Sunlit Tides Review Part 1- Standard Edition

Welcome to:

Hey guys,

AznSensei here posting this to inform of and provide you with as much information as possible with Sunlit Tides!

I will also be adding a review at the end, so hopefully you guys will enjoy the content I will be posting. There will be three parts of the review:

Part 1- World and Content Review
Part 2- Serenity Retreat Review
Part 3- Premium Content Review

This will be a screenshot heavy post, so beware ^_^

Before I begin, first off there are two versions of Sunlit Tides a player can purchase:

Standard Edition- Includes the Sunlit Tides World
Gold Edition- Includes The Sunlit Tides World and the exclusive venue: Serenity Retreat (Will be sold as a venue set in weeks/months time, no ETA).

The price difference between the Standard and the Gold Edition is that the Standard is 2450 Simpoints and the Gold Edition is 3700/4350 Simpoints (On Sale until 9/06/12). Although like all other worlds and Store Content, it is pricey. However what is exclusive to worlds nowadays is that you are getting more "World" and Build Objects rather than just decor objects like small plants, wall paintings, etc.

Anyways, below are parts of the entire world showcasing all of the lots and empty lots in edit town mode:

I have counted all of the empty lots and they are the following below, as for the community and residential lots, I will be counting and adding them some other time. ;)


Residential:
1x 40x40
2x 64x64
2x 35x25
1x 25x20
1x 25x25
1x 20x20
1x 40x40
1x 50x50

Community:
1x 30x30 (For Serenity Retreat)
1x 25x25
3x 30x20

The only Expansion Pack that EA had accommodated mostly was for the Ambitions Lots, meaning it will be hard to place a lot of venues from other EPs into this game. The question is, why would one put Showtime Venues here? You are here to RELAX not to perform ;)

Anyways, even though I wished there were more empty lots, there's enough room and concept to redesign and makes some changes to the World with whatever creative ideas flow in my head. Such examples would be using some of the sets on sale beforehand and released earlier like the Tiki Sets, Island Villa, Contemporary Comfort, and Sun,Surf, & Sand Sets.

My take on the world itself is that is stunning and designed very beautifully! I give props to the Store Team for creating such an island as players who purchase it may justify having the cost be worth it.

The only thing that is somewhat different is this world (which I may be the only one noticing) is that the Home Names do not include how many bedroom/bathrooms there are in the homes, making one wonder whether or not their family can accommodate it. I would STRONGLY recommend not adding a huge family to this world, as you are picturing yourself on an island vacation, so a newlywed or couple would work well in this world.


Included in this World for the first time are fully redesigned Rabbitholes for ALL Categories (except for the Mausoleum). However, the most worked on rabbithole in terms of design (like all other worlds) that is mostly featured is the GINORMOUS Uber-Rabbithole known as the Criminal Lair. That' right folks, no more living in a rinky-dink abandoned warehouse! Criminals are working in high status now!

Here is the entire list and pictures of all the other rabbitholes designed! 

Bistro

Bookstore

Business

City Hall

Diner

Grocery

Hospital

Military Base

Police Station

School

Science Lab

Spa

Stadium

Theatre

These rabbitholes were designed fairly well and I think I may use some of them in my extension to Sunset Valley, adding a beach area ^_^. Anyways, I hope that this will be a trend in the future for New Store Worlds yet to come and *hopefully* will see combination rabbitholes.

Here are also some screenshots of the other Community Lots this World has to offer, which some are good and some are "okay"

Art Gallery

Big Park

Gym

Mountainside Retreat

Beach Spot

Pool

Pool

Pool

Small Park

Here is my review of Sunlit Tides, based on the "STANDARD" Edition. I will be adding my "Gold Edition" Review when I add the Serenity Retreat Review at a later date/time.

Theme- 10/10 EA has not released a Tropical Island before from The Sims 3, whether in the form of an Expansion Pack, or even from the Sims 3 Store. As this is the first Island Paradise, it was a good theme and also a nice World to have to end the Summer with ^_^ 

Design- 10/10 EA has went and done it again and this time were really smart and creative with what they worked on in this world. Most of the lots are beautiful and some do need some additions, but other than that they outdid themselves. Like Lucky Palms, this was a well-designed world and this beats Lucky Palms. Also, the Store Team instead worked on more rabbithole designs, world objects and ACTUAL plants rather than work on decor and everything, making the time and effort on the world that much more worth it.

Price- 7/10 for 2450 Simpoints (Standard Edition) You are definitely getting plenty with this world. It's a pretty big world with lots of lots and content. Even though it has slightly less content from Lucky Palms, what makes up for it was the fact that you are getting more build plants, rocks, trees and rabbitholes rather than just new vases of plants, paintings, etc. As we all have heard and read from SimGuruSarah, it takes more tech-work and design to add animations to plants and trees in build mode rather than those in buy mode. We have seen the price of the Hibiscus Trio for 500 Simpoints for 3 plants (which hopefully in the future will be reduced for future plants). 

The only downfall and reason why the Price is a 7/10 is because Sunlit Tides Standard is NOT on sale, therefore enticing players to go for the Gold Edition, which is. It is a marketing tactic for players to go for the bigger bang and save a small bigger buck on it, which I believe is 650 Simpoints. Other than that, it's priced the same as the other worlds and done much better than Hidden Springs and Lunar Lakes.

Stay Tuned for Part 2 discussing the Serenity Retreats Venue and the Review of the Gold Edition!

- AznSensei