[upbeat educational jazz plays] [computer buzzes, beeps]
Ahh, I gotta say folks. It’s been a refreshing year off from reviewing Sims 4 content, and I
needed it more than I realized. It wasn’t exactly my intention to go so long but that’s how it ended
up, since I swore off reviewing game packs, stuff packs, and kit crap for my own well-being. It just
so happened that EA took another full year to release a new expansion after Cottage Living,
allowing me some much-needed time away from Sims drama and disillusionment. But welp,
it’s back to the grindstone since there’s a new $40 pile of CONTENT on the table:
High School Years, the twelfth full-fat expansion pack to The Sims 4. And it’s a
pack I was genuinely curious to try! Partially due to my not touching the game for a solid 365
days. But also because this is the first time sims actually have the opportunity to go to
daggum school. Like in-person, controlling them during class and lunchtime and activities and
things. Not counting universities of course. When it comes to secondary education though,
yeah that’s never been an option in the mainline Sims games, beyond some rabbit hole buildings and
special events. It’s always been pretty hands-off, so yep, as an old school simmer that’s a good 17
years removed from his own time in high school – uh, I dunno, I’m as ready as I’ll ever be!
And that readiness begins with exploring the new world of Copperdale, an old lakeside mining town
nestled down into an alpine valley. There are three neighborhoods to live out your
high school years within: Rockridge Heights, Prescott Square, and Plumbite Cove. Featuring
an admittedly average 12 lots, with two of them filled up by the all-important high
school itself and its associated auditorium. Both can be highly customized and rebuilt,
providing you stick to a handful of guidelines as with other specialized lots. Unfortunately though,
high schools cannot be placed in other towns in The Sims 4, since apparently the entirety
of Copperdale is vital to the operation of this one school. So teens from elsewhere simply attend
the old invisible off-screen school as usual, or travel some unknown distance to appear at the high
school in Copperdale. And hey, if they do happen to live there then it’s quite a nice place! Look
at all those wide, perfectly-drivable roads, ahh. Ideal for the long-awaited
reintroduction of cars to the game so teen sims can learn to drive and – oh wait, NOPE! Yeah,
The Sims 4 still lacks usable automobiles. Driving lessons for high school sims would’ve
been a perfect chance to introduce them again, but oh well. What you do get is a heavy emphasis on
teen fashion! Which I guess is 2020s teen fashion, a subject which I know less than nothing about,
so I won’t even pretend to go all “hello fellow kids” on a topic like Gen Z clothing. What I can
say with confidence is there’s a whole crapload of it, along with hairstyles, accessories, and
other wearables. Regardless of style preferences or fashion trends, the quantity is impressive. You
also get four new aspirations and three traits: the teen-specific Drama Llama, Goal Oriented,
Live Fast, and Admired Icon. And broader traits of Overachiever, Party Animal, and Socially
Awkward. All useful for teenage sims living through the potential hellscape of high school.
On that note, school starts at 8:00 AM and ends at 3:00 PM. Officially, technically. In reality,
the schedule is more what you'd call guidelines than actual rules, with the first hour or so
dedicated to hanging out and screwing around before class. A good time to claim a locker then,
and freshen up, grab supplies, or decorate it using a handful of predetermined aesthetics. Then
it’s onto first period in one of two classrooms, each with 9 student desks – that are distractingly
never all filled at once. I’m sure it’s possible, but I’ve personally never witnessed a full class.
I do like that some of the desks and furniture look all worn out though, that’s a nice touch.
Though everything is still far cleaner and more pristine than any school I ever saw growing up,
this looks more like a set from a Disney Channel movie than anything else. Basically it doesn’t
look enough like a prison to be fully relatable growing up in America. That and lunchtime is
entirely too jovial and free of judgment, everyone is so happy to talk and mingle with everyone
else all the time. With no one preferring to sit anywhere in particular or cause too much mayhem,
imagine that. Anyway, the two daily classes are brief and suitably boring, with the teacher
droning on about unimportant things and students often distracting themselves with silliness and
social media. With an occasional pop-up decision during lessons giving your sim an opportune choice
that’ll benefit or hurt their daily performance. You can also, just, ignore class entirely if
you like, sitting there idly doing nothing but farting to pass the time and share the smells.
[flatulence.]
[fart-inspired jubilation]
Mm. Farting so hard it sets off the fire alarms, now that’s how you solidify yourself as a freshman
legend. Or maybe that was just a scheduled fire drill but hey, one can dream. As a student you
can even just get up and leave at any time really, or cut classes entirely to go wandering the halls,
trying to avoid the custodian. But you’ll naturally be penalized, and/or sent to the
principal's office for a stern talking-to. And by that I mean they’ll probably just play video
games while you sit there trying to hold in your flatulence. Yeah I’ve noticed a good number of
weird moments, and I mean, being a Sims game that’s how this stuff goes. Teachers peeing
themselves in front of the class. Students opting for the floor instead of a chair. Random t-posing
in the hallways – er wait, that’s a feature, not a bug. Yeah “The T-posing Challenge” is a thing
teen sims can do... Because. As well as causing some relatively harmless mayhem, eungh it’s
just a prank, bro. In addition to the usual mischief-related hijinks, you’ve got hall locker
stink bombs, PA system overrides, whiteboard shenanigans. Good times. Just be careful who’s
on the receiving end, as you may end up with a Bullworth situation on your hands, and Jimmy
Hopkins don’t play like that. Especially with more reasons than ever for teens to be mean and poke
fun at one another, like the addition of puberty, acne breakouts, and body hair. And yep, the hair
grows over time now, so shaving your bountiful body parts is potentially advised depending on
your sims’s inclinations. Either way toss a bunch of horny unhinged teens in a building for 7 hours
a day and dumb stuff is gonna happen, likely resulting in after-school detention. Heh, though
what does that even mean here? Sims sit around the classroom chatting and playing with their phones?
How’s that any different to normal school? Cuz seriously, the high school is really more of a
community hangout spot for teens in this pack. Student sims effectively have free reign of the
place, especially after hours with classes no longer in session. Draw wangs on the whiteboard,
sleep on the couch in the teacher’s lounge, flagrantly fumble through the principal’s computer
and see those games they were playing. The faculty never stopped me cuz hey, school’s not in session
so anything goes. Have at it, kids, no one cares! This is not a complaint, it’s just kinda silly!
[fireworks explode in a silly fashion]
Same with the auditorium, that acts as a school extension on a nearby separate lot. Events like
prom are held in this space, seemingly at the end of every week? Not sure why it’s so often, it
kinda loses its luster when it’s such a frequent event but anyway. Prom is, in effect, just like
any other weekend party, albeit with more angsty hormones and less booze. There's a list of goals
to complete, but otherwise it's a mashup of dancing, selfies, awkwardness, bickering,
and voting on the Prom Jester and Royalty toward the end. Oh and roast chickens, so many chickens,
a disturbing number of whole cooked chickens. And the party of course continues, minus quite so much
poultry, at the inevitable prom after-parties held around town. Like at Plumbite Cove just
across the lake from school: a delightful little waterside destination holding a ferris wheel,
haunted house, and tunnel of love. All acting as new rabbit holes for sims to lightly traumatize
onlookers with messing around and woohooing. It’s entirely possible to get banned from these things
if you’re caught doin’ the nasty, so y’know. May as well have your picture taken to remember
the days before being outlawed from having fun, a task which the new photo booth carries out nicely
for a small fee. And hey, the local ice cream and boba tea vendors will never turn you down,
no matter how many times you’re kicked off the big sex wheel. Truly, everyone is equal in the eyes of
sketchy food sellers. Perhaps not in the eyes of SimParents, understandably, which may not be so
forgiving or open to afterdark teenage canoodling. Thankfully windows and doors exist, providing
ideal passageways towards adolescent freedom under the veil of darkness. A more responsible reason
for departure are all the after-school activities and high schooler jobs available. Football, cheer,
computer, and chess teams are all optional options, each with their own related objects
for practicing their associated skills at home. Along with semi-frequent group meet-ups somewhere
on school grounds, which is nice cuz otherwise these team things happen off-screen. And classic
part time jobs like babysitter, barista, fast food and retail worker, lifeguard, and day
laborer are a thing. But c’mon this is 2022, what about that online hustle? Enter the fresh
new jobs of Video Game Streamer and Simfluencer, each making use of the new Entrepreneur skill.
Streamer is self-explanatory: your sim plays games online for profit, streaming live either alone or
with friends for those sweet, sweet simoleons. Simfluencer is more open-ended, with the option
to review so-called “lifestyle” objects around the house, and post them online. These are limited
part jobs but the freedom provided in both hours worked and income earned make them super appealing
for teens. And who can resist all that tech, from ultrawide, curved, and dual monitor setups,
to RGB LED lighting blasting your eyeballs on every available surface. Even gaming chairs
are complete with their own RGB nonsense and totally-not-sponsored branding. Not all chairs
are as illuminating though, with High School Years providing a good 16 chairs and chair-like seats
overall. Impressive. And useful for sittin’ your butt down, wasting time on the internet.
Naturally, side hustles make heavy use of social media, though it’s separate from the vague “social
media” option already in-game. Instead, each hustle has its own number of followers unrelated
to other platforms. On that note there are two new platforms: Trendi and Social Bunny. Trendi
with an “i” being an online fashion marketplace, and Social Bunny being somewhat Facebook-ish.
Trendi lets sims browse, buy, and sell fashion styles, which come and go seasonally. Along
with hyping up styles to followers online in an attempt to manipulate the market a smidge before
selling it for a bigger profit. You can push existing styles, or slap some together yourself
at the new thrift stores/boba tea shops. An appealing combo I wish I had for real!
Peruse the pants and pullovers, tunics and trousers, and come up with your own amalgam of
astounding style. Towniecore will be the next big trend in Copperdale, mark my words. And as for the
Social Bunny app, ehh. It’s kinda fun at first, being able to share recent events online using a
handful of emotional states. And sliding into the DMs of everyone you’ve ever met like a libidinous
lunatic. But it’s not long before you realize it’s largely a repetitive time-waster, with only
a few of the same messages ever being sent back and forth between anyone, and no option to fully
customize what your sims are saying. I disabled it after a week of everyone in town letting me
know I should play the guitar or start a pillow fight. Finally, at the finale of high school lies
a grand graduation ceremony... I... assume. My sims never actually managed to graduate,
at least not with any pomp or circumstance. One opted to graduate early after the fifteenth time
being asked by a random sim over the phone. So no ceremony for them. And the other simply went
to high school till they were forced to age into young adulthood, which kicked them outta school
with no option for a ceremony. Despite being class valedictorian. In both cases, a diploma
arrived through the mail and that was that. Which, hey, is exactly how I graduated high school myself
having spent my senior year attending online. So uh, points for oddly relatable realism, I guess.
And that’s the gist of the High School Years expansion pack! It’s pretty okay in a pretty
typical way for $40 Sims 4 expansions, in that it adds a variety of stuff to experience without
rocking the boat in any substantial way. And y’know what, fine by me. I’ve made my peace
with how The Sims 4 is never gonna be quite the same as older games in the series. It is entirely
its own thing at this point and being run by folks with a production roadmap that clearly
works well for their bottom line, so there’s not much point in changing the formula. And so
it’s unsurprising to see that High School Years falls right into what I’ve come to expect from
Sims 4 expansions. A straightforward extension of core gameplay that doesn’t scream “wow,
this is game-changing!” But instead whispers, “hey, this is sorta fun to mess around with
when it’s not glitching out.” And according to many reviews, bugs and glitches are copious with
this one. I personally didn’t experience much of that at all, mainly the graduation glitch,
so your mileage may vary. If nothing else, it’s neat that for the first time we’ve got
a section of sim life that’s more fleshed out than it ever has been. I know it’s a trade-off
compared to how things were done in the past, like instead of one big Generations expansion,
now much of the same style of content is spread across multiple packs. Though simultaneously,
the individual parts that make up said content are more involved and arguably offer more potential
for emergent gameplay. So anyway, yeah, High School Years. Not a time in my life I’d wanna
revisit in reality, but in SimReality? I enjoyed my time with it, however middle-of-the-road it
may be. I’d recommend the pack, on sale, if you’re looking for a slice of “realism”
in your Sims 4, and don’t require anything earth-shatteringly different from the status quo.
[upbeat tunes intensify]
If you’d like to check out my previous Sims videos I’ve got far too many of them. And if you like
this style of video then do check out my others, I cover lots of computer gaming-related things
here on LGR, so I hope you stick around.
And of course, thank you for watching!