[typing]
Okay, so approximately 2 billion of you guys have asked me to review
the Sims 3 downloadable towns Barnacle Bay and Hidden Springs.
Well, I haven't done so at this point just because I find it pointLESS,
because they're just towns, they're not expansions.
But, actually, now they are kinda turning into expansions
and they cost as friggin' much as an expansion,
so, uh, whatever.
I guess I'll just do a quick review of them
to satiate your relentless Sims 3 appetites
and whatever else is bothering you to bother me about this.
The first one I'm going to cover pretty quickly here is Barnacle Bay,
which is the first new neighborhood
that was available to purchase on the Sims 3 store online.
It was first made available as a download on September 23 back in 2010.
It cost 2,000 Sim Points
and that equates to $20,
which is just as much as an entire new Stuff Pack.
Whatever, I had a bunch of Sim Points laying around anyway,
so it really didn't matter. I went ahead and downloaded it.
Then EA went ahead and decided they weren't gonna sell it on the store anymore–
at least, I can't find it online anymore.
All you can do is go to a physical store and buy it.
Places like Target and Walmart, anywhere that sells Sims things boxed
will sell a copy of Barnacle Bay to you for $20.
The thing is, it's not even on a disc.
It's just a code in a box, taking up space uselessly,
that you can redeem online and download it that way.
I really don't know why they have taken the option away
to download it directly from the store,
at least as of this recording.
Maybe they'll change that, I don't know.
Whatever the case, it's $20
and for that much money, I was very disappointed.
It's supposed to have these deep ties to the ocean sea life,
pirates and island stuff and whatever,
but really it's pretty much just Sunset Valley–
which comes with The Sims 3–
in another form and with a couple of piracy sort of items thrown in there.
Okay, so the town itself looks decent enough. It's okay.
The design is, you know... yeah, it's a town.
But the thing is it really looks more modern than anything else.
I didn't get a very pirate-y kind of vibe going on,
except for some of the people that walk around looking like pirates,
a few pirate-named places like Smuggler's Beach,
and there's this one new rabbit hole, Hogan's Deep Sea Diner.
Looks like a pirate ship. You can go and eat inside.
It's a rabbit hole. It's nothing that exciting.
And there is a new park, which is just there.
It's really nothing that you haven't seen before.
One thing some people were excited about
were the fact that it comes with a whole bunch of new Sims.
I mean, there's like 57 new Sims and bunch of NPCs.
And Nina and Dina Caliente from The Sims 2
make an appearance in the game again,
which is cool if you're a fan of them.
I never was. I thought they were pretty much tramps.
Now the town and the NPCs aren't the only thing you'll get.
You do get a set of pirate- themed clothes and items.
But a lot of them actually come from the Buccaneer's Bounty set
that's available on the Sims 3 store.
And that only cost a fourth of this price,
and that seems to make up a majority of the items.
Or at least a lot of them, so you may as well just get that.
It does come with some exclusive staircases
and some other pirate-themed kind of things
like mailboxes and hats and whatever.
And if you're into pirate stuff and think that's worth 20 whole dollars,
then go ahead, be my guest. Grab Barnacle Bay.
If you like the design of this, great.
I don't particularly care for it,
so I don't really recommend it.
And now we have the second town to be released
for The Sims 3 separately,
and that is Hidden Springs,
which was released August 25 of this year, 2011.
Once again, it's just another town
that happens to cost as much as a Stuff Pack.
In fact, actually, this one costs *more* than a Stuff Pack
at 2,450 Sim Points.
Right now, it's on sale– and, yeah, these things go on sale–
but the normal price is almost $25.
That is $5 more than a Stuff Pack. Is it worth it?
Probably not.
Alright, so I do like the design of this place a lot more than I did Barnacle Bay.
It's a neat-looking town,
nice and settled in between a lot of mountains.
It looks relaxing. It's sort of one of those
retreat type of places where rich yuppie scum
Sims go to take vacations
from the vacation that is their everyday life.
Yeah, there's a lot of rich Sims here,
which is interesting if you like to play as a golddigger
going around making love to everyone in sight that has a nice car
and then killing them off and taking their house.
Yeah. I mean, I like to do that, so, uh,
it's got that going for it.
It does have some new Sims–
there's like 50 playable ones–
which is less than any other town that I know of
So, in a way this is kind of the smallest town so far.
There are some new items.
There's exclusive objects in clothing
to take advantage of in your Hidden Springs... spring.
Of spring...
springiness.
Can you tell I'm really not too excited about this stuff?
It's like a fountain, a mailbox, a light,
another light,
and some overhanging ivy things and doors and crap like that.
It fits the overall aesthetic of a town,
but that's if you like that aesthetic.
It really is kind of a mini- Stuff Pack in that regard,
and, you know, I guess... Barnacle Bay kind of was too,
but this is even more so because
this doesn't just throw in a bunch of items that were already available in the Sims 3 store.
These are at least exclusive to this... town.
But chances are you'll already have most of this stuff in another form
like the playground equipment that you'll get
in Generations and Town Life Stuff.
If you don't have those, then this might be good.
And it does include at least one item that seems to be completely new
and that is the Fountain of Youth.
If your Sim discovers this, they can partake of its rejuvenating waters
and enjoy...
wishes that they may have.
As long as they're wishing for a longer life.
But then again, this really isn't anything
that isn't already in the game in some other form.
There are lifetime rewards
and plants
and other things to extend your Sims life already.
So, really, this is just another gimmick
that happens to have a slightly different set of artwork applied to it.
Is it worth $25?
I'm sorry but
a new town is not worth $25.
Is it worth getting and enjoying? Well, yeah, probably.
I mean, it's a nice place. It's got some cool stuff.
I like the design of the building. I like the design of that
town center place and all that stuff.
And the whole mountainous region thing is pretty cool.
It just has a better aesthetic than Barnacle Bay.
It's one of the nicer towns to play in.
But $25? I'm sorry,
that's just not worth it for me.
But of course, this is only my opinion.
To some of you, this is really important stuff.
You're like, "Aw, yeah! Aw, yeah, this is gonna be great for my Sims! Aww..."
"It's gonna be awesome."
But, no, not for me, I'm sorry.
I just don't really care that much.
I've got like five other towns already.
And really, I've seen even better towns
created by Simmers in their free time
and they cost nothing at all.
So that's my take on the two standalone towns for The Sims 3 thus far.
They're nice to have. It's cool to have another town
and these objects are a nice bonus,
but it's just not worth the money.
Save your cash and wait for The Sims 3 Pets
or any of the other expansions instead.
I think you'll get far more value for your cash.