EA has given us a brand new world to play with, and it’s the prettiest by far, in my opinion. The Sims 4: Cats and Dogs new world itself looks like a coastal New England town in the US. The gameplay itself is packed with loads of brand new interactions involving your pets with that good old EA humor. I was pleasantly surprised by the way the dogs and cats act and live, because it was just like having my own dog in the game.
The new world is called Brindleton Bay and comes with a few empty lots. (One more than shown here, but I just HAD to build a vet clinic.) It’s a quaint world with loads of trees and places to take your pet. Not to worry, I checked; there are pets in other worlds as well.
We’re going to start off with the gameplay. This expansion only offers cats and dogs this time around. You will not be able to control them, which may be hard for some, but believe me when I say it adds to the gameplay not to be able to do so.
I started by creating a brand new family, because I wanted to see what options there were in CAS. Building a pet is actually a really fun thing to do, as they are like building Sims really. You can use the built-in sliders to get the pet just right. The only thing I did find is that the pets are a little smaller sized so that a greyhound is more a medium sized dog in game, but meant to be a large animal. You may want to keep that in mind when making your dog. There are many options to building your pet.
They have several breeds listed that you can choose from.
Then you can zoom in like a Sim and tweak things like ears, color, coloring tail, etc.
After I created my family, I moved them into the neighborhood. A few motherlodes insured I could get not only a bigger house but also a vet clinic. Hey I had to work fast, so I thought. All the motherlodes in the world couldn’t get me ready to be a vet. It’s study, study, study. Although you could probably buy a vet clinic without the training, I wouldn’t want to send MY pet to such a clinic! There are no skill books for vet training, just good old fashioned hands on experience. So… I bought the vet gadgets I could for use at home. Mainly the “poorer” versions of what a good vet clinic would have. You can’t examine your own pets, even if you have a clinic (why I had to build one). You have to take them to another vet. So I started working on my vet skill while trying to also train my own pets.
Yeah, I know, what a mess. Although, I did start upping my vet skills.
Which brings me to training. Training is a good way to not only teach your pet something, but also to build relationships with your pets. There are loads of new interactions with your pets. There is also pet care which offers even more options.
In this new family I have Bullet, who is like my real dog companion—whippet (I used a greyhound because as I said the pets were a bit small) that is a mooch, trouble maker, and stubborn. And yes I really have a dog like that. But this is where I was so impressed with the gameplay. It was like I was actually playing with my real dog! I laughed until my insides hurt. I also have a cat named Moppet (no not in real life). Who, by the way, is a bit of a hunter. But aren’t all felines?
You can take your dog on walks with several walk types available. A long, medium, or short walk is available. They added little details any person with a dog can understand. Like the clicking of their nails against the pavement and the way they look at you because you are their person. Once you have worked your way to a good relationship with your pet, you get an interaction called “feel the love.” More about that later.
Oh and what is this? Bullet found something!
Just look at him dig! There are several places around that a dog or cat can dig and find surprises. And no I’m not going to say what kind, because then it wouldn’t be a surprise, would it?
The dogs even pee and poo like real dogs. The cats use the litterbox. Which you have to clean. I said it was like real life, didn’t I?
See him lift the leg? I know, but I found that funny. Oh and poo can be used in gardens as fertilizer and all that.
This expansion alsohas new robotype vacuums. And for some strange reason only known to a cat, Moppet preferred to sit on top of it all day. Yes all day, unless she wanted to run around the neighborhood. Then it was rolling in dead fish and bringing me home a dead pigeon. You know, things cats DO.
Yes, that one up there is the dead bird. I had a lot of fun just centering the camera on Moppet the cat and following her around on her little escapades.
This expansion also has given us wild birds in the form of pigeons and sea gulls.
Thanks for reading this first half of the review for this expansion. It is a huge addition to gameplay and we will post part 2 tomorrow. It will cover CAS additions as well as what it’s like to go to the vet and be a vet.
I leave you with a few of my favorite pictures of Bullet being…well…Bullet.
