I'm relatively satisfied with the gameplay, but I am still disappointed that there wasn't more to show for the extra money I spent on this game.
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This expansion is the latest in the Sims 3 franchise. Its major contribution to the Sims 3 world is the addition of three new careers: Singer, Acrobat, and Magician, along with venues for these performers (and Sim guests) to visit and perform in, along with objects, clothes, lifetime wishes, and rewards related to performing.This seems like the best-realized of the Sims expansions. The objects are very well-made, with plenty of special objects like mechanical bulls, jukeboxes, karaoke machines, pool tables, and more. The careers are interesting if repetitive, and the new wishes and rewards are really cute. The EP also introduces the concept of Simport, which allows Simmers to send their performers into other Simmers' gameworlds to perform and to receive other Simmers' performers into their own.
The hometown that comes with this world looks very thematic, complete with a "Hollywood"-style giant wooden sign in Simlish at its edge. There's plenty to explore, especially with the new venues. The families in the town are all right; they're nowhere near as purely fun as those in Lunar Lakes or Hidden Springs, but they're extremely thematic for the performer-dominated town here. The houses range from modernistic to Mediterranean styled; I found them difficult to live in and decorate, but they are very nicely made. It's not too hard to customize the world with your own lots and with Late Night and World Adventure venues. I should also mention that there doesn't seem like there's a lot of child-related things in this EP, which is fine for someone like me who rarely plays families but which might cause a Simmer who prefers families to feel like their Sim-children have been neglected.
The Katy Perry special edition included a few special costumes that are terribly cute, along with some stage props I particularly like and a custom-made venue. The venue is really nice, with an LA vibe. I use one of the costumes frequently and the stage props are fun for the type of Sims I usually play--fun-loving Sims who play around a lot. If you see something in the bonus content you really like, then get it with the assurance that it's well-made stuff. If you don't see something you like in the bonus content's collection, then the special edition EP won't be worth it to you.
Simport gets old extremely quickly. It's a bit like Facebook and AIM right in your game; you can see and make status updates and share memories with the friends you've selected from the website. After experimenting with it a while, I got tired of it and turned it off. It's incredibly buggy and cranky to use and crashes the game on my Mac after it's been running a short while. But it's a neat idea, and if you liked the Sims but wished it was more cooperative or social, then you might really love Simport. I don't really care for social/cooperative play so I don't like it enough to fight with it.
Performing is very fun--people who've tried Sims Medieval might recognize the general mechanics from the blacksmith occupation from TSM; you set up the general "perform" command, then issue sub-commands within that general one to do special things like blow kisses to the crowd or do Michael Jackson-style dance moves. It gets repetitive very quickly; there aren't nearly enough different songs or tricks, for example, though the ones that are there are pretty cool to watch. But I enjoy it as a change of pace. Sims can rise through the ranks very quickly and get very wealthy as top-level performers, which didn't seem too unreasonable to me. Two types of performance that don't get a lot of attention but which I think are very neat are the ability to DJ (with your own portable DJ station) and sing karaoke. I just wish EA would release more songs and tricks for Sims to perform!
The hairs, clothes, and objects are all 5/5. Some are misses, mostly men's hairs, which are, as usual, rather weird-looking to me. The hairs especially are getting more and more creative and imaginative. The clothes are getting more complex and detailed, which is always a plus. The new stage prop type objects are also useable as room decoration or seating, which opens up all sorts of new possibilities; one of the prop themes is "steampunk"--which means that now it's possible to make a 3rd-party-content-free steampunk house. The prop objects also work really well with the Store's magic sets.
You don't need anything but the base game to run this expansion pack. I got mine on DVD and it runs just fine on both my Mac and PC computers. I'm not sure I'd recommend it as the very first EP someone should buy after getting the base game unless the idea of making a performer makes that person just ecstatic, but I think that most Simmers, especially ones who prefer playing adult Sims, would enjoy the new things this EP brings.
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I received this item a few days ago and found that the Katy Perry items had expired. I am not a fan of hers, but thought the extra items (hair, clothing, decor, etc.) were worth the extra couple dollars I paid. What a big disappointment to find that the items had expired! I had even read the box it came in, before opening it, but a sticker covered the section that told when these items would expire. EA shouldn't let these limited item games be sold after they have expired (which they have proved they don't care much about customer's problems) and the same to the stores that allow, and sell, them.Honest reviews on The Sims 3: Showtime - Katy Perry Collector's Edition - PC
I really loved this expansion! While pets has been my favorite Sims 3 expac so far, this one is up there as well. One of my favorite parts about it is the ability to send your Sim to your friends towns to perform though the system seemed buggy and I did not get many successful tours to my friend's towns. I also really enjoyed being able to customize my stage with all sorts of cool props and stuff, though I wish there was a much bigger variety of in the themes of the props for the stage. There were only about 3-4 different stage themes. The items included in this pack are also really fun, including DJ booth, karaoke machines, etc. I don't think the Katy Perry version adds much for the cost and it's probably better to just go with the regular version.Find helpful customer reviews and review ratings for The Sims 3: Showtime - Katy Perry Collector's Edition - PC
Like many Sims players, I really loved playing the game. The first Sims didn't overdo it with expansion packs but lacked graphics even though it was the most flexible. Then Sims 2 came out with better graphics but got carried away with expansions and once you invested in those the Sims 3 gets released with honestly not much better graphics. But Sims 3 can't seem to stop adding Stuff, Worlds and Expansions, not to mention that hardly anything is free at The Sims Store. But besides spending more on Sims than real people and pets, even some game consoles, it's riddled with glitches and rarely anyone can play the game without endless problems, losing hours of work and things getting slow, which is why it's got more patches than a pair of old jeans. Then custom content is risky as a result can mess things up big time, from freakish people to crashes. It's just become too big and nothing that's ever released is as fun or lives up to expectation EA promises. The idea was lost and hardcore fans (this one included) are tired of buying disappointments. Then, before you know it Sims 4 could come out and it's back to to square one and the previous Sims we spent so much on sells for dirt cheap that we'd never use again anyway. Maybe it's time a copycat game like Cities, that turned out better than Simcity makes their version of The Sims, that works.
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