[typing]
You know, there's something to be said about the lifestyle of a hermit Sim.
And that is, it sucks.
I mean, what is there to do
besides mediate among the swamp grass and abandoned cars?
You've had enough and you need to get out of there.
So just hop on over to your trusty old computer
and get a moving date set because you're about to leave
the middle of nowhere for the outskirts of somewhere.
Your heading to the City of Bridgeport.
Yes, this is the third expansion pack for The Sims 3,
Late Night,
and it's the cure for what ails you –
as long as you're being ailed by loneliness and agoraphobia.
While you can go out on the town in The Sims 3,
and even do so late at night, I might add,
it's just not the same.
And unless you get TS3:LN,
you'll be SOL.
In order to access most of the features of Late Night right away,
you'll either want to start a new game in Bridgeport,
or move your Sim from their old neighborhood to the new one.
Once you do, you'll be greeted by bridges, high-rises
and dive bars galore,
followed by intermittent yet certain snobbiness.
There's a crap-ton of changes, so we'll get right to it.
The first thing you'll notice in Bridgeport is the severe lack of houses.
That's because most of the living spaces are now located in high-rise apartments
or downtown brownstones.
They provide far less space than most houses,
but they'll cost you less than a house
and you'll have the convenience of living in the city.
However, unlike in Apartment Life for The Sims 2,
you usually aren't able to roam about the building,
instead only having access to your own loft.
You'll also get a nice bit of privacy living in a penthouse,
since the only access is by elevator,
and you can pick who comes in the building
by way of a ground-floor buzzer system.
Inevitably, you'll soon bore of the reclusive living quarters
and want to explore downtown.
Living in the city, you'll have virtually no need to own a car.
So you can walk, bike, or take taxis as always.
But there is also a subway system for public transportation,
which acts like a fast-travel teleport
between stations.
From the street, you'll be able to access the new enterable venues:
bars, dance clubs, and high-end lounges.
Bars are rather self-explanatory.
They are generally hang-out spots
that are open to everyone from evening into the night.
You'll often find new games to play,
like darts,
shuffleboard,
arcade machines,
and loose women.
You'll also find bartenders, or mixologists.
These Sims are there to provide all sorts of services,
from providing bar food and mixed drinks of varying potency,
to just standing there listening
while your Sim rambles on about life,
the universe and everything.
They'll also provide entertainment,
as the more skilled they are, the better show they'll put on when mixing drinks.
Your Sims can also attempt to learn the mixologist's skill,
eventually gaining the ability to moonlight as a mixologist
for extra Simoleons.
But only after breaking enough glass
to fill one of Jigsaw's torture chambers.
It's now also worth noting that you can now travel in groups of friends,
barhopping all night long
and generally being obnoxious as a team,
which always makes for some memorable hijinks.
Next, you have dance clubs.
Once again, it is what it is.
A club were you'll dance, dance.
These are the lives you'd love to lead.
There's still bar stuff in there, too,
so it's pretty much just a darker bar
with louder music and sweatier Sims.
Finally, you have high-end lounges and private clubs.
These are awesome, and the best of the best, but guess what?
You can't just get in on your own accord.
One option is to just bribe the bouncer.
Usually 50 or 100 Simoleons will work.
You can flirt and seek your way in.
But good luck getting to talk to anyone,
since it will be obvious you weren't supposed to be there.
You see, these social lounges are only for the most elite of Sims,
so in order to fit in, you'll need to climb the social ladder
to stardom.
This brings us to the new Celebrity system of late night.
It's one of the biggest additions,
and it's just the measure of notoriety among all Sims.
And you start at the bottom.
In order to gain admittance into the exclusive clubs,
and especially the VIP sections,
you will need to be famous.
This can be achieved in a variety of ways,
from simply climbing the career ladder and slowly gaining fame–
which works very well with the film, music and sports careers–
or befriending celebrity Sims of higher rank than you,
which is displayed in stars out of five.
And of course, just being filthy, stinking rich will do wonders.
They won't let you in? You BUY the club.
Then see what they say.
But still, anytime you talk to a top-end celebrity,
you will get snubbed until you impress them.
You can try all sorts of things to get their attention,
like bragging about how much money you have,
your skills, your job,
or even name-dropping other celebrities, if you know of any.
And the more you get to know a celebrity and their friends
increases your own fame.
Eventually, you'll be recognized all over the place,
with Sims begging to talk to you,
wanting autographs, taking cell phone photos.
And of course, the paparazzi will be out and always watching,
delving into your private life and generally making you miserable.
You can still go a little crazy, but just keep your panties on.
How you react to all this attention
will determine how you're perceived around town.
with you getting free stuff and open entry to clubs at your peak,
to being ridiculed, being taken to court
and pasted all over the tabloids at your lowest.
Slow to climb, quick to fall.
Becoming a superstar athlete or actor
are the most obvious ways to gain fame,
and those careers have been expanded to allow for just that.
But a new way to do so is to form a band.
It's a lot of work, but I really enjoy this.
If you and another Sim or two have at least one skill point with an instrument,
you can start a band.
And there are three new instruments to choose from:
an upright bass,
the piano
and the drums.
Scout around for some talent,
like bar dwellers and park hippies,
and get to know them and form a band.
You can jam, create songs,
and name your group whatever you want.
Eventually you'll get gigs and side projects
and fame and money and it's all good from there.
Eventually, you'll register as self-employed
and make enough bank to live off of
quite comfortably.
Kicking back in the clubs,
totally not getting high in the VIP lounge,
with the new Simlish hip-hop music blaring.
Watch out for the green bubbles, man...
And all of this gets thrown for a loop a little bit
with the final main addition:
Vampires.
The game seems to want you to think that they're uncommon Sims,
but within the first minute of playing the game
one came knocking on my door,
promptly prompting the Hunted Moodlet to appear.
Yes, these are vampires in the classic sense.
They hate sunlight and garlic,
have superpowers, and lust for blood.
And there's not a sparkle in sight, thank goodness.
They do require permission to feed, though,
so not everyone will become Vampires, unless they want to.
Just get to know a Vampire a little bit
and then grant them the ability to either feed on you
or even become a Vampire yourself.
You'll get this totally metal animation
and in a day or two, you'll turn into a Vampire,
complete with a new skin tone, fangs and evil eyes.
And yes, superpowers.
As a Vampire, you can enter Sims' minds
doing things like reading their thoughts
or influencing them to like you.
You'll also gain skills more quickly at night,
run like the friggin' Bionic Man,
and go into infrared mode
to hunt for the best candidate to feed on.
all while looking cool and scaring the crap out of morons.
Yes, being a Vampire is pretty much awesome.
Well, except for the whole sunlight and no food thing.
You'll have a thirst for blood, or plasma,
that you'll need to fulfill either by feeding on Sims
or eating and drinking plasma fruit and juice.
And if you're out in the sun too long, you'll start to burn,
grossing people out and eventually passing out
and having your vitality zapped for a day or two.
Thankfully, it's hard to die from sunlight,
so you could actually live your life as a nightwalker pretty easily.
Other additions to the game
consist mainly of items in Build and Buy Modes.
In Build Mode, you have the aforementioned elevators
which are a requirement for high-rises.
There's also new half-walls, which are walls cut in half,
often with a little decoration along the top.
In the Decks and Foundation section,
you now have platforms,
which are nice for separating a section without requiring stairs.
There are also–hey, whoa.
Why is a urinal in an art gallery?
Oh, how convenient.
Uh, yeah, there are also curved pools and the addition of fountains and spouts,
which are pretty cool, but there's still no freaking diving board.
However, hot tubs have finally returned
and yes, you can go skinny dipping.
And yes, you can woohoo in them.
Just watch out for the paparazzi,
as it may be hazardous to your fame's health.
And actually, you can now get it on in elevators.
Dare I say, love in an elevatah?
Livin' it up when I'm going down.
There are also plenty of new decor and useful items like TVs
and a totally awesome in-wall virtual fish tank.
And thank everything holy, you finally have the ability
to move wall art up and down,
so you can use all that extra wall space to be tacky!
And finally, another addition to the home is the Butler.
which is like a Maid, except totally useful.
They live in your home and will do all sorts of stuff
that the Maid would scoff at, like give massages
and repair broken items.
The final additions are clothing and Create-A-Sim options.
At long last, the oft requested breast and muscle tone sliders are here.
allowing for totally ripped dudes.
And totally... unrealistic ladies.
Seriously.
You end up with lots of Sims running around with Lara Croft syndrome.
And frankly, it's needlessly distracting.
Although, it fits right into the fakeness factor
of the Celebrity lifestyle.
Also, you can now simply choose your Sim's lifetime wish,
instead of having to pick it based on your traits.
There of course are new traits to match the new features of the game
and there's now astrological signs which have been brought back
from previous games,
which is used for extra compatibility or something, I dunno.
And as you'd expect, there's all sorts of new apparel for men and women
in pretty much every category, but especially in regards to clubbing attire.
And much of it's actually pretty cool for once.
Except for the stuff that's not.
So is Late Night for The Sims 3 worth buying?
As always, the suggested price by EA is $40,
and you get a few piddly items for registering the game online.
But, and this is a first for me,
I have to say that there is no question that Late Night is worth buying.
It is absolutely worth getting, even at its full price.
The amount of new things you get that are actually fun and useful is superb.
Unlike previous expansions,
this one really just focuses on expanding the main Sims experience
and lets you do whatever you want with it.
And it seems like there's something for everyone.
So if your a fan of The Sims 3 and have left the game alone for a while,
make the game worth playing again
and go out and grab Late Night.
[jam band music plays]