The first expansion pack entirely dedicated to the superstardom since an old fan favorite The Sims: Superstar, The Sims 4: Get Famous is probably the most amusing adventure in the series to date. It was released on November 16, 2018, and got positive reviews from the main video game media resources and ordinary players. Alongside with new fame gameplay system, it contains the wholly new world of Del Sol Valley, acting career and some additional content.

The developers prepared the audience for the latest expansion with the free game patch dedicated to the building of a Style Influencer career in the Sim world. Your Sim could choose between Trendsetter and Stylist branches, and there were a couple of additional terrain objects.

The previous official expansion pack for The Sims 4 was Seasons. It concentrated on the nature and the beautiful world around your characters with its weather changes and holidays for every season. So the expansion that would emphasize the Sims and their life opportunities was highly anticipated.

Just like in The Sims 3 there was a Katy Perry Sim appearing in random places all over town, The Sims 4: Get Famous has Baby Ariel, a singer that is known throughout social media with her hit single “Aww.”

Del Sol Valley

This expansion pack contains new Sim world named Del Sol Valley, a suburban area reminding of Hollywood Hills. It includes Mirage Park, The Pinnacles, and Starlight Boulevard neighborhoods, and one secret lot Plumbob Pictures, which is available only for the Sims with an Acting career. In those neighborhoods, there are many career-influencing lots like studios, lounges, and gyms, as well as parks, museums, and other leisure public places. It looks very LA-styled with its long suburban streets and mild climate (even if you have Seasons expansion, there’s no snow in winter). There are three Sim-generated families you can play: a starlet actress Venessa Jeong, a greedy star Judith Ward, and an influencing Bailey-Moon family.

Acting and Fame  

Acting career is introduced with a new acting skill that you can improve by practicing with mirror and microphone. Sims with higher levels of this skill also make better interlocutors and can save boring conversations. Your career starts with auditions for commercials that require you to develop your skills of Charisma and Fitness (apart from the main Acting skill) and sometimes you will also need to make friends or have dinner with somebody in the crew. And it gets more difficult with each new level. When you finally get the role you can choose the style you want to act it. You will also need to get into a costume and make-up for the part, which is itself quite fun. Kids can choose Drama Club as their afterschool activity to develop their acting skills from childhood.

Fame is the new feature of the Sim world that is partly based on Celebrity feature in previous chapters. Fame is gained by actors from their gigs but is available to many careers that are related to performing, making publications or interacting with many people. It can be exhausting to attain, and keeping it is even harder but it adds a lot to the gameplay mechanics. There are several levels of fame:

• You can choose ‘Quit the Spotlight’ option to build your career quietly.

• If you don’t, you begin your way to stardom on the ‘Notable Newcomer’ level, which is a little bit better than being a crazy fan and opens up some locked perks.

• The next one is the ‘Rising Star’ level, which the highest level for children celebrities: they have a higher friendship value, can give autographs and pose for the cameras.

• ‘B-Listers’ give hugs to fans and make selfies with them, they also have a ‘Celebrity Disguise’ option to escape public attention.

• Then there’s a ‘Proper Celebrity’, which is someone with its own famous walk and a fame shine, they can cheer up their fans by just showing somewhere around.

• The highest level celebrities are ‘Global Superstars’: with the high status and a huge number of followers they also get their own ‘Celebrity Tile’ they can make an inscription on and place it on the Starlight Boulevard. The tiles stay on the Boulevard no matter what happens to the star.

The more famous your Sims get the worth their quirks become: from juice drinking problem to anger issues. Besides, your star Sims need to go out as often as possible and make Simstagram posts to feed the public with some rumors. But don’t panic yet! There are perks that help your celebrities to remain in the spotlight; they open up gradually as your career grows.

Fame is usually connected with your reputation. Sim reputation can go through seven stages from Pristine to Atrocious. Everyone starts with a neutral reputation, and it takes some effort to change it for better or for worse.

Other New Features

• Besides acting, there’s a media production skill that allows your Sims to produce two types of media: video and music. They can make and remake video and audio tracks with the help of Mix Master Music Station and More Views Video Station and upload them on their Internet channels.

• For the new unique locations and the old ones alike, you will also find new traits: Celebrity Home, Up-And-Coming-Hotspot, Hottest Spot in Town, the behavioral patterns of your Sims and non-playable game characters.

• The list of non-playable characters for the game has also expanded: now there are other actors, A-list celebs, bouncers on the entrances to hot spots, fans, directors, make-up actors, and paparazzi.

• Two new types of aspiration appear in the game: World-Famous Celebrity is connected to your Sim popularity and Master Actor to their creativity.

• There’s a set of new options for Create a Sim mode, such as scars and gold teeth.

• From now on your Sims can attend blind dates and give their residence keys to best friends. There's also a couple of new location for making out: money vault and sleeping pod.

• A new radio station dedicated to hip-hop appears in the game.

• There’s a set of great new objects that add glamour and depth to your game:

  • Bouncer doors;

  • Celestial Crystal Crown;

  • Drones;

  • Green screens;

  • Money vault;

  • Music station;

  • Styling station;

  • Sleeping pods;

  • Stage props;

  • Vault door;

  • Video station;

  • Wardrobe platform;

  • Water garden.

• The final touch is added with a particular Self-Absorbed trait: Sims who have it strongly need social interactions and get tense without compliments and gifts.

Highly Recommended

The Sims 4: Get Famous is the latest and the most entertaining expansion of the Sim world to date. The fame and stardom mechanics are quite challenging to keep up with, especially if it’s your first Sim game. A great deal of micro-management is needed, so if you like to set your Sims free and just watch their lives go by, the fame rush may exhaust you. Still, there are so many tiny beautiful details to the game that even if your Sim fail as a star, you’ll have a fair share of amusement and cheer. The gameplay is so smooth and charming, and the locations are filled with such light-hearted irony that it seems almost impossible to surpass. So let’s wait and see what EA games have up their sleeve for The Sims 5.