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So your Sim has a house filled with three whole Stuff Packs full of stuff.
Stuff for their high-end loft,
fast lane lifestyle
and existence outdoors.
But there's one small problem.
There's no town to speak of outside of their stuff-filled home.
Or perhaps they do have a town, but it's missing something.
A little life, perhaps.
If you happen to find yourself in one of these admittedly hyperbole-ridden situations,
then Electronic Arts has just the bunch of bits on a plastic disc for you.
The Sims 3 Town Life Stuff.
This is the fourth Stuff Pack for the Sims 3 base game,
and it includes new venues and community lots.
Actually, this statement looks more like a warning than a selling point.
You get new Stuff for your Sims neighborhoods and homes,
and get to provide your town with some life, I guess.
But what if your Sim doesn't live in a town,
instead living in an outpost, camp, settlement, hamlet, village, borough, city, metropolis, megalopolis,
or other municipality?
Well, I suppose you're outta luck.
Or you'll just have to break the rules and place Town Stuff in what is arguably not a town.
Whatever the case, you'll be slapped in the eyeballs
with a very bright and crispy loading screen,
depicting what I can only imagine is a scan
of someone's architectural concept art
dropped into the program at the last minute.
From here, you'll be able to do whatever the nuts you want.
Whether it be starting a new town or continuing with an old flame.
But before you do that, you need to consider one thing:
After your brain explodes, you can come to a decision
and then jump right into the Stuff from this Stuff Pack and stuff.
At least you could if it were a normal Stuff Pack.
You see, when I think of Stuff, I think... stuff,
like objects and whatever.
Remember that purple warning label on the front of the box?
It may as well say "includes ONLY new venues and community lots,"
because objects are a bit short on supply.
But you do have some, starting with Build Mode objects,
which consists of a goofy-looking column,
two goofy-looking doors,
and two goofy-looking windows,
one of which reminds me of that bubble window
from The Sims: Livin' Large.
In Buy Mode, you've got some furniture,
including a dining table, coffee table,
a very modern sectional seat,
and a decidedly classic-looking chair.
There are also some unique- looking lights and bookshelves
that are of dubious aesthetic attraction.
In addition, you get a bunch of random objects
like a curvy shelf, a clear bust,
workout safety chart,
some workout gear,
some kind of strange, giant square things that make you feel funny,
a sign with a glowing, blue washing machine on it,
a plastic dragon that does nothing and looks stupid,
and this thing.
I... think it's a towel
but I don't really know because it has no description.
It doesn't even have a name!
Oh, man, I hope this gets fixed, because it's just sad.
You've also got a new fountain that looks kinda cool,
but it's just a fountain.
It's not like it's gonna fix you bacon or anything.
There are some new designs for objects like the chess set,
laptop, laundry tub,
clothes hamper, washer and dryer,
and assorted exercise equipment.
But if you have the Ambitions expansion,
you'll already have these in another form.
Furthermore, if you have Generations, then you'll already have kids' playground equipment,
which comes in conveniently slightly altered styles for Town Life Stuff.
Way to recycle your two-month-old items, guys.
So the objects are a bit lackluster,
but that's not where the biggest additions are with Town Life Stuff.
It is, after all, about the town.
So about the town is what you get.
This comes in the form of new venues and lots
for you to place in your chosen town.
Placing your lots is accomplished in a couple ways,
one of which involves going into Edit Town mode
and replacing old lots with new ones.
This is rather clunky at best,
so you may want to go into the built-in World Editor tool
and place your own lots wherever you want.
While this provides much more control,
it still might not be enough for some of you.
so you can take it a step further.
and download the free Create a World tool from the Sims 3 website.
This tool allows you to create entirely new towns from scratch.
And while it takes a lot of practice and dedication,
it's freaking awesome if you figure out what you're doing.
So I went ahead and founded Lazy Game World
and placed my lots randomly around a lovely curved road
that's absolutely not insinuating anything at all.
The first new lot is the scrumptious Nibbles Cafe,
which is yet another rabbit hole restaurant.
But even though it's a building you can't actually see inside of,
it makes up for it by looking more than cool enough on the outside.
Like all of these new lots, it features a modern and angle-obsessed look,
which is pretty cool if you want your town to look like that.
If you don't then this is just going to look silly.
Next is the Fresh & Frozen Express Grocer,
which is yet another rabbit hole grocery store.
Again, the modern architecture look is pretty in-your-face,
as is the store's very flamboyant rainbow logo above the door.
And next, we have the Par Excellence Preparatory School,
which is just a school.
You can't enter it. You can't do much of anything with it
but send your kids there every day to get 'em off your back.
Next up is the Ray of Sunshine Park,
which despite having a nausea-inducing name
is actually pretty cool-looking.
It's a park.
It's got playground equipment.
Up next on our tour of Lazy Game World
is the Sudsy Time Laundromat.
This is where those new funky-looking windows, doors and lights come into play,
and this is about the only venue I can see them making sense.
You can enter this building and partake in the always exhilarating act
of washing your clothes around total strangers.
Just down the road, we have Mr. Crunch's Fitness.
This is a very clean-looking and modern gym
for your Sims to humiliate themselves in front of others
with the goal of creating a better body.
And good luck with that.
And finally, there's the Noble Tome Library.
This is a library.
You know, that place with all the free books
and old ladies telling you to shut your trap.
Unlike most public libraries that I've seen,
this one has more than a touch of modern inside and out
and is a pretty sweet place.
The only other Stuff you get is some new hair and clothing options
for men, women and children.
Nothing for toddlers or teens, which is going to be a bit disappointing to some.
It's just clothing and hair.
Most of which makes me wonder why on earth
I can't see the appeal of this stuff that's supposedly oh so fashionable.
But I'm just a lazy game reviewer. What do I know about clothes?
So, is The Sims 3 Town Life Stuff worth buying?
As always, the suggested retail price by EA is $20 here in America.
You get 40 new objects that you quite possibly already have in some form,
a handful of clothing and hair options,
and seven remodeled lots and venues.
For some people, that would be enough.
I've heard plenty of Simmers ask for more community lots over the years,
and this provides just that!
And like with any Stuff Pack, all of the objects were already in The Sims 3 in some form,
but some of them look pretty cool this time, like those connecting chairs.
Town Life is also worth taking a look at if you missed Ambitions or Generations,
since it comes with items that were previously exclusive to those expansions.
But personally, I just don't feel it's a must-own.
The modern look is pretty nice, and the detail in these lots is really well done.
But getting these new lots into your world can be a pain
and even then, you might just not care for them.
I feel this is yet another oddball Stuff Pack for a very niche market.
And while I can appreciate what it offers,
I just don't think I'm in that market.