The Sims 4 Lovestruck Review

The Sims 4 Lovestruck is the latest expansion to be released for the simulation game. So far, a lot of the expansions haven’t quite grabbed my attention in the way this one has. The only one that has come remotely close is Cottage Living. However, I was pleasantly surprised with what Lovestruck had to offer.

An expansion that is tailor made to those who enjoy giving their Sims a dramatic love life, this was everything I was hoping for and more. It had some of the classic cheesy traits and features that were seen in previous games, with nods to The Sims 1. Being able to get a vibrating love bed made me happy, as it reminded me of all of the nostalgic hours I spent playing The Sims 1.

For the character creator, I found that the options were somewhat lacking. While I loved the nose and cheek blush available in the make-up section, it felt as if there were a lot of opportunities that they overlooked. For example, there was not a single piece of lingerie for either men or women. Considering Lovestruck is a pack about romance and spicing up relationships, it seemed weird to me to not include something that is commonly used for doing just that. However, looking at the party outfits, it seemed that the outfits there were more like lingerie, and seemed more suited for indoor affairs rather than outdoor.

I did really like the hair options that were added with this pack, and I could see myself actively using some of them if none of my custom content foots the bill. Overall though, I did feel that the clothing and accessory options for both men and women were slim pickings, and there were plenty of missed opportunities.

The interactions that were added to the game were adorable. I loved that they could either be really cute and worried in their interactions, or very bold and brazen in their attempts to sway someone. I liked the new date system, where you could choose what type of date you were going on. Whether it was a date for sims to get to know each other, or a romantic date to keep the spark alive, there were multiple options. Along with that, you could pick the goals for the date so that you could win awards by the end of it if you were successful.

Compared to packs like Get Together and Get To Work, I feel that Lovestruck actually managed to breathe some realism and depth into the game where the other packs failed. Relationships were more dynamic, as were the interactions. Whether you let them happen on their own, or you picked the prompts, it still felt more realistic than the five repeating interactions sims players usually do in order to boost relationships.

One of the main features that really lets The Sims 4 down is how empty the cities feel. While they are aesthetically pleasing to look at on the map, there is so much space that could be utilized and just isn’t. Ciudad Enamorada is no different. There is a huge lack of starter homes for sims, and considering your sims only start with 20,000 simoleons after creation, this choice didn’t make much sense to me. I understood the appeal of having lavish homes and a city that is built up where the richer sims could live. However, most of the cities available in all of the expansions for The Sims 4 at least have a few starter homes that are affordable.

One of the other features that didn’t quite sit well with me was the inclusion of a dating app named Cupid’s Corner. While I liked the concept, it overall just fell relatively flat. You could choose two of your Sim’s traits to showcase on the app, while taking a selfie. The selfies always turn out a little bit janky, which can add some comedy to the dating app.

I did try to utilize it for my sim, but found that going out into the world and interacting with people organically worked better for her. She had more success in going to a bar randomly than she did with the dating app.

Considering this is an expansion all about love and romance, I was truly disappointed with the lack of traits that came with the expansion. There was only one trait that came with The Sims 4: Lovestruck, and it was a trait about being romantically closed off, making a sim take their time in a relationship. While I liked that it added more dynamic conversations and opened up the possibility for a more realistic relationship, I didn’t like that there were no other traits to be found.

Additionally, only one job came with the expansion. I understand that it may be a little bit difficult to create jobs off of something like this, and I did really like the one job that they added. Being a Dating Consultant was a lot of fun, as your sim just had to go around and give unsolicited dating advice. However, the lack of aspirations was also extremely disappointing. I feel that there was a lot of potential to add fun aspirations or traits for this expansion, and it all just came up empty.

Overall, The Sims 4: Lovestruck does do a good job at sprucing up the game and trying to make it a little bit more dynamic, the same way Growing Together did. However, some of the features were incredibly lacking, and I felt that there could have been much more added to make it worthwhile. I really liked the new interactions that they added to the game, but aside from that, the expansion was still quite flat.

Played on PC. Code given by Publisher.

The Sims 4: Lovestruck

While the customization options for the expansion were adorable, and the romance interactions between Sims added a lot more depth, there was an astonishing lack of features added in this expansion. There was a ton of room for new traits and aspirations, but only one was given for each category. Overall, while it made relationships more dynamic, the rest of the world felt empty.