After spending six hours in the newly-released Mac version of Electronic Arts’ “The Sims 4,” Create-a-Sim mode last Tuesday, I have determined the game has made an complete 180 degree turn in its creation process.

“The Sims” are more alive now than they were since their birth 15 years ago.

Players can now multi-task with their sim by texting while sitting on the toilet, talk to someone while typing and even hold conversation while cooking.

Many other new features have also been added to the game’s fourth installment allowing players to feel more personalized with their sims, such as emotions.

Now sims can feel actual emotions that are interwoven into the average daily life of a sim and act on them.

For example, I made a Sim character that had one of the new personality traits available to them such as a geek.

Sims with this trait can “geek-out” about video game strategies, which is one of the new career options available in the base game; geek sims have a higher expertise in gaming and can even enter in game tournaments.

That said, a Sim possessing this trait may not have time to play video games because they need to balance a career and a social life, which gamers can seldom care about at times.

Nonetheless, the female Sim was tense and upset because she did not have any opportunities to game so her face changed to from happy to angry.

She even slammed her fridge door shut after grabbing a meal to cook.

The build mode probably also got the most overhaul with the option of making more modern styled homes.

Homes may now have fully decorated rooms attached to their home.

If you want a baby room for a boy fully decorated, just attach it to the house and pay the money. Done.

Like the Create-a-Sim mode, houses and roofs can also be pulled and tugged to fit any shape desired.

However, the PC version, which was released last September came out too soon, because the fourth installment gained mostly negative reviews due to missing content from the previous game.

Some of the most recent patches to the game, it was missing pools, player for the first few months of the game’s life cycle were unable to create and play with pools.

Many Sim players were utterly upset about that and rightfully so; drowning your sim in a pool is an important staple in the game.

In “The Sims 3,” open worlds and the ability to seamlessly visit your neighborhood and downtown was implemented in the game, but it was and has been missing from it’s successor and the game is entering its sixth month of availability.

The third game also saw the new create-a-style function, which allowed players to further their scope of creating by picking various patterns and styles to go with outfits creating a seemingly endless amount of pattern possibilities.

This function is also not available in the fourth game.

Since the game’s release for Mac earlier this month, genealogy has been added so Sims may now have a family tree full of brothers, sisters, cousins, etc.—all of which should and could have been included from release.

Pools were released in November as well as ghosts in October. No word yet on console editions, create-a-style, or even the elusive toddler age cycle.

The first game pack, “The Sims 4: Outdoor retreat,” was released in January and introduced a camping vacation for players.

In the pack, players are able to visit a new third location and setup camp either outside or in a lodge.

I am an avid “Simmer” and have been playing this game since the original release so I have high hopes for the game because it’s good, but it could use more patches to add in its missing content that the previous game had.

Gameinformer magazine gave “The Sims 4” a 6.75 rating, but I give it a solid 7; there is work to be done no doubt, but it has amazing features and updates from the older games that make it stand out, and what its lacking in content can easily be patched in at a later date.

Roberto Hodge is a senior journalism and Africana studies major. He can be reached at 581-2812 or rlhodge@eiu.edu.