Welcome changes in ‘Sims 3’ game

On the surface, it doesn’t seem as if it would be that fun to play a video game in which you eat, sleep, go to work.

But “The Sims” has been around for nearly 10 years for a reason. It takes “real” life and makes it interesting, especially if you, as a player, get creative with it.

In the grand scheme of things, “The Sims 3” is the same game as the previous two. You create a family (or a bachelor), you move them into a house, you get jobs, you live their lives.

But “The Sims 3” does something that sequels should do but don’t always manage: It keeps the things that made it fun, fixes the things that didn’t and expands on the game as a whole.

The biggest improvement is the neighborhood. When “The Sims” started, your family was contained to its house. As the series evolved, your sims could go places, but each involved a long loading screen.

Now, the neighborhood is seamless. Your sim can visit the neighbors, drive to the bookstore or attend a cooking class, without a loading screen.

The game also has more for the goal-oriented. The free play is still there, but there are a ton of options for those who like having something to work toward.

Lifetime Wishes are the biggest, although “The Sims 2” had something similar. Fulfilling one of your sim’s wishes — such as buying a computer — earns you happiness points.

But these aren’t just abstract numbers: Your sim has a running tally of points, which can be used to purchase perks, such as learning skills more quickly or never having to use the bathroom.

A lot of these wishes come from the personality traits you choose while creating your sim. The traits affect how your sims will act, what they want to do and how well they learn certain skills.

The career paths also are tied into Lifetime Wishes, letting you pick one overall goal. For example, my evil, kleptomaniac — yet strangely charismatic — sim was following the criminal career path with the intention of becoming the Emperor of Evil.

And there are a ton of smaller, worthwhile changes, but that would take all day to list.

“The Sims 3” won’t change the minds of any nonfans, but for the rest of us, it’s a worthwhile step forward.

• Going shopping: EA offers a ton of content (furniture, clothes, etc.) to download, but it costs real money. Luckily, the user-created, free Exchange is still around, and better creation tools make it more robust than ever.

• No more drowning: Previously, one of the ways to kill a sim was to put him or her in the pool and take away the ladder. Now, the sim simply climbs out the side. Aww...

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