RipTen reviews The Sims 3 Showtime

For someone new to the Sims franchise, it’s a little difficult to tell the difference between the base game content and the new content in the expansion. I spent the first few hours playing what turned out to be base content. Aside from a few hairstyles, clothes and home furnishings, the meat of the expansion is in the new professions: singer, acrobat, magician or DJ. I chose the magician path and got many hours of entertainment from learning new tricks, getting gigs and earning lots of Simoleans.
There’s also a new mechanic for progressing in these careers. In the base game you’re tied to a more traditional career path. You have a set schedule and wage. You need to schmooze with your coworkers, suck up to your boss and determine how much effort you put in at your workplace. You could be a workaholic and reach maximum job level and salary quickly or you could be a complete slacker and risk getting fired. Not so in Showtime. You’re responsible for setting your own schedule, getting your own gigs and controlling your rise to stardom. You get a weekly stipend based on your performer level, so don’t worry, even when you’re first starting out you won’t be completely broke.

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