Differences Between The Sims 3 and The Sims 2
A Guide for Brand New Players and Experienced Sim Junkies
Jun 8, 2009
It’s been a long time since the original The Sims game began this notable franchise, and it’s even been a long time since players became acquainted to The Sims 2 and all of its changes. In that time players have gotten comfortable with The Sims 2 and likely forgotten that the first time they played The Sims 2 it was new, different, and probably confusing.
New menus, options, neighborhoods, and interactions. Not to mention cheats!
It’s natural for players to feel apprehensive or nostalgic for what they already know and love, but there’s no shame in wanting to get to know a new friend now that The Sims 3 is out. What should players be prepared for?
Differences Between The Sims 2 and The Sims 3
There are many changes, some minor but many major. For a longtime Sims player the changes are intuitive to a certain extent, but they can still be overwhelming and frustrating. Here’s a list and summary of a few examples:
Create A Sim: There are more options for designing unique faces and the all-new personality feature. There’s also the choice to change hairstyles with different outfits.
Build Mode/Buy Mode: These have changed somewhat, mainly in organization. Also, objects are sized differently from The Sims 2. For example, the painting easel in The Sims 2 took up one space. Now it takes up two or three. Players can also place furniture in diagonal positions, something they couldn’t do before.
The Neighborhood/Sunset Valley: Now players can walk their sims anywhere in the town. Visit a friend’s house, a hospital, the bookstore and grocery store, and everywhere in between! This is a pleasant change, but there’s negative too. Players must learn how to locate their sim and switch from sim to town view; otherwise the player won’t get their sim anywhere.
New Features of The Sims 3
Edit Town/Active Households: This is a brand new feature only found in The Sims 3. When the player has multiple households in Sunset Valley, they will have to switch between the households, using a button under the Edit Town menu from the options menu, the change active household button.
Story Progression: When the player switches between households he/she leaves the residents to age with the rest of the town. Sound confusing? Here’s an example. The Average household has Anna and James in it, a brother and sister. When the player leaves the Average household to play the Bunch household instead for a few sim days the Average household can change. Anna goes through a birthday without the player witnessing it and James spawns a child that the player didn’t get to name or choose traits for.
This is both good and bad. It means a boring household can be left to age until it isn’t boring and players need never again have elder sims who have non-aging friends. So Granny Anna Average doesn’t have friends in grade school that never grew up.
Story progression is bad because of the lack of control. When the player left the Average household, James Average spawned a child. Literally, spawned a baby boy with no mother and the game chose a name (Toby) not the player. There’s good news with story progression: players can turn it off! Look under the options menu for it and turn it off.
Sims 3 has a steep learning curve, but it can be a lot of fun!
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