First of all, over to EA for what's new:
Grab your Turkey Hats and put up the Christmas stockings, the Holiday Season has arrived! Santa is in Sim Town and looking for his missing elves. Help bring back the Christmas Spirit and be rewarded with a pet reindeer! Also look out for new holiday décor, New Year’s Eve celebrations and more!
The Sims Freeplay will update the code of the game on your Windows Phone, but should not disturb your saved data. That means all the Sims that you have spent time caring for and growing up, along with the expansion you your town, will remain intact after the updated code is installed.
That's great, because The Sims Freeplay is not a 'quick' game to play, relying on timed effects that can last hours. It really is a freemium game that you dip in and out of each day, watching it build up over days and weeks, if not months, and not worry too much about paying buckets of extra cash.
From our review in September:
Here's the thing though. Electronic Arts have got the balance point set in the player's favour on this one. If you just dip in and out of The Sims throughout the day for a few moments, then you never really feel the need to accelerate the development for a few lifestyle points. Which means never going near your wallet.
...So there are some caveats, but I'm enjoying the slow paced nature of the game over the last week, it's not punishing at all in terms of in-app purchasing and advertising the benefits, and it's both smooth to handle and looks wonderful. It's worth a look, and you can play through until you've decided if you'd rather delete it, keep playing, or throw some cash at the developers.
The Sims Freeplay is available to download at no cost from the Windows Phone Store.