What's new, what's missing and what's bizarre in The Sims 4

The Sims 4 is something that a lot of simulation games are not: It's respectful of your time.

A bunch of mechanics have been changed for this installment in the long-running franchise, and all are streamlined for maximum efficiency: You can multitask the game's vast catalog of activities and interactions, craft entire rooms with a couple of clicks and even import whole houses from the game's online Gallery. It moves at a comparably brisk pace, letting you choose what you spend your time on and what you want to automate — stuff that you simply might not be very good at, like rug placement.

It is not, however, a perfect experience. The Sims 4 suffers from a number of bugs on its launch day, ranging from character pathing issues, levitating rooftops and demonic noodle babies. Also, there's no pools yet, which you'll eventually forget about when trying to erase the image of demonic noodle babies from your head.

Check out the Overview above for a bit of insight into what's new in The Sims 4, and become intimately familiar with the sleeping patterns of digi-Phil Kollar.