Barnacle Bay Review
Barnacle Bay came out last September, but I haven't bothered to buy and download it until now for two reasons:
1. I didn't really understand what it was.
Now I don't like to go around making unfounded assertions. So I will just say that "It SEEMS LIKE the marketing department doesn't know the first thing about this game or how it works." Which IT SEEMS is why the marketing material is so confusing.
Part of the problem is a nomenclature issue. You and I think of Riverview and Sunset Valley as "neighborhoods." But officially they are "worlds." However, France and Egypt are worlds, too - you just can't live there. They are vacation worlds.
So it makes it super confusing when the Barnacle Bay ads use the words "world" and "vacation" interchangeably. Which is it? A world or a vacation?
I finally asked some fellow players. The answer is: Barnacle Bay is a neighborhood world just like Riverview and Sunset Valley. It is NOT a vacation world like France or Egypt.
2. I didn't see the point.
I'm committed to my Sims, and until recently I didn't realize how easy it is to move your family to a new town. Just save a copy of your family to the bin, then load up your new neighborhood, go to Edit Town, and place the copies of your Sims into the new neighborhood.
I felt like I had finally squeezed all the entertainment out of Bridgeport. Which is what motivated me to look into Barnacle Bay.
Now that I have figured out the situation, I'm pretty glad I ponied up the twenty bucks for Barnacle Bay. It sounds like a lot of money, but think of it this way: it's basically a stuff pack, where half the "stuff" is a neighborhood world.
I hope it has been selling well enough to justify more of these DLC (Downloaded Content) neighborhood worlds in the future, because I would like to see more of them. Alas, I suspect that "meh" reviews and confusion over what Barnacle Bay really IS may have hurt its chances.
So! Barnacle Bay! This is a pretty large world, with a laid back vibe. It has a lot of dead people, and not very many venues. The first thing I did was Edit World, place some lots, and add some of the lots from Night Life so that my Sim could hit the bars.
The stuff pack is kinda spiffy, with a general "nautical" theme (not just pirate stuff). This would be a great world for fishing Sims; not so great if you're after other collectibles, including seeds. It ships with some pretty great properties ready to be placed in the town - the designers did some great work on the architecture and landscaping of their lots this time around!
Unfortunately, the best work of architecture - the pirate ship restaurant - is a rabbit hole, so you can't see what it's like inside. A lot of people have been disappointed to learn that!
One thing I really like about Barnacle Bay is that it comes pre-populated with a lot of Sims. Bridgeport really felt like a ghost town! Wherever my Sim goes in Barnacle Bay, she always finds lots of other Sims to interact with. And lots of celebrities, to boot. (Including Nina and Dina Caliente, who you may remember from Sims 2!)