Reviews

Mother Russia Review

Mother Russia Store Image

When I saw this set I was so excited!  I even more excited when asked to review the set for Platinum Simmers!  (Be warned… there may be an excessive use of exclamation marks in this review!!!)

The Mother Russia set is currently on sale for 1600 simpoints (normal price: 1900 simpoints) and with that you get 31 gorgeous items!  This price seems a little steep, especially considering the recent Grandpa’s Grove venue is also 1900 simpoints.

In fact, there was some confusion as simmers thought they were getting a venue for that price and were confused when they couldn’t find it.  Fortunately, SimGuruCopeland and Weealbet teamed up to rebuild the venue and put it on the exchange (http://www.thesims3.com/assetDetail.html?assetId=7816152)!  This venue looks so Christmassy and would make a great winter festival or toy shop!

Build Items

Simmers have been requesting spires and ‘onion’ domes on the official forums for quite a while, and of course, the store team delivered!  Delivered beyond all expectations!  The great things about these architectural items is that they can be designed to work with a variety of styles, not just Russian.  Here, I have used them on my Neo-Gothic church and also an Indian inspired palace.

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There are no buy mode items included in this set, but depending on the style of lot you are building, there are other store sets that compliment it well.  I recommend the Tutor of Tudors set, the India Inspirations Collection, and the Palace of Versailles set.

With this set you also get this stunning fence and gate!  There is currently an issue with the fence, it should be see-through but it can sometimes turn solid.  Saving the recolour, replacing the fence, then selecting the saved recolour sometimes fixes it.  SimGuruKelly is aware of the issue and is looking into it.

Build Items 2 - Fence

Create A Sim

For females there are 10 clothing items for adults, one for teens, and one for children.  For males there are 6 items for adults, one for teens and one for children.  It’s nice to see a range of clothing options for different ages, but once again, elders have been neglected.  The clothing items are beautiful!  And although some items look overtly ‘Russian’ like the hats, most can be used as everyday wear.  And all the coats and jackets ARE enabled as outerwear!  New outerwear, yippie!

Recolour 1 (2)

Fantastic Floral Dress and Jacket:  This is my favourite female item!  I love how vintage and clashy it looks!  If the five pre-sets are a bit bright for you, you can tone it down because the patterns are removable!  It is enabled as outerwear.

Preset 2

Darling Day Dress:  This pretty summer dress is obviously not enabled as outerwear, hee hee, but it does have five pre-sets to choose from!  And the decal on the skirt is removable so you can easily play around with patterns and colours in CASt.  The brooch is not removable, but it is recolourable, so yeah!

Tsarevna Recolour 2

Tsarevna Ensemble:  I do like this coat (yes, it’s enabled for outerwear!) but it only has one pre-set and the stencil is not removable, which is a huge shame because it limits the amount of use I could get from it.  If the stencil was removable it would be a great coat!

Faux Fox Recolour 3

Faux Fox Cuff Outfit:  This is another of my favourites!  I can imagine my rich sims wearing this in winter!  It is enabled as outerwear.  It only has one pre-set but it’s fairly easy to recolour, except that the necklace stencil is permanently blue.  If a store item has a stencil like this, I wish they’d make it removable or a least give us colour alternatives!

Recolour 3

Russian Wrap:  I thought this outfit looked slightly Asian at first, but after playing around with it I found it works very well as a general outerwear item.  The stencils are removable, and the cuffs can be coloured to match the rest of the coat, to make it look much more wearable.  It has 4 pre-sets.

Recolour 1

Eight Button Trench Coat:  I want this coat in real life!  I like the formal style and the belt is really pretty, and yes, that jewel is recolourable!  It’s nice this set has lots of leggings, but it is possible to ‘disguise’ them as tights too.  There is only one pre-set option, but this coat is very easy to CASt.

Triple Teen Preset 1

Triple Band Shirt and Leggings (Adult and Teen):  This is a great outfit, very cute, and it’s also available for teens.  It is not enabled for outerwear.  The adult version has four pre-sets.  Unfortunately the stencils are not removable: however there are four different options of flowers on the leggings.  The bands on the arm do not change colour, and are not removable.

Boyer Hat

Boyar Hat:  This is the most wearable hat, but they all seem a bit over-the-top to me!

Shapka Hat

Shapka Hat:  Ummm… yeah.  It has a spike on it.  It looks more Mongolian than Russian to me and I’m not sure how I’d use it.  And I thought a ‘Shapka’ hat was one of those ones with flaps that cover your ears.  Oh, well!  At least it’s interesting!

Valenki Boots Recolour

Valenki Boots: These are very sweet, very wearable, boots.  They are enabled for outerwear!  The stencil can’t be removed but they’re still a nice item.

Sarafan Preset

Sarafan Tank Top:  I like this dress, it’s cute! But I’m not a fan of revealing clothes for children, and I think the top is a bit too low.  The decals can’t be removed and it only has one pre-set. It reminds me of the style of clothing in the Island Paradise expansion.

Wool Trench Preset 3

Wool Trench Coat:  This is my favourite clothing item from the set!  I love the formal style of it and I think it compliments existing items like the 5th Avenue set and the upcoming Roaring Heights world!  I think it is quite versatile and everything is recolourable except the buttons and handkerchief.  It has four pre-sets, which give the coat very different feels, and it is an outerwear option.

Primo Teen Recolour 1

Primo Print Pants:  These jeans are also available for teens.  The decal is not removable, but it is recolourable, and you can almost ‘hide’ it by making the colours match.  But I actually really like it!  I think they are very fashionable, and I can imagine real life celebrities wearing them!  I particularly like how the colour channels are blended, so you can make them look worn and vintage, and play with different effects.  They are enabled as outerwear and have one pre-set.

Ushanka Hat Recolour

Ushanka Hat:  I quite like this hat but the sign on the front makes it less wearable, although it is recolourable.

Blazer Preset

Becoming Blazer and V-neck:  This reminds me of items from the India sets, I love the pattern on it!  The pattern is part of the item and is recolourable.  It isn’t a stencil, but can be blended in to hide it.  It is enabled as outerwear too!  It has one pre-set.

BB Preset 3 Back

Bountiful Buttons Jacket:  This is another great outerwear jacket!  It is very wearable and I think my sims will be fighting over it!  It is a bit like a motorcyclist’s jacket.  There is a huge decal of an eagle on the back, but this can be removed.  And the lines on the arms are recolourable so you can blend them in if you choose.  It has four pre-set options.  Oh, and whoever made it was very clever with the patterns on the t-shirt, they are not decals but it looks like the t-shirt has a design.

Chelovyek Preset 1

Chelovyek Floral Print Jacket:  This is such a beautiful jacket!  Again it reminds me of the India set.  Unfortunately the floral decal cannot be removed, however there are four different pre-set colours to choose from and it is possible to blend the print in.  And, yep, it’s another outerwear option!

Kosovorotka Preset

Kosovorotka:  This cute outfit is for male children.  It’s sweet, but not that wearable so it has limited use.  The pattern is not removable but it can be recoloured!  It is not outerwear enabled.

Although I think the CAS items are very beautiful, some are more usable than others.  I love getting cultural sets in the store, but it sometimes feels difficult to use them.  That is why I hope we get more variety in the store worlds in the future, a Russian or Indian world could be stunning!  And we would have a reason to use all these wonderful items!

In general, I really love this set!

I’m so happy to get more outerwear options, especially more formally styled ones, which I felt was lacking.  Some of the coats are instant favourites!  One let down is that some of the items do not have removable decals, which makes them difficult to CAS, this lowers the value of the items for me.

The build items, in particular the roof pieces, are amazing!  I’m so happy we have these!  I spend a lot of time building in the game and items like this give builders new tools to work with, making things possible that were difficult before!  I’m not going to give the set a score out of 10, because I think the value of a set depends on the person using it, but for me, this set is an absolute must-have!!!

 

 

 

 

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