Sims Masquerade

Vima - Oh, I just love a Masquerade ball, a little mystery and a little bit fun. I told Dane I'd just meet him there, we'll see if he can figure out which girl I am.

Site Design: I should first say that I'm going to be particulary picky with this review because this site has so much potential, I'd like to see a little perfection. Soft, contrasting colors, just beautiful. The entry is nice, but I think I'd prefer just a static logo at the top in pink, rather than this fancy smancy flash logo. That just isn't pretty enough for this site.

The mouseover effects on the button was a nice idea, but the little bright marks are way to saturated for this particular color scheme. Since we have pinks and greens, you might be able to get away with either a brighter pink, but not overly saturatated, or a light yellow...bright just doesn't work, and it would have to be played with for a while.

I'm not sure what resolution this site was designed at, but at 1024x768 the images at the bottom are separated by a gap. I gave it some thought, and I just prefer navigation on the side, because I don't always like to scroll down. If these buttons were moved to the side, perhaps a silver bar could be placed on the left or right or maybe both to make them seem attached...assuming that is what was supposed to be done at the bottom.

Floors: The floors are separated into catagories. The wood page has a big table for pictures, but only one wood. It would be better to remove that table until it is needed.

Roofs: The only way to really test roofs are in the game and I'm not sure I want to risk it. I like realistic roofs and there are a few here that will pass the test, but I'm also sure that some of the brighter ones will be passed over for them.

Updates: Great idea to let people know what is new. Sometimes we don't visit for a while, but when we finally get a chance to visit, this is where we should start. Perhaps this should be the first link though ;)

Paintings: Yeah, non-Art Studio paintings. Nice big frames, lovely frames. :) Wait....scrolling. Quality fading.... I've seen your abilities at the top, but Witchboy is trying to cut corners with Art Studio. I know he's capable of much better, so please don't fail us now! Oh, more pages. A nice mixture of frame types. Some Art Studio frames, some Transmogrified. I still prefer the Transmogrified andwill avoid the others except maybe that set of four ladies on page two.

Objects: The objects are a mostly recolors, though some are nicely done, there a quite a few that just don't suit my tastes. I suggest to all recolor artists using a replace color method rather than hue/saturation. Also, if you do some hand-painting, you can come up with some really beautiful furniture and still don't have to worry about changing shapes.

Houses: Separated into sections by lot numbers, the houses section contains several large houses. I noticed that some come with a shopping list. Very nice idea. Allow people to download what they need from another site without actually passing out the files.

Walls: Fancy walls, but some are just strange proportions. I wonder if they are stretched in the game, but really don't feel like checking. A little tired after last night.

Skins: Separated into smaller catagories, I download a few to test. There are a few mesh problems as I stated in the "Sims Dollhouse" review ways to fix these. Might want to check those out. Some of the skins don't come with the cmx and skn files, so if that person doesn't already have them, too bad. My usual complaints on shading and hightlights are applicable here.

Overall, the site has a nice selection. Waivering on indecision here, this site is enough to toast 3 martinis and chunk in an extra olive to grow on.

Sister Cecilia C. Robertsim
Pastor of the Church of Simmintology - This site has a very soothing front page. Nice cool tones, with an unobtrusive pattern. The sections are all denoted at the top with a large bubble shaped very much like a single celled organism. I remember those quite vividly from my class at the community college on animal behaviors. Which reminds me Skyler I was wondering if perhaps you would be willing to come and teach a polka class for me at the Recreational Center? Oh where was I?... Oh yes going to the objects section.

Ok the first section is doors, there are tons! I think it would be nice to have more doors however I have heard that there is a strange phenomenon that occurs when you have too many objects in build mode...window turning into fireplaces or stairs etc. So some sites have been making doors and windows that show up in buy mode instead, there is not notation of something like that here however.

In surfaces Tammy has some recolors that look really nice, others are a bit on the bleary side. But if you need a caterer's table in a variety of colors I think this could be your place. Hallelujah!

Goodness sakes a fuchsia fireplace, do we really need one of those??? Likewise the bright blue fence! I am not saying that they are not well done...I am only saying it is not in my style that is all! Ok and while I am at it the pink bamboo shower also is beyond me... Praise Be!

Ok The recolors here are good, I will grant that, but the colors to me are a bit gaudy!!! The Lord does not need to see that in our homes I have to point that out! Heavens help us.

Ok bottom line here is that there are many many recolored objects and if you need a white toilet with every seat color imaginable, which regrettably I find that I do, then look no further this could very well be your place! I am giving three and a half communion cups, oh and one of those book mark things too!

Well I am off to the lounge, to pray for your souls you just continue on in your sinful fashion don't pay any attention to little old me! Lord give me Guidance!!

Storel - Well, let's just plunge in to this site. The Floors section has quite a few carpets and tiles, many of which appear to be scanned-in samples of the real things. This provides a good variety of attractive colors and textures, but I can't tell how seamlessly they'll tile when you use them in the game. Don't be fooled into thinking you've seen all the floors here, though; there are a few more in the Walls section under "Wall and Floor sets". It would be useful if the Floors section also had a link to "Wall and Floor sets".

The Walls section had a good selection, too, with lots of interesting, attractive walls. The presentation was very inconsistent, though; nearly every wall picture was a different size from the rest and many of the walls seemed elongated, which I found rather distracting and confusing. There was lots of variety in Paintings, too; transmogrified paintings and tapestries, along with some ArtStudio paintings, with very eclectic subject matter. I was disappointed by the Roofs section, though; nearly all the roofs were in very bright, garish colors.

The Objects section was quite extensive, with several different contributors ensuring at least a pageful of objects in every category. They're good about labeling which ones need Livin' Large or House Party, too. Nearly the objects were simple recolorings, though, so don't come here hoping to find lots of original things. As usual with recolorings, some of the colors are more tasteful than others...

Even the Houses section had a pretty good selection; every lot had at least one and sometimes several houses. The houses look very realistic, too, especially the smaller ones; my compliments to the architects. Unfortunately, the presentation here was inconsistent: most houses were only shown in one external view, a few had both front and back views, and fewer still had any interior views. The pictures were too small to see much detail, too; being able to click on something to get a larger view would be helpful.

There weren't many children's skins or heads, but there were two pages of Men's skins and three pages of Women's. Again, the size of the pictures varied for no good reason. The small ones were too small to see much detail, but the large ones were a good size.

Overall, the large selection is good, but the quality varies and the presentation is often inconsistent. I give it three martinis with an extra lime.

Squeegee - If anyone was wondering why I did not post a review this past Wednesday. It was because my former trustworthy and loyal computer finally passed away. It was sudden and I did not think that it was feeling sick. But it died in a way in which I would always wanted to go. And that was a power source failure that pretty much destroyed all the other components of the system.

I was able to salvage some RAM and my CDRW drive. But that was all. The good news is that I am now on a Pentium III running at 1GHz!!

My first review on a new machine. I have to express that "The Sims Masquerade" is fashioned with colors that are undemanding on the eyes. I enjoy the background that resembles the design of the carpet used in Livin Large. Nice touch!!

But, the animations on the front page are just a little too much. They are right there as you load up the page and they sort of give a bad impression to a new viewer. But that doesn't mean that I do not like the themed animation. I do like it, but it takes away from the concentration that the site should get.

The navigation is very plain. I was able to go right to the areas that always perk my interest. I first went into the carpet section of the "Floors Index". There was a extensive spectrum of colors available. The image used for the carpets show a very close real image of carpet fiber. And to be honest, that would not give a realistic look in a Sims household if that carpet image was used.

Now, it's a completely different story concerning the tile sections. There are just simply some outstanding works that are offered. I favor tiles #13 and #14!! They would give a spa look to any Sim bathroom.

Tammy and Witchboy seemed to have gone wild with the amount of paintings that are located in the paintings section. I did catch Aunt Clara and Darren from the TV show "Bewitched!" that are sort of tossed into the gallery. I have not watched that TV show in ages. But yet, I do tend to watch some of the older shows like "Emergency" and "Adam-12" when they are running on TVLand. I wonder what time "Bewitched" runs?? Hmm, I must do some detailed research into this..

There is a generous selection of some unique and re-colored objects located here. I checked everypage and I just did not see anything that I wanted. The recoloring done was just too "vivid" in my opinion. It's like the whole image was recolored and not just selective surfaces. To me, recoloring selective areas of a object or objects make them more realistic. Which, would make them downloadable to picky users like myself.

I do like the properties featured. Every lot has about a half dozen distinctive styled homes for download. There is bound to be one or two that a person will enjoy. :)

There are a few negatives, but there are a few things in this site that stand out. And that would be some of the female skins and a decent selection of floors. I can not describe what I am feeling right now about this site. As I sit here looking at it I feel like the site is lacking something. Maybe what I am trying to look for is that the site doesn't have that "lived in" look.

I submit a review of one martini glass and a half chewed cherry..