I expected a new kingdom layout or at least a few new world maps to forge new alliances in. I expected new heroes, namely actual pirates and merchants that inhabit the docks.
These new adventures are all well and good, but I don’t think they add up to a full retail price. Once the war story-arc is started you are treated to a variety of interesting and fun quests allowing you to make any hero a Pirate or Merchant dependant on your kingdom’s alignment in the conflict and gain extra benefits for your trouble. Set against the backdrop of a war between Tredony (Merchants) and Arbyville (Pirates). The interrogation mini-game is also quite confusing and never really explained in the same way as the blacksmithing or leeching.īeing an adventure pack however, the main pull is definitely the quests themselves. There are a few new things to do, such as owning parrots, treasure-hunting and interrogation, though I feel that the birds could have been expanded on, especially considering the great job they did with them in The Sims 3: Pets. I do think that there could have been room for more however, especially pirate-themed traits.
The new traits are generally interesting, in particular “Guild Enemy”, which hikes up prices at the village shop. The highlights come in the form of the various pirate clutter objects and wall hangings which add much-needed personality to any room.
From the Piratey throne of coins to the Regal swan-shaped writing desk there is a variety of new content, even if most of it is just variations on existing objects. Like the expansions for previous Sims games it brings a selection of new items and traits to your kingdom which fit the theme of “Pirates and Nobles” very well. To put a long story short, it hasn’t exactly delivered. It was a refreshing new look at the franchise, and though some elements were incredibly shallow such as the repetitive nature of your kingdoms and throne rooms it was expected that the inevitable expansion would add content enough to completely refresh the game again. The Sims Medieval added new life to an old formula, cutting away the fluff of modern day life and leaving the adventure and simplicity of Medieval times.