stylee wand to execute each enchantment,
with the number of wand charges you get being based on the three core skill types: mechanical, logical and cooking.
In
total, there are 12 main spells that you can cast on other people, 12 you can cast on yourself and an as-yet unspecified number
that you can perpetrate on inanimate objects (such as putting out fires).
One of the best tricks we saw was having
the ability to teleport yourself around the place. But if you do too much magic in front of 'non-magical' folk then you'll
be fined. Presumably for breaking the magician's code, or something.
Magic Town itself boasts a haunted house theme.
But the best aspect of the place we've seen so far is that you'll be able to build - and then ride on - your own rollercoaster.
Which isn't very magical but quite cool nonetheless.
Makin' Magic certainly lives up to the level of quirkiness of
previous Sims expansions although it's interesting that, unlike earlier upgrades, this isn't really based so much in the 'real
world'. Whether the current pop culture interest in the likes of Harry Potter and David Blaine was an influence remains to
be seen, although none of the Sims in the game seemed very interested in encasing themselves in a block of ice. Which is a
relief.
The Sims Makin' Magic is scheduled to be released on PC at the end of October, to tie in with Halloween. Expect
more details and shots soon.
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