The Sims 4 Perfect Patio Stuff is all about creating the perfect patio for your Sims home. It comes with a wide selection of items such as chairs, lights, umbrella tables, and a grill, but most importantly, it comes with hot tubs. Hot tubs were left out of The Sims 4 when it launched last year and since launch, hot tubs have been one of the most requested items by Sims fans. It’s great to see this item return to the game, but is the stuff pack worth it though?
The Sims 4 Perfect Patio Stuff Trailer
The Sims 4 Perfect Patio Stuff Review
The Sims 4 Perfect Patio Stuff is a decent stuff pack when looking back and comparing it to the first stuff pack for the game, Luxury Party Stuff. This second pack is slightly better than the first because its gameplay item (hot tubs) is much better than the gameplay item in the Luxury Party Party Stuff (chocolate fountain). As a player of the Sims I can envision myself using hot tubs a lot more than I would ever use the fountain. The hot tubs are great as they can be used to increase your Sims social needs if you have more than one Sim in the tub at particular time, as well as a variety other things like your Sims comfort, or their need for fun.
The hot tubs in the Sims 4 are a little different to the ones in the previous games as they now allow for the first time in the series for kids to join adults in the tubs. So no longer are the tubs restricted to just the adult group. Hot tubs also come with Woohoo/skinny dip options for the adults as well as the ability to try for a baby. For teens using the hot tubs, they have the ability to “mess around” in there, if they wanted. The tubs are able to fit up to 8 Sims at a time.
On top of the social interactions that Sims have with other Sims while in the hot tub, outside of the hot tub, Sims can upgrade their tubs (if they have leveled up their handiness skill). Achieving level 3 in this skill will unlock the option to put in an aromatherapy upgrade. By adding this upgrade, your hot tub will now have an effect on your Sims moodlet. As some of these upgrades and their effects may be spoilers for those looking to level up and discover what happens for themselves, I won’t detail about the effects. But if you would like to read on about them and don’t mind knowing what happens at each stage of the upgrades, please take a look at Sims VIP’s guide on Perfect Patio Stuff which you can find right here.
Hot tubs are only one of the items in the game and like in Luxury Party Stuff, there are a whole heap of decorative items. All of the items can be used to create your very own patio in the game. Please take a look at my video overview for Perfect Patio Stuff below as I can show you more clearly what each of the items are like in action. In total there are 32 items available for you to purchase in Perfect Patio Stuff through buy mode, however the fence and the gate are available through the build mode.
The Sims 4 Perfect Patio Stuff Item Overview
Really the main item is the hot tub. But the other items can be used to create a nice enough patio for your Sims. The only item I had an issue with in the game was with the bar that you get in this pack. The top of it just doesn’t look right to me, some may enjoy its appearance but as shown in my video overview above and in the picture I placed below, when compared to the bar in the Luxury Party Stuff, it’s just not the same type of quality. I am not at all a fan of the grainy like texture on the top of the bar’s counter.
Luxury Party Bar is on the left and Perfect Patio Bar is on the right | The Sims 4 Perfect Patio Stuff Review
Overall though, I did enjoy creating a patio with the items available in the pack. Here is my patio for you to take a look at.
My Perfect Patio | The Sims 4 Perfect Patio Stuff Review
Perfect Patio Stuff also comes with a few new clothing items and hair styles which can add some variety to how your Sims appear in the game.
Male Clothing
Female Clothing
Hairstyles
It’s always great to have new clothing to choose from during the create a Sim process. But it would be nice if this was more evenly spread over the age groups. There is not much at all for kids in this stuff pack, except for one hairstyle. It would be great if there was more variety for the kids as their range is fairly small in the base game and it really needs more clothes added to it.
Perfect Patio Stuff also adds some new music into the game. If you have this pack you’ll be able to listen to the new “backyard” genre radio station on all items that are able to play music in the game.
With the price being $9.99 USD/$14.99 AUD it does seem to me that the pack is a bit expensive for what you do get. But if you really want to play with the hot tubs and don’t mind the price at all, it’s not a bad purchase to make and in my view this is the better stuff pack of the two currently available to purchase.
Overall The Sims 4 Perfect Patio Stuff offers all the items you need to create a nice patio at one of your Sims homes. The content for the price is fairly similar to that of the Luxury Party Stuff, but it is slightly better than the previous pack as its gameplay item (hot tubs) is far more useful. Hot tubs are great gameplay items. The variety of things you can do with the hot tubs makes them a fun addition to the base game and many players will likely enjoy adding these to their homes. The kids could have really had more attention though, as it would be great to have some new clothes for them to wear in the game and some minor details here and there could have been better made. It’s the hot tubs that really make this pack worth it and it’s great to see this item in The Sims 4.
Sea Of Solitude is a game which was developed by Jo-Mei Games and was published by Electronic Arts. It is available on PS4, Xbox One and PC via Origin. It is a single player third person adventure game. The game has the player control a character named Kay who explores an abandoned and flooded city.
This was a game which caught my eye only very recently when I first heard about its release. After watching the trailer, I thought the art style, strong colours and animations looked very interesting. Also as a person who went mad one day and subscribed to EA’s Origin Premiere late last year so that I could play some games I had missed out on over the years, I was pleased to see something new added to the store that wasn’t a typical Electronic Arts style major franchise game. Knowing I could get this one for free was enough to give it a go. But if you’re not part of that program to get it for free, I’d say that the $26.95 asking price for this digital title is certainly worth it.
The game isn’t too long, most hardened gamers will probably be able to finish this one in a single session, which I actually managed to do yesterday morning. I didn’t time myself, but I’d say to expect about 3 or so hours out of it, a bit more if you look around for collectables.
Sea Of Solitude Review
On the surface, Sea Of Solitude is about a young girl named Kay, who is searching through a city, which is for some reason flooded. You start the game all alone on a tiny boat, way out at sea on the water. You make your way to the city, where you find a monster clad in darkness is blocking your path. Through exploration and activating certain things, Kay brings light to an otherwise dark city.
Underneath the main plot though, is a game with strong messages and themes related to loneliness and relationships. Kay as a character is someone who has become lonely, isolated and quite depressed after issues with her family and her boyfriend. The game sends the player on a journey to free Kay and other characters from suffering from the effects of loneliness and related themes. What I didn’t expect this weekend, was to play a game which seemed to have the objective of tackling these mental health issues in this way and I never expected to play something this weekend from the gaming genre with such deep meaning to it.
In many ways, Sea Of Solitude reminded me of my experience with Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice which was also a game that focused on mental health issues and is still a game I hold in very high regard. Both of these games were experiences that I could not put down once I started playing as I just had to find out what was going to happen with my character. Games tackling these mental health themes and the issues involved are quite rare in this medium, so when an experience like this does come along, it’s very unique and interesting. The difference between Sea Of Solitude and Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice is that Sea of Solitude is a little lighter in tone and not the intense gruelling experience that Senua’s was. This makes a player’s time with Sea Of Solitude one that is peaceful to experience.
Sea Of Solitude Review
The art style in Sea Of Solitude is something I enjoyed looking at. The animations are very rounded, colours stand out on the screen and the use of blacks in contrast with visibly bright blues, whites and orange was what I loved the most. The music and also the voice acting, was soft and did fit in well with the tone of the game’s themes and art style. All together, visuals and audios seemed to be just right.
The gameplay in Sea Of Solitude is something I’d say is probably a little simple. It’s essentially a platforming game where you will jump, swim, drive a boat and shoot flares onto enemies. There aren’t any button combinations to learn or any level up systems. The game is accessible to people of most ages and even to people new to gaming could easily pick this one up and get through it.
Overall coming out of playing Sea Of Solitude, I was filled with positivity and happiness. The story is quite heavy when playing through it, but very warm in the end. The art style and animations are nice to see and the sound and voice acting was just right. I do like to see that the games industry can use the medium to tackle such heavy topics and release games like this which show how well this medium can tell a story and provide its audience with something of great meaning. I’m happy to recommend Sea Of Solitude for your gaming collection.
Stuber is a film which comes directed by Michael Dowse and stars Dave Bautista, Kumail Nanjiani and Betty Gilpin. The film is an action comedy adventure about an Uber driver and a policeman who go on a wild ride together.
Going in to see Stuber I didn’t really know where to set my expectations. Knowing only that the film was a comedy, meant I went in for the lols and didn’t expect all that much from the story. But coming out of the film, I’m sorry to say, but it’s not really that great.
The film starts off okay and the opening scene features both Vic (Dave Bautista) and Sara (Karen Gillan) engaged in a dangerous shootout with some bad guys. Both are seriously injured and Vic loses his eyesight, which means he gets some urgent surgery. His eyes need time go recover, but as soon he’s able to walk he calls for an Uber and continues on with his police business, which is catching the bad guys who got away in the opening scene. This is where Stu (Kumail Nanjiani) comes in and the journey between this awkward duo begins.
I wish I could say that it was all good once the Uber ride began but it wasn’t. The film is only really mildly funny. Dave Bautista who I do really like in action films really isn’t great at comedy. Kumail Nanjiani basically was just screaming and yelling the whole time and talking about his Uber rating and reviews. I admit I did find some of the bad reviews he got from his previous customers in the film funny when they were shown, but that’s about it. Some of the jokes were also drawn out way too long. Dave Bautista’s character being blind was kind of funny in the first minute when you saw him trying to walk around without being able to see. But it’s only funny once and they did this joke over and over again almost all the way until the end!
In addition to this, for quite a bit of the film, I wondered if this was some sort of product placement or advertisement for Uber. There were so many mentions of Uber, Uber reviews and the difference between Uber products and services. What are we paying to watch here? Who cares about Uber!?
In the end I would suggest avoiding Stuber at the cinema this week and choosing literally any other film currently showing. After leaving this I instantly thought that Stuber needs to be on my list of worst movies of 2019 which I created just after seeing this and that says a lot because I was not compelled to make one after seeing X:Men Dark Phoenix.
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Sahar
June 25, 2015 at 3:26 am
Liked the review. I have only one comment on the video overview to make it better; switch to day time view in build mode so we can see the items you’re showing us properly. Night view is too dark.
Bryan Weatherall
June 25, 2015 at 2:08 pm
Thanks for reading my review 🙂 I appreciate the feedback, it is a bit too dark actually, I will put it in day time mode for the next video
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