The Sims has never been considered a hardcore game, and as such a lot of core gamers frown upon the franchise in a similar way to how they frown upon games like Farmville. Just like Farmville, however, The Sims is enjoyed by millions of people around the world. A lot of them play this secretively though.

Following in the tradition of alternating releases between Expansions, then a Stuff Pack, EA has released the latest Stuff Pack for The Sims 3 named Town Life Stuff. But rather than just give you more items to place in your house, this time they have made it somewhere between a full expansion and a stuff pack.

The Muffin family, dad Choc-Chip and mom Berrie, live in the suburbs with their little boy Carrot. Their lives were getting a bit drab. With nothing new available for them to enlighten their lives with, I figured now is the right time for a few new items in their home.

They were delighted with a few items for their house that can be both pleasing to the eye and actually quite functional. These include new exercise equipment that allows them to build muscle or lose weight. When they are nice and sweaty they can clean up their clothes in the new washer and dryer installed in their basement. They never do that though! My dear Sims are way too spoiled with Bernard, their butler.

Their wardrobe now includes more casual items to lounge around in at home or when about town. Carrot was also spoiled with new outdoor toys like a jungle gym and a sandbox. They grow up way too quickly, and soon it was time for Carrot to start school. But kids can be quite a handful, so the Muffins sent him to the new prep boarding school. Here he enrolled in an art class. He could still phone his parents when he got lonely, but clearly he was not very lonely at all.

The parents in the meantime enjoyed a few new lots available in town. The gym allows them to do their sweating outside of their home. The gym also acts like the gym in my own town, where people do more socializing than work out. If your Sims are more intellectual they can visit the new library to borrow books and, again, socialize.

On the way back from gym my Sims realized that sweaty clothes really are drab, and dropped them off at the Laundromat now available in town. Again, more socializing followed.

As with all Sims expansions from now on, it will be very hard to actually tell what items are new and which ones were missed from the previous pack. If you have the luxury of having all these packs available you will realize just how much value they add up to. The game is now almost completely different from the game that was released a few years ago. Thankfully this is a good thing: these packs keep things fresh in between full expansions, but their actual value will always come under fire since they are priced pretty much the same as the full expansions and even the game.

The Muffins will return in another adventure when Carrot returns from boarding school to find his dad has turned into a vampire, only to be burned outside to a crisp. What will replace the father figure in the home? A pet of course! Look out for the next expansion, named Pets, coming soon! In the meantime the Town Life Stuff pack will tide you over nicely.

The good: New town lots; boarding school for the kids.
The bad: Value aside, not much.
The ugly: My sporty boy enrolled in an art major. Either he is not my son or he knows how to get in with the girls!

Purchase: