The Sims 3 Roaring Heights is the latest playable world to be added to the Sims 3 and is currently available for all to purchase. Roaring Heights introduces Sims 3 players to a vintage themed world which takes inspiration from the 1920’s-1930’s era and is actually quite a nice world to look at. Depending on which content players purchased with Roaring Heights, (gold or standard Bundle) they are able to gain access to a new world, new outfits, a new car and the boardwalk venue.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A1RtpKjYfZI[/youtube]
Roaring Heights as a world looks wonderful with a mix of a city landscape with tall large buildings that glow bright at night and a coastal beach edge that basks in the glow of the nearby light house during the night. During the day Sims can visit the beaches or any of the town locations for fun. Roaring Heights like other Sims worlds such as Isla Paradiso is filled with career option buildings for Sims to work at during the day to earn income for their daily duties and purchase items such as the classically cool fixer upper car. The world of Roaring Heights is visually appealing and one of the nicer worlds in the the Sims 3 for players to play in.
The Classically Cool fixer upper car is one of the main new items that is available for Roaring Heights players. It’s basically a car you buy during your playthrough of the game which comes all beat up and barely working. It is up to you and your Sims to restore this car to its former glory by working on the engine and the body of the car. Sims will gain handiness skills from working on the car which can be used for a whole variety of activities such as driving around Roaring heights, revving the engine, making out with other Sims, play music, have dance parties and even woohoo other Sims! The classically cool fixer upper car was my favourite item in Roaring Heights. I enjoyed having the music on and having my Sims gather around and work on the car together. Woohoo’s and make out sessions with Sims are funny in the car and it’s a cool item to play with.
It would have been good though I think if there were more options to customise what I’m doing to the car though, such as coloured wheels or different designs which may have made the experience more immersive rather than just clicking on the car for Sims to either work on the engine or work on the body.
One Issue I had with Roaring Heights was that while I was trying to be immersed in this 1920’s/1930’s world, there was the interference of anachronisms in this world. For example the illusion of being in this world is broken for me when my Sim is working on the classically cool fixer upper car in their vintage clothing and their mobile phone rings! Worse than a phone ringing though is that when I go to work or catch a taxi it seems that in Roaring Heights I’m the only one that has a vintage car! All the other vehicles in Roaring Heights are the same vehicles we see in all the other worlds. So for me this type of thing breaks the style that the world is trying to go for with Roaring Heights. For me Into the future was a much better experience because in Oasis Landing there were all types hover vehicles for Sims to use, the world was more consistent. I do know that Roaring Heights is not an expansion like Into The Future was however, and that it’s mainly just the new world which is offered, but still, I would have appreciated some consistency in the vehicles, it would have added so much to the game.
The new clothing in Roaring Heights is good though and I like the styling and how my Sims look in the game. I’m a fan of the Great Gatsby film and if you are one as well I guess you can now throw Gatsby type parties at your Sims houses or make your Sims act out all types of stories with these new outfits. As soon as I moved into Roaring Heights and had my Sims dressed in the world’s themed clothes, I liked it. It would have been good to have more clothes though, but for what it came with. I thought my Sims looked good in Roaring Heights. I liked the style and the look of Sims in this game.
Another thing that you can also do in Roaring Heights is visit Contessa and Consort Capp who were a family in the Sims 2 but are now living in Roaring Heights. You can find them around the town or just by visiting their home. The Capp’s are also playable characters so you can just play as the Capp household if you wanted to. But I did find Consort and Contessa Capp to always seem grumpy to chat to or to play as or anything. Strange people the Capp’s.
One of the big places to visit in Roaring Heights is the Boardwalk Venue. This venue is basically an amusement park for your Sims to visit and comes with a roller coaster which Sims can ride. It’s a nice looking venue and if you like seeing your Sims go around a roller coaster then you probably will like it. I thought it was okay, but it didn’t really blow me away riding around the roller coaster, others might enjoy it though.
Players can also construct their own Roller coaster in the game either at your home or at a place of your choosing. However when I did it at home I did not have enough space to fit a roller coaster at my Sims home. The roller coaster items are big and require a lot of space so a home version was difficult to put in. But I do like having the option to build my own roller coaster. I think many players will enjoy building their own roller coaster for their Sims. Yet I do think the combinations are difficult because of the parts you get to have, but creative players might find a way to make some awesome roller coasters. I also like that the parts are cheap, $150 was just about as expensive as a part would be and that was good with many parts being much less to purchase in game. This meant that it doesn’t cost too much for a Sim to buy their own roller coaster.
Overall I did like the Roaring Heights world and it does come with a lot of items and things to do such as the Boardwalk, the roller coaster building for the players, the classically cool fixer upper car and the new clothing items. The Roaring heights world looks great and the big tall buildings make it unique. The themed city and style of Roaring heights is also excellent and the way everything looks with the vintage theme is fantastic. The only downside though is the anachronisms that interfere with the immersion such as your Sims mobile phone ringing, or the modern cars in the streets of Roaring heights. But other than the anachronisms in the game, it’s fun but does not share the same level or detail or experience which a full expansion offers such as Island Paradise or Into the future, it does have it’s own distinct style though and that’s what Roaring Heights offers players, and if that’s a style you would love for your Sims, then Roaring Heights is what offers it.
