The Sims 2 vs. The Sims 3

As we know, The Sims 2 was very popular on release, and so is The Sims 3 despite the fact of the leaked, dodgy, buggy version of the Sims 3 uploaded by some guy. He might have helped, but spoiled the surprise. BACK TO THE TOPIC! Sims 3 has many features Sims 2 don’t have. Since Sims 3 doesn’t have any expansion packs, I will not go over features of the Sims 2 expansion packs but I will in a different article. Lets get started from splash screen (intro) to saving the game! For further Sims 3 features, check out this article!

EA made this game so that would be the main splash screen. Sims 3 has one more splash screen which shows that it’s the Sims 3. Anyways, the short movie briefly explains what is in these games. Sims 2 boasted its smoother animations and the 3D world. Sims 3, as we all know, boasted its seamless neighborhood. So after the movie, is the loading screen.

This loading screen is probably the loading of the backbones of the game. After this loading screen, we encounter the neighborhood selection screen.

They do both give you an option to create multiple neighborhoods, but sadly, The Sims 3 won’t let you create or export new neighborhoods from Sim-City. You are basically stuck with Sunset Valley in default, which is not bad after all. We are going to put this article as if you just started the game. Comment any questions if you want to know what happens when you played again, assuming you saved the game last time.

After selecting a neighborhood, or in The Sims 3’s case “game”, you will now be in your probably final loading screen. It’s not that long actually if you have a decent computer.

So, if you’re in the Sims 2, you can start playing right away *after one more loadng screen*, as well as The Sims 3 *without a loading screen* but you might want to go to the Create-a-Sim option first, which the Sims 3 will tell you to do so if you wanted to. Both have loading screens going into the Create-a-Sim, but I noticed that the Sims 3 requires lesser time.

Here you are at the Create-a-Sim tool.Sims 3 is actually neater and more self explaining. So you go ahead edit the body of your sim. Cool thing in the Sims 3 is that you have a “Fat-thin” and “Muscular-Pure fat/bone Non-muscular” slider.

Its fun to play with and seeing that sim become fat or thin or muscular or no muscle or any combination you can think of (that doesn’t conflict) and them doing some reactions. So we move on to the head and its features. The Sims 3 may be almost like Sims 2 when it comes to this menu but The Sims 3 is very very very very very customizable and equally easy to use. Say for example you gave your sim a mohawk. You can edit the color of the tip or the highlights into a way different one than the actual hair color. It’s pretty damn neat once you get the hang of it, making you spend minutes or even hours just making your perfect sim and just only working on the head.

The facial features is easier and more self explaining in The Sims 3. Freckles are also possible in the Sims 3 (comment if this is wrong) without having to select it as the skin tone of the sim.

Oh by the way your sim can LOOK LIKE ANYTHING from a genie to an alien! This option is available within the menu that edits the name of the sim.

Now we move on to the clothes. Overall, the sims 3 has lesser clothes but it is not actually lesser! Its a WHOLE LOT MORE with the Create-a-Style tool. Its VERY EASY and it’s not hard at all despite the look of it. You can even have different glasses or hairstyle for different set of clothes.

Now we move on to the next option, their personality traits! This is where things got a whole lot dfferent. Sims 2 has that same system as of Sims 1 except that it has that Aspiration thingy. In the sims 3, you get a more specific system which gives you the ability to make your sim a Computer Whiz, a Kleptomaniac, an Hydrophobic, a Party animal, or a “Never Nude sim” or ALL OF THE ABOVE making your sim very different than others! All those traits has advantages and disadvantages.

So after you pick or rate your personality traits, next you pick your Aspiration for Sims 2 or Lifetime wish for Sims 3. Aspiration is pretty vague but is still pretty life accurate. Lifetime wish is far better than aspiration. Your sim’s personality traits affects what lifetime wish your sim will pursue so don’t expect a sim to want to pursue a gardening related wish if they don’t have the green thumb trait.

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Also in the sims 3, you get to choose the favorites of your sim like their favorite food, favorite type of music, and favorite color. This and the personality trait system affects their moods in the moodlets  in live mode which I will discuss later.

So you’ve created your sim, now is the time to move them in. In the Sims 3, you are given the right amount of money depending on how many sims you have and their traits, so your not stuck with 20,000 simoleans while you have an eight membered family.

In The Sims 2, you have a loading screen going into the lot you selected. In the Sims 3, you could play right away without waiting! Sims 3 still has another loading screen but it’s not as long as Sims 2’s. So here you are in live mode after The Sims 2 catches up.

Here you’ll find that in The Sims 3 you dont have the comfort and room mood.

These are now represented as moodlets like “disgusted” or “well rested” or “comfy”. This either boosts or lowers your sims’ mood a lot unless it’s only a +5 mood. Your sims in the Sims 2 has wants though, but so is in Sims 3 but considered as wishes. Completed wishes do not affect the mood meter directly, but it gives the “fulfilled” moodlet which boosts your sim’s mood. So now you don’t have to get that Silver meter in the wants of the sims 2 to be able to get a very nice mood for your sim. Good thing is both give lifetime/aspiration points

The Sims 3 speeding up of time is slower now, I don’t know why but it doesn’t bother me, probably though mainly because of the seamless neighborhood. You know, sims in your neighborhood all interact and live out their own all at the same time. Sims 3 is still a bit slow even on Ultra but it’s way better than the first release after applying 1.2.7 patch. I read a comment in amazon.com saying that this seamless neighborhood option will not let you create stories. Guess what? You can disable this! You can go to options->game settings and uncheck story progression. While this is unchecked, you can edit the households one by one so they will be along the storyline or just be in the background.

Lets now focus on the seamless neighborhood of the sims 3 that the sims 2 doesn’t have. The Sims 3 has this awesome very cool feature that allows your sim to go to the park, buy groceries, go to the community pool, go fishing in the ocean, all without a single bar of loading screen

. Your sim may also encounter some friend along the way which may make them want to talk to them. You can also see other sims going to go fishing. If your sim is very popular, then imagine what is going to happen Well, i’ll tell you anyways, your sim will probably always be talked about and get glances from other sims that are walking by them.

Lets now go to buy mode. Buy mode of the sims 3 can be arranged in rooms or categories just like in the sims 2 or the original Sims.

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But this time, The Sims 3, while in arranged by room mode, the furnitures are arranged so that the player will know where such item may go. I’ll provide a picture to give you an idea sooner or later. The cool thing about the Sims 3’s new slot system is the diagonal placement of furniture, but what’s even cooler, well, coolest thing is the FREE PLACEMENT.

That couch can be arranged in any degree of angle and anywhere! I also saw comments that the free placement is not there and EA just released the diagonal placement. You have to press and hold down the ALT key to enable this feature. Its pretty damn neat, making The Sims 3 even possible to become a house planning program! Ok, the “cooler” (not coolest) thing is the Create a Style option. Say for example your sim is in the military. They might like camo designs. In the Sims 2, you have to get a modded object to be able to get them. In the Sims 3, you can go in “CASt” pick on “themed” patterns and select the one with camo theme. Once you edit the color of the camo and such, you can now click and hold the top of the color box and drag it to any object to apply that style to other objects.

I think buy mode is done, lets go to build mode. Build mode in the Sims 3 is almost the same as the Sims 2. Thing is theres a different way to create basements. It still includes the foundation, but you cannot change the level of the terrain inside houses. It will tell you “Only exposed terrain can be blah blah blah…” which is kind of annoying since you can’t turn it off in the cheat mode…as far as I know. Build mode is overall easier to use. I can’t explain really how it looks like so I’ll show you this picture.

Anyways, coolest thing about this new build mode is that you can drag walls, and even bringing stuff with it! Want your living room to be bigger? No problem! Just click on the hand tool and you’re onto some expanding!

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In the Sims 2, I believe that you have to get the Seasons expansion pack to be able to plant plants right? If so, you don’t need any other expansion packs in the Sims 3 to plant plants! You can just go ahead, look in your sim’s inventory to find something to plant and make him plant it! Since we are in this inventory thing, i’ll tell you about the difference between the inventory of the sims 2 and the inventory of the sims 3.

In The Sims 2, your sim’s inventory can fit…anything. Even their stove, their fridge anything. It may be handy, but not so realistic. In The Sims 3, you have a Sim inventory and another inventory in Buy mode. When you buy something from buy mode, you will see if it’s portable so that it can be in your sim’s inventory. If it isn’t, you have to either sell it, or put it in the inventory found in the Buy Mode when your sim is moving to keep that item. Since we are talking about moving, lets move on!

Moving is not like going to your neighborhood with a loading screen in between and evicting your family and putting them some “house else”. When your sim moves, they either have to call or go on the computer to move to another house, just like what you would most likely do in real life. When moving, you have the option to keep your stuff and put them in your Buy Mode inventory (family inventory by the way to be more specific).

Now wen your sim moves, they will have a positive moodlet fo 24 hours. Anyways, so your sim moves. You won’t see Uhaul trucks though, but you will see your family going into a taxi and going to the new home your family just bought. This process is loading screenless for your information

Oh what a pretty long discussion. Now that your sims are happy in their new home, you can now save. You will press on that three dotted circle to save and go to your neighborhood again to wait for a loading screen and play another family after waiting for another loading screen. Well, that doesn’t happen in the Sims 3. You can save then click on the “edit town” option to zoom out in your town and pick another family to play if you want to. Bad thing about doing this is that your wishes and promises of your sims are deleted. Overall, The Sims 3 got something new…A LOT OF NEW STUFF! Oh by the way, when your sim gets new stuff, they will get a positive moodlet. Gah, ok I will now try to find time to get the pictures needed to explain you guys the features of The Sims 3 or The Sims 2 better. I will try showing a video of loading screen less options but it will be laggy since my computer is slow while recording videos. Check out this article too!