User blog comment:Lost Labyrinth/The Sims 4 - Gamescom Reveal/@comment-1519608-20130820204727

This version seems like a measured and cautious advance in the series; perhaps too cautious. Among the good new aspects of the game (so far) is the intuitive look and feel in Create a Sim. My major disappointment with this so far is that it appears that Sims will not have variable heights - it seems likely that if this were going o be a feature, they would've demonstrated it because it is completely new within the series.

The change to build mode looks interesting but I'm not sold on it yet - If the 'place room' feature completely replaces the classic tools (i.e. wall placement), I probably won't be so happy. I definitely can agree with the idea of picking up and moving rooms as well. Ultimately my main concern is that build mode will be watered down from earlier versions, for the sake of those players who don't want to have a complex build mode (aka the players that use Blueprint mode). I understand the need to strike a balance, but I really hope they keep the advanced tools intact.

Sim personality looks to be improved here. It always seemed a bit odd that Sims could so quickly change from one emotion to the other, and Sims in general seem to be pretty wooden most of the time. Perhaps the emotions in TS4 will change this, but it's also a question of how realistic a simulated person really can be. During the trailer, it also mentioned that certain objects and decor can impact a Sim's mood - I hope this feature is implemented within reason, otherwise I can see many players buying 100 potted plants or something, if it turns out that a potted plant gives a permanent boost to the Sim's "happy" emotion, or something.

So all in all, I'm not sold on this game yet. It just doesn't seem like much of a jump up from previous games we've had. I wasn't expecting much of a jump, either, because the last thing EA is going to want to do is threaten their cash cow.