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Ever since Sims 4 came out in 2014, the Sims community have been outraged about the babies in the game. I wrote an article back in September about how upon the release of Sims 4, the game didn’t have functioning babies or toddlers. Toddlers were added back in 2017, but it wasn’t enough for the Sims community. We wanted real babies–and NINE years later, we finally have infants.
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The infants were implemented as a new stage of life between newborns and toddlers, so the old babies aren’t gone. We just have newer, better babies. Over the weekend, I played Sims for 6 hours straight as soon as I woke up and for like 5 hours the night before… in the name of research! I will say I am impressed with the babies as a new addition to the game.
The behavior of the babies at the infant stage is very realistic, and it has a certain level of stress that feels oddly realistic. For example, my infant Sim had a blowout while his mother was holding him, making both him and the mom incredibly dirty to the point where both of them needed a bath. Also the baby would get fussy at random times; in fact, once the baby woke up from a nap and was mad that he was awake. There's also a feature of the game where the babies can test out different types of baby food to see whether or not they like it.
The infants have six traits a player can choose from: wiggly, sensitive, sunny, cautious, calm, and intense. Each of these traits change the way the baby behaves and reacts to certain situations. I had a wiggly baby, so he was more fussy when going to sleep, and he liked moving around rather than being in a crib or a highchair.
Because this is a new addition to the game, there are some glitches that happen with the toddler animations. I only had one glitch happen and it only lasted like 3 seconds, so I think the bugs will get fixed with updates.
The behavior of the babies at the infant stage is very realistic, and it has a certain level of stress that feels oddly realistic. For example, my infant Sim had a blowout while his mother was holding him, making both him and the mom incredibly dirty to the point where both of them needed a bath. Also the baby would get fussy at random times; in fact, once the baby woke up from a nap and was mad that he was awake. There's also a feature of the game where the babies can test out different types of baby food to see whether or not they like it.
The infants have six traits a player can choose from: wiggly, sensitive, sunny, cautious, calm, and intense. Each of these traits change the way the baby behaves and reacts to certain situations. I had a wiggly baby, so he was more fussy when going to sleep, and he liked moving around rather than being in a crib or a highchair.
Because this is a new addition to the game, there are some glitches that happen with the toddler animations. I only had one glitch happen and it only lasted like 3 seconds, so I think the bugs will get fixed with updates.
The CAS (Create-A-Sim) items for the babies are adorable. They have different onesies to choose from, and some outfits that were converted from toddlers to fit the infants. However, there aren't a lot of CAS items for the infants since they are a new life stage, so all the clothes they have are base game rather than having items from expansion packs as well.
The negative part of this update is that it was released two days before a new expansion pack named “Growing Together.” If you’re familiar with Sims 3, it's similar to the Sims 3 expansion pack “Generations.” “Growing Together” is a family based pack that focuses on sim compatibility, traits, and relationships. Because this pack was released basically alongside the infant update, there are a lot of infant items that are locked behind a paywall. There are no base game changing tables, when the pack literally has a changing table based off of a base game item. There is also no playmat for the toddlers. I the trailer it was stated how “tummy time” was important for infants, but you can only do it if you have the “Growing Together” pack. There are also no baby carriers in the base game, which is disappointing because of all of the stuff that was hyped up for babies. Furthermore, a big part of the pack are milestones, which means players miss out on having these nice quirks for the infants.
Ultimately, I love that the Sims 4 finally got better babies, and the babies are a fun and challenging addition to the game. I just wish the parts of babies people were looking forward to were available to the general public and not just people who are willing to spend $40 on an expansion pack.
The negative part of this update is that it was released two days before a new expansion pack named “Growing Together.” If you’re familiar with Sims 3, it's similar to the Sims 3 expansion pack “Generations.” “Growing Together” is a family based pack that focuses on sim compatibility, traits, and relationships. Because this pack was released basically alongside the infant update, there are a lot of infant items that are locked behind a paywall. There are no base game changing tables, when the pack literally has a changing table based off of a base game item. There is also no playmat for the toddlers. I the trailer it was stated how “tummy time” was important for infants, but you can only do it if you have the “Growing Together” pack. There are also no baby carriers in the base game, which is disappointing because of all of the stuff that was hyped up for babies. Furthermore, a big part of the pack are milestones, which means players miss out on having these nice quirks for the infants.
Ultimately, I love that the Sims 4 finally got better babies, and the babies are a fun and challenging addition to the game. I just wish the parts of babies people were looking forward to were available to the general public and not just people who are willing to spend $40 on an expansion pack.
Angel Cal
