One of my all time favorite games to play is The Sims. This game was always a go to game for me, even now at the age of 28. I mean, I get to make my own Sim, pick every trait and favorite thing for them as I want, choose any job/career to advance in, and pretty much run their life how ever I want to! I’m so game for this!

Even though I only got to play the first two Sims games at friends’ houses, I couldn’t resist getting Sims for myself years later! Granted, the PC version is much cooler than the console version will ever be!

On the console, you only have different expansions that are separate games themselves, options that are so boring, and they even give you a certain limit to the amount of objects (from build AND buy mode) that stops you from purchasing anything else to make your Sims house the way you want it.

On the PC, you get ALL the expansions that you can get currently, build a house COMPLETELY as you want, download additional content(including content made by other sim players all over the internet), play with your friends due to one of the expansions, and it all connects to the base game! Who could ask for more?!

    

Sims 3 is by far my favorite, though Sims 4 was released in 2014. The differences that make me chose Sims 3 over Sims 4 are just the little things they take away from you in Sims 4. Just a few examples are cars and even a more interactive world map.

There are a lot of expansions for Sims 3, as I had previously said. Here is a list just for you, my dear readers, with some details on each expansion! And lets not forget that some expansions have an added bonus of a new World for your Sims!

• Pets-Now we can have pets with our families! Cats, Dogs, Horses!!!!! Either create a pet in the original household creation, adopt, and/or breed your own! The featured profession is an Equestrian. The World given in this expansion is Appaloosa Plains.
• Supernatural– Tired of the normal boring human Sim? Well, now you can be one of the few races now available through this expansion! Witches, vampires, werewolves, fairies, and zombies are brought to the average Sim life! Let’s not forget the new addition of the moon cycles! The featured profession is a Fortune-Teller. The World given in this expansion is Moonlight Falls.
• World Adventures– Everyone needs a vacation, including a sim! Granted the max amount of days you can take as a vacation is 7 days, but you can always go back on a vacation when ever you want! Now we have 3 vacations spots based off of 3 different places in the world. Champs Les Sims (France), Al Simhara (Egypt), and Shang Simla (China) are the places available to your sim for vacation. You can get exclusive items from each place, explore tombs for treasure, and even make friends from each place to have visit you anytime!
• Ambitions– New careers are open to your Sims with this expansion! Now you have added the professions to the current list: Architectural Designer, Education, Firefighter, Ghost Hunter, Medical, Investigator, Stylist, and they even finally added Self Employment for the writers, painters, and other professions. You can even do the laundry now! The World given in this expansion is Twin Brook.
• Late Night– Now Sims can have a night life too! How about some penthouses instead of the tiny starter house you can get with almost all of the simoleons they give you to start off with?! Now we can also play different instruments to be part of the Band Member Career or even be in the Film Career. The World given in this expansion is Bridgeport.
• Generations– Now we have something that is strictly based off of the Sims family section! This expansion brings out the different aspects of a Sims life! New celebrations are available as well! For example, birthday/teen/bachelor parties, weddings, and slumber parties! There are also memories, graduation ceremonies, prom, imaginative play, potions, boarding schools, pillow fights, strollers, and even canes for the elderly sims! The featured profession is Daycare!
• Showtime– Now we can become famous and be celebrities?! Sign me up! But wait, there is another race included with this expansion? Why of course! Now you can make your Sim a Genie! The featured professions are Singer, Acrobat, and Magician! The World given in this expansion is Starlight Shores.
• Seasons– Finally we can have natural seasons! Let me introduce you to Spring, Summer, Fall, and Winter! Now you can even play with the weather! Want it to be sunny, then go ahead and make it so! You can also make each season last how long you would like it to. And what’s this? You can give your Sim outdoor clothing?! This is pretty cool! And lets not forget that now you can officially celebrate the holidays in the season they are supposed to be in! The only thing that I myself can not for the life of me figure out is the profession featured in this expansion. You must be an alien (but how do I become one?!) to be in the Test Subject profession.
• University Life– So, remember how you graduate your kids from school? Well now you can send them off to college! Or yourself of course! Want to save as much money as possible on your tuition? Just take the Aptitude Test to get a scholarship based on all of your skill levels! The featured professions are Art Appraiser, Sports Agent, and Video Game Developer. The World given in this expansion is Sims University.
• Island Paradise– So we already have vacation spots from World Adventures, but we don’t have actual resorts! This expansion gives you just that. And you can even create your own resort how you want it to be! You can also discover islands, have a boat for a vehicle, and even scuba dive! Lets not forget this feature also lets you create a home on a dock and make it into a type of boat home! Its pretty cool! The featured professions are Scuba Diver, Lifeguard, and Resort Manager. The World given in this expansion is Isla Paradiso.
• Into the Future– This is the final expansion made for the Sims 3 series. As it is implied, you can now travel to the future! How would you like to meet your descendants? You can even go back to the present to change the future! And everything is so futuristic that you can even get a PlumBot! The featured professions are PlumBot Dealer, Astronomer, and PlumBot Trainer. The World given in this expansion is Oasis Landing.

     Granted, some expansions did not come with a new world, but there are also some that you can buy in addition to the ones you will collect from each expansion. Here is a list of other Worlds.

• Riverview
• Barnacle Bay
• Hidden Springs
• Lunar Lakes
• Lucky Palms
• Sunlit Tides
• Monte Vista
• Aurora Skies
• Dragon Valley
• Midnight Hollow
• Roaring Heights

 

 

Sims 4 is actually breaking into the ranks for Sims.

Now, Sims 4 has better graphics than Sims 3. But a lot of things differ from the two games as I have said before. Sims 3 was released in 2009 with an expansion coming out only 5 months after the base game was released. The last expansion was released a year before Sims 4 was released, giving it a total of 11 expansions in 4 years. Sims 4 was released in September of 2014 and currently has 8 expansion packs in 6 years. It also includes The Gallery where Simers can now share their content with others and allow them to use it! FREE OF CHARGE!

One thing that I actually loved in this game was that you don’t have only one Lifetime Wish. You get to do all of them! Granted, the way to achieve the wish as complete is a pain, but it saves your progress and marks parts off for you! But each wish has multiple steps to achieve it. But all around, it is more fun this way because I can do all of the wishes and make my experience with the game not as boring as just getting to the final goal of only one Lifetime wish for each Sim that I create.The other thing I do like about this game is even though the map is not as interactive as in Sims 3, this map lets you go into the different ‘Worlds’ called Neighborhoods featured in the game. Which also makes it easier to access your different Sim families….but also makes it easy to have two of the sims you created separately become a family of your own (which a lot of the time, I don’t like my options for significant others that the creators give you or the game generates).

Now let me to explain each of the expansions and Game packs to you. The Expansions will be purple and the game packs will be green.

• Get to Work– Now, you start of with the professions given to you by the creators themselves in the base game, right? Well now you also get Doctor, Detective, and Scientist. But that isn’t all! You can even start your own business and manage it too! Really you can sell just about anything in your business….even things bought through the Buy Mode or things you have created! You also get two new skills! Photography and Baking! Expansion includes the Neighborhood Magnolia Promenade, the Planet Sixam (finally, an Alien home world!) and even playable aliens!!!!!
• Get Together– Now here is a fun expansion for Sims 4! This expansion is based on fun things for your Sims to do with other Sims in your game. Now they give you Clubs (pretty much lets you make clubs for your sims and you can invite other sims to join in, set restrictions on what the club does, age of the members, and even where they meet!), we now get our pools back (FINALLY), you can get the DJ skill and different DJ Booths, and you can even do the Dancing skill! This expansions gives you the Windenburg Neighborhood.
• Outdoor Retreat– So, Sims 3 had World Adventures for vacationing with your Sims. Sims 4 has this expansion! Now we can actually go CAMPING. Yeah Sims 3 had tents and stuff, but it didn’t actually have its own World for camping like this expansion. Now we have our own National Park to camp in and explore! The skill Herbalism, Collecting insects, and outdoor activity related options are now available to us! The awesome Neighborhood of Granite Falls is featured in this Game Pack.
• Spa Day– We finally have a wellness featured expansion/game pack! Can you say ‘Home Spa’?! I mean, I didn’t like having to go to the spa itself and pay all that time just to sit there and let it happen and get bored. Now I can get massages, mud baths, and sit in a sauna at my Sim’s home! There is also meditation and yoga available to your Sim as well now! Sadly there was no new neighborhood added in this game pack.
• Dine Out– Now, I really don’t know much about this Game Pack. It is releasing in about a week, but I only know what has been posted about it. This expansion lets you build your own restaurant and even run it! Kind of like the Get to work expansion but it is straight up all about being a restaurant owner! Now we can also experiment with new foods, actually watch our Sims succeed in cooking, and even have our staff only doing restaurant based tasks! I really can not wait to try this game pack!
• City Living- This expansion pack includes a new city called San Myshuno and it has 4 neighborhoods you can live in for your Sim. You can get apartments or even a top floor personal and fun CONDO like home! Some even have POOLS! This expansion includes new fields you can pursue called Social Media and Critic as well as a returning profession called Politician for a CAREER! You can also now assign LOT TRAITS to your homes and apartments to better categorize them for other Simers to make it more interesting!
• Cats & Dogs- Animals are BACK! Sadly no horses, but we have the cats and dogs back! You can now also purchase new items for your pets! The new career is a VET! You can also get the specified career items for your HOME! When this came out, I was in LOVE more with the game than I was before the release of the game!
• Seasons- Seasons come and seasons go! With this expansion, you can also control the temperature inside your Sims homes to keep them from freezing or over heating! And the holiday decorations?! WOW! The new career you ask?! Well its the Botanist! Have fun with this expansion Simers!
• Get Famous- Did you ever want to make your Sims famous? Well now you can! We had a version like this for Sims 3, but this one adds more to the mix than just the celebrity setting! You can now become an actor/actress or a social media influencer! New items and build mode items were added so you can have fun making the best mansions for your Sims as well! And what is this?! A new celebrity world?! Why yes it is Simers! Its the new world of Del Sol Valley! It has a very nice mansion on it too! Enjoy the life of a celebrity, though it can be taxing as you gain or lose levels on you Sim very easily. Keep up appearances with the regular Sims and get to know the most famous Sims in the city!
• Island Living- Did you ever want to be a mermaid? Well live your dream as a mermaid then in this expansion! Not only do you get to be one, you get to do many things as a mermaid or human Sim! This expansion includes the island paradise of Sulani! Its a nice tropical area for your Sims and you can even BUILD INTO THE WATER! Yes, I said in the WATER! Be creative my Simers! Its a nice addition to the game and brings out the most creative things in your mind! You can now have a profession of a Conservationist, Diver, Fisher, and Lifeguard! And boats have made their comeback!
• Discover University- Just like in University Life for Sims 3 and The Sims 2: University you can go to college at any age with your Sim when they are a Young Adult or older! But instead of only one university to go to, there are TWO to pick from in this expansion! University of Britechester and Foxbury Institute. Each have pros and cons, but I will let you find those out on your own as each excel in certain skills and careers and are mediocre in others! Have fun being a college student my Simers!
• Vampires- Lions and tigers and VAMPIRES! OH MY! Vampires make a comeback in this game pack for your Sim to become, start as, or even befriend! This game pack also features a new town, though small, called Forgotten Hollow.
• Parenthood- Ever want a more interactive way to influence your children Sims? Well now you can! Cursing, acne, school related projects and many more things were added in this game pack for your Sims to be more interactive with their children! Your children can also now become rebellious to parents and their siblings too! And my LORD was it funny to watch my child Sim go into a bear costume all the time! But beware! Nurture or be strict how you see fit with your Sims children, as the outcomes can vary!
• Jungle Adventure- Not too much was added to this game pack sadly. I think they could have come up with more things if they really wanted. But we did get some good things! You can now go to a place called Selvadorada! New foods, dance moves and music was introduced in this game pack. And let us not forget the face you can excavate and examine ancient artifacts and mysterious relics!
• Strangerville- Did you say BOSS BATTLE?! Have fun in this game pack in Strangerville! Figure out what is wrong with some of the Sims in this world and fight a boss! Solve the mystery and have fun with side effects!
• Realm of Magic- And the magic is BACK! TWO worlds were added in this game pack! Glimmerlock is the resident neighborhood where as the Magical Realm is now accessible through a crystal of sorts. This game pack also brings in the Spellcasters as a playable ‘race’ like Sims 3 gave you the ‘Witch’ or the ‘Fairy’ as a magic user. Enjoy the magical gameplay Simers!

To be honest, this is actually a game I would recommend to anyone, even a kid! Well, mostly! This game was so ahead of its time in my opinion that I am surprised they actually managed to keep it going this long! And I am so grateful this game has exceeded my childhood!

If you ever have a chance, try this game, though I would recommend Sims 3 first! The experience is worth it!!! Even though it costs a lot of money in the long run! But there are now BUNDLES to help you get started at cheaper prices, even CREATING bundles! Each includes an expansion, a game pack, and a stuff pack.

Also, don’t forget that I do not mind if you drop your own opinions of this game in the comments as well. Just remember, this is pretty much just my review on these games as well as an explanation on it too!

Til Next Time!!!

~Kit~