[typing] [music]
Get to Work.
Kind of an odd title, if you think about it.
I can just imagine some higher- ups at the company were like,
"Hey! We need to hurry up with an expansion pack.
Get to work!"
So the dev team took the command at its most obvious face value
and the result was Get to Work,
the first expansion pack to The Sims 4.
And, no, Outdoor Retreat wasn't the first expansion.
That was a game pack, which is different.
Because marketing.
This is a fully-fledged expansion which adds a truckload of work-related content
to your Sims 4 game.
Once it's installed, it, uh...
Well, it just goes straight to the main menu.
Oh! No loading screen artwork for me to bash this time around.
How sad.
Anyway, start a new game or load a previous one to get to work
working on your work's workplace workisms.
You've got three new so-called Active Careers to choose from:
Doctor, Detective and Scientist.
Active Career just means that instead of your Sim disappearing when they leave for work,
you can actually follow them there and precisely control their actions.
This is something that Simmers have been asking for since The Sims 1,
and I gotta say,
it's pretty awesome to see that 15 years of nagging *does* pay off.
Now, if you don't want to bother with the extra control here, then you don't have to,
and Sims will just teleport to these new careers instead.
But the idea here is that each day you'll work a shift,
and during that shift you'll have a variety of things to do
in order to meet or surpass expectations.
The better you perform and the more you suck up to the right people,
the quicker you'll be promoted.
Whereas in previous games you made these decisions through text and indirect influence,
but here, you'll be doing it all hands-on.
Or mouse cursor-on.
Unless you're playing on a touch screen,
or are indeed a mouse cursor yourself.
But yeah, let's look at the Doctor occupation here first,
where you'll start off as an intern
and move up the ranks to become an orderly,
medical technician, a surgeon,
and eventually Chief of Staff.
The Sims 4 now includes a Sickness system to coincide with this,
so Sims are always getting sick and having to go to the hospital in droves.
Sometimes a bit of medicine, tea or orange juice
will take care of the nastiness and they don't have to bother.
Other times, they'll come in with a case of bloaty head
and need a good popping.
Theme Hospital this ain't, though,
since you'll be taking control of your Sim alone,
and only doing a tiny bit of management in the later stages.
As a wannabe doctor, you'll be admitting patients,
doing the initial exam,
passing them off to the real doc,
and near-overdosing on coffee.
If you play your cards right and avoid dying of sleep deprivation,
pretty soon you'll be working even longer hours,
running x-rays, giving shots,
analyzing tissue samples,
and performing basic outpatient care.
And of course, the goal is to become a real doctor,
which lets you examine, diagnose and perform surgery
on even the most severely afflicted patients.
Hospitals are also where baby deliveries happen now,
which is amusing because I say so.
It's like they're playing the crane game with your infant.
It's fantastic! I wish all carnivals had one of these!
Next up is the Detective occupation,
which has you starting off as a beat cop
with the goal of becoming the next Dirty Harry,
or hot "CSI" cast member of the week.
Both the hospital and the police station
are in this weird little nondescript area
that can only be accessed if you're working,
but unlike the Doctor, you won't be confined to this lot.
As an officer, you'll be hitting the road
doing all sorts of grunt work,
from writing citations to Sims fighting in public,
to responding to APBs and questioning everyone,
to walking into the crime scenes themselves
to gather evidence.
Crime scenes are pretty interesting,
in that you'll have to find as much evidence as possible
photograph it,
and talk to any witnesses to get their testimony.
You can also just chow down on the victim's chips and dip because, hey,
fightin' crime is hunger inducing work.
Once you've gathered the evidence,
you'll head back to the station and analyze it
using much the same machines as the Doctors use to analyze tissues.
But until you become a Detective,
you won't be doing much more than busy work,
because all your evidence is handed over to the professionals once it's collected.
Until then, you'll be checking the computer database for cross-references,
taking mugshots and fingerprints of recent inmates,
and begging the chief to just give you a chance
because you've got real gut instinct and balls of steel,
and, oh, my goodness, your eyes are pretty. Has anyone ever told you that?
Once you've paid your dues, you get a shinier badge
and a snazzier outfit,
and you'll be able to conduct full investigations
of all the randomly generated crimes around town.
Mostly, it's just the same busy work all over again,
but eventually you'll have enough information to go out and track down your perp,
which is done by playing a game of Guess Who?
You know how it goes.
You've got clues like, "This Sim has red hair,
long sleeves, glasses and smells like farts."
So you go to their last known location and try to sniff them out,
or ask other Sims if they've seen them.
If you're correct in your deductions,
you whip out the handcuffs and it's back to the station,
and time for interrogation.
Play the good cop, play the bad cop.
Play the insane cop who had just one too many energy drinks at the victim's house earlier
with the chips and dip.
[Sim screaming]
If you've got the evidence and can convince the suspect
that you've got him dead to rights,
well then let's hope they enjoy the view behind bars.
And if *you* enjoy the view behind bars,
then you can even make your own jail cells at home,
which fits in perfectly with the new basements they recently added.
Mmm, torture dungeons have never been so easy!
The final new career is the Scientist,
which takes place at a secluded research facility in the desert that–
rumor has it–
extra-terrestrials are known to frequent.
But don't worry about that!
Just don your safety glasses and lab coat and do some science!
Research and experimentation is the name of the game here,
so mostly you'll just be testing hypotheses,
admiring the results,
and making a note here: "Huge success!"
You've got the same magic machine from the Doctor and Detective careers again,
except this time it does sciencey things,
like analyzing vegetation and rocks–
er, minerals.
Jesus, Marie!
You can also respect the chemistry by using the chemistry table,
a long-standing tradition in Sims games by this point.
You probably know the drill.
Mix together different ingredients to come up with potions
that can either make life amazing
or cause irreparable damage.
The other main device is this robotic inventing station
which allows you to brainstorm by your lonely self,
talk to the robot because you're lonely,
and do some 3D printing of sorts to create things that address loneliness.
Like the cloning device, so you'll never have to be alone again.
But yeah, remember the rumors about aliens earlier?
They weren't just rumors.
And one day, you'll go to work
and aliens will have infiltrated the lab.
Or you'll just be minding your own business outside
and all of a sudden you're engulfed in a beam of light,
sucked into a flying saucer,
and won't be back 'til who knows when.
Oh, and you'll quite possibly come back pregnant.
Dudes included.
Yep, Get to Work marks the return of playable aliens in The Sims.
And this time, you can make them straight away in Create a Sim,
no messing around.
They come complete with custom clothing,
skin tones and even alien makeup.
Because it pays to be fabulous,
even beyond light speed.
They've got some special abilities on hand as well,
like being able to analyze Sims' traits,
wipe their memories,
as well as the excellent Disguise ability,
which lets them look like a human Sim
to try and blend in with society.
It also makes it really hard to know
who's actually human and who's not
when just meeting people.
Half the time, you could fall in love with someone
and... they'll turn out to be an alien.
Another fun thing that comes alongside aliens
is the option to visit their home world,
which is accomplished through the Scientist career,
or by building a spaceship
with a wormhole generator.
Boldly go where Duke Nukem has gone plenty of times
and roam around the alien planet,
chatting up the local babes,
and pilfering their plants before setting off back home.
It's mostly for just rare collectibles
and a quick E.T. booty call.
What's far more in-depth are the new hobbies and side activities in the game,
the first of which is baking.
Separate from cooking, the baking skill is all about baked goods,
many of which have to be made using fresh ingredients.
Cakes, cookies, brownies, rolls, loaves,
pastries, sugar, sugar, carbs, carbs!
Gimme, gimme, gimme!
Although there's not whole lot more to this, other than a ton of new recipes and foods to make,
but, you know, new ways to virtually get fat are always welcome.
It also ties in with the next addition:
running your own business.
Aw, YEAH!
While it may not be a complete re-creation of Open for Business,
augh, it's still a noticeable improvement on Ambitions
and the Deliciously Indulgent Bakery from The Sims 3.
You've actually got a whole new neighborhood to do this in,
known as Magnolia Promenade.
There are three pre-made retail lots to show you how it's done,
or you can go full entrepreneur and build your own shop.
So, practically, anything you want,
whether it be items you buy or items you create.
And then set the sale prices, advertise using signage,
hire and fire employees,
design their uniforms,
talk to and close sales with customers,
get into fights for no good reason...
Ah! It's just like old times!
This is a phenomenal addition to the game,
at least if you're into this amount of tedium.
A happy consequence of this is that it also signals the return of shopping,
at least where things like clothing and furniture are concerned.
Unfortunately, you still can't go grocery shopping,
but you *can* go try on clothes and buy them on the spot.
This is really only for role-play and immersion purposes, though,
since you can still go into Create a Sim and change your clothes with no cost.
And, yes, there are a slew of new clothing, hair and accessory options on offer.
Oh, and chairs. Because of course there is.
Dem some fine chairs.
Finally, as hinted at in the Detective career,
photography makes a comeback, and it does so with a vengeance.
Not only can you take pictures with your camera phone,
but you can also take more involved selfies.
Spin around to get the perfect angle,
make dumb faces, squeeze in friends,
apply photo filters...
ah, holy crap, stop.
It's making me realize how weird modern-day life is.
I'm currently taking bets on how long it is
before they add a selfie stick to the game.
But yeah, if camera phones aren't enough for you,
then why not upgrade to a DSLR?
Heck, why not turn that spare room into a photo studio,
complete with lighting and multiple backdrops?
This just may be my favorite part of the pack!
Because there's just something cool about being able to jump into a Sim's point of view
and snapping some shots to then hang up on the wall.
I wish you could walk around in this mode, though,
because it's a bit weird having to line your Sim up in third person first.
Also, it'd be nice to be able to have a model change poses on command,
because as it is, it just chooses one at random when you choose to take a picture.
But still, leveling up this skill is a blast,
and it's great seeing your Sim's pictures go from blurry, dark pieces of ugly
to crisp, bright pieces of art.
So, is Get to Work worth buying or not?
Well just like with The Sims 3 expansions, this one costs $40, which is to be expected.
What was *not* expected is how solid this pack turned out to be.
I'm not sure if it's because I actually enjoy it as much as I *think* I do,
or if it's because The Sims 4 launched with such a lack of basic content
that anything seems like a huge improvement.
I mean, come on, this is the game that had fans spazzing over the re-introduction
of freakin' swimming pools.
But I'm gonna get all cozy with my less-cynical side here
and just say that Get to Work is superb.
I was one of those that always desired to follow my Sims to work,
and was also left wanting with The Sims 3: Ambitions.
This satiates those desires
and it gives The Sims 4 a much-needed shot in the arm.
That said, the game is still fundamentally lacking in key areas,
and the pack only exacerbates certain issues,
like the frequent loading screens.
With each new addition,
the omissions become more glaring.
But at the same time, The Sims 4 is still a platform that holds a lot of promise,
even though it's not quite there yet.
To me, this expansion is an example of what brilliance may lie
beneath that shell of initial disappointment.
And as Sims fan, that is plenty exciting.
[jazzy music]
And if you enjoyed this look at The Sims 4: Get to Work,
then why not check out my videos on The Sims 4
and The Sims 4... uh, what is that, Outdoor Retreat?
Yeah, that's what it is.
Those things right there, you can click on those
or check the video description for links.
And there's new videos every Monday and Friday, so subscribing is a thing you can do
if you'd like to be notified when there are more of them.
You can also follow and interact with me on Twitter and Facebook,
as well as support the show on Patreon.
That gets you some extra perks, like being able to see videos early.
And as always, thank you very much for working.
For wor–for watching.
Thank you for watching.