The Sims 2 or The Sims 3? Which is better?

Hi everyone,

Today I set out on a mission determined to play The Sims 2 after not playing the game since the release of The Sims 3. I only set out to play it for a few hours but it ended up being the entire day. I had to get used to the camera controls and also get used to not pressing game speed 4 but I was hooked. After playing I asked myself the question. Was Sims 2 a better game in its time than Sims 3?

What makes Sims 2 better

1. The all round game performance. The neighborhoods load faster, create-a-sim doesn't take the whole day to load. The game rarely crashes. There are little or no bugs and there is no lag. Even though I used this game on a very old computer back in the day I cannot recall that there were any bugs. Sims 3 has too many to count. 

    2. The humorous aspect. Everything the sims in Sims 2 do is hilarious. From strange dance moves to the video clip that plays when your sim woohoos to your sim falling asleep in their dinner. I laughed so much today while playing the game. Sims 3 has some pretty hilarious moments but not as good  as the Sims 2.

3. The quality of the characters and stories. Bella Goth, Don Lothario, the Curious Brothers and the Pleasants. No Sims fan will ever forget them. Their stories played out perfectly and  were simple yet gripping. Everybody wanted to find the missing Bella Goth or play as the Curious household to see their alien baby. The Sims 3 has stories but there are too many to truly take notice of. 

4. The excitement. Let's be honest, the Sims 2 expansions brought on a level of excitement not experienced with any Sims 3 expansion. Yes, there was a heck of a lot of excitement for Late Night, Pets and many more Sims 3 expansions but this has eventually been dulled by the amount of store content that gets released. We are literally drowned in the amount of objects, clothes and worlds your game can have that getting new stuff has become normal.This isn't such a bad thing and I am a huge fan of the store but the excitement isn't there anymore.  In Sims 2 store content and custom content was very rare leading to huge excitement for new stuff with each expansion. 

5. The interactions, rewards and careers. You felt satisfied for fulfilling your sim's aspirations and needs. It was more difficult in Sims 2 which is why you felt like you had achieved something when your sim reached the top of their careers or reached the platinum aspiration level. In Sims 3 it is taken for granted that your sims will be promoted within a day or two and there is so much to do that you feel as if you've done nothing. Again this is not a bad thing and I am actually quite impressed with the amount of stuff sims can do now but I do miss things like shopping for groceries and clothes and not having an infinite supply of either. Also going on those timed dates and group outings made it so much more exciting. 

What makes Sims 3 better

1. The worlds. Incredibly detailed and absolutely beautiful to look at. Compare Pleasantview to Sunset Valley and compare Strangetown to Lucky Palms and you get my point. The neighbourhoods in Sims 2 were limited with a few lots for each. The neighbourhoods in Sims 3 are large and packed with lots, community lots and beautiful scenery. 

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    Compare Downtown or any Sims 2 world to these....
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   

2. The Individual Sim. The focus of Sims 3 has truly been on The Sims themselves. Their personality, traits, lifetime goals. You fall in love with your sims in Sims 3 because they are so unique. 

Compare Paco in Sims 2 to Paco in Sims 3

3. The Sims Community. The community of sims fanatics only truly kicked off with an explosion of Lets Plays, Fansites and Simblrs in the Sims 3 series. This is mainly due to social media like facebook, twitter and tumblr. Its more fun to play a game when you have a whole community also playing that same game and sharing tips, gameplay and funny moments. 

4.The Insanity. While the Sims 2 had funnier moments, the Sims 3 pushed the game to its limits with crazy stuff. Cows, Houseboats, Scuba Diving, Nectar Making, Ghost hunting, levitating, jetpacks and so much more. Its crazy and we love it! 

With all that said it is truly up to you, the simmer, to decide which game you prefer. One cannot choose one over the other due to the different times they were made, the different levels of technology and the vast amount of different gameplay both the Sims 2 and the Sims 3 brought to the series.