The Sims 3: Pets Creator Tool Hands-On

While hanging out at the EA booth today, we came across The Sims 3: Pets demo and hooked up with King Choi, the Assistant Product Manager, who gave us a preview of what’s to come in this fifth expansion pack for The Sims 3.

Unfortunately we couldn’t get our hands on the actual game (it’s not here at E3, or so they say…), but we did play around with the Pet Creator Tool which allows you to create and customize your pets. First, let’s talk about the gameplay. Pets are not just “accessories” for your Sims to play with anymore. You’ll actually be able to play as the pet once you’ve created it. You’ll be able to control it just like you would a Sim as well as interact and build relationships with Sims and other pets in the community. Perhaps you’ll be a cute, little dog that will get your Sim owner lot’s of dates? There are many, many interactive possibilities. There are also a number of different species you can create your pet from, in our hands-on we were shown a horse (which has been the most requested by the fans), a cat and a dog.

When you create your pet there are lots of customizations to choose from. And while you can mate with other pets and breeds to produce off-spring which starts off as a puppy or a kitten, your newly created pet will always start from an adult stage. The developers want to give you the full experience of being a pet right from the start rather than having to wait for you to get older in order to get full abilities. Once mated, the genetics of the pets will be passed down to the off-spring, just like with the Sims, and you can really experiment to try and create different types of breeds. And just in case you were wondering, no… cross-species breeding is not allowed.

The actual customizations themselves are very thorough. Everything from choosing your breed down to the two tone eye colors, stripe colors, fur shading and more. You can “re-make” your real-life pet companion, or go crazy and create something out of this world. Whatever color and style you decide to go with for your pet, you’ll also be able to assign various characteristics and traits to it. All of these characteristics come with unique animations providing you a more real-life experience. As an example, give an aggressive personality to your pet horse and you’ll be able to kick a Sim in the chest if they get too close for comfort. Or, make your cat a destructive one and watch chaos unfold once you decide to scratch up that favorite couch. All of these characteristics you choose will have a direct impact of how you play the game and interact with your Sims.

In the future, EA will also be providing additional items through the Sims 3 store which you’ll be able to purchase to further customize your pets for a more personal experience. The Sims 3: Pets is set to release this fall, and you can check out a trailer down below.