Comparison between The Sims base games

This is a three-way comparison of the 3 base games in The Sims series; The Sims, The Sims 2, and The Sims 3 and do not include features included in expansion or stuff packs unless otherwise stated.

The Sims	The Sims 2	The Sims 3
Released January 31, 2000	Released September 14, 2004	Released June 2, 2009
7 Expansion packs, no Stuff Packs	8 Expansion packs, 9 stuff packs	5 Expansion packs, 4 stuff packs (so far).
Isometric perspective	Fully 3D	Same as The Sims 2.
All neighborhoods are the same and pre-designed. Additional neighborhoods can be made if an expansion pack is installed. Later expansion packs add sub-neighborhoods (also pre-designed and added automatically, cannot be removed). Sub-neighborhoods include downtown, Vacation Island, Studio Town and Magic Town.	3 pre-designed neighborhoods (Pleasantview, Strangetown and Veronaville) which may be (to some extent) tweaked by the player, and terrains may be imported from SimCity 4. Additional neighborhoods built from scratch may be created and added to the menu screen. Seasons, FreeTime and Apartment Life each include an additional pre-designed neighborhood. Some expansion packs add the option of attaching sub-neighborhoods, pre-designed or built from scratch, to the main neighborhood. Sub-neighborhoods include shopping districts, downtown, university, and vacation destinations.	1 pre-designed neighborhood (Sunset Valley) in retail shipment. Another - Riverview - available for download. Barnacle Bay can be bought on the official site. Twinbrook introduced in Ambitions, Bridgeport set to ship with Late Night. Downloadable Create a World tool can be used to create custom neighborhoods. The only sub-neighborhoods to date are vacation destinations.
3 life stages (baby, child, adult). Babies are objects rather than sims.	6 life stages (baby, toddler, child, teen, adult, elder. Young adult stage added with University)	7 life stages - young adult added from start.
Babies turn into children after three days, other lifespans are indefinite. With Makin' Magic expansion pack, children can age to adult by using a charm, but their appearances are chosen randomly and may change completely.	All Sims age and eventually die. Aging can be shut off using the cheat window. Aging can be stopped when sims are transfromed into another species (ie. vampire).	Lifespan can be regulated and aging can be shut off and have its duration customized in game options.
6 skills, 1 hidden skill	7 skills, 2 hidden skills	10 skills, 10 more from expansion packs.
Only Adults gain skills.	Toddlers and older can gain skills	Children and older can gain skills, toddlers can only learn Toddler skills.
No aspirations.	Teens and older have one of 5 aspirations (additional 2 aspirations are added with Nightlife), which affect their Wants and Fears. Toddlers and children aspire to Grow Up. Secondary aspirations introduced in FreeTime.	No aspirations.
No wants or fears	All Sims except babies have 4 wants and 3 fears (Additional 2 wants [if Sim finishes college] and 1 fear [if Sim is expelled from college], requires University).	Wishes and promises replace wants. No fears.
No days of the week, weekend, or days off work or school (Sims would not be fired for skipping work provided they did attend the following day). Sims cannot quit a job unless they get fired or get a different job.	7-day week with different days off depending on job. Children and Teens have the weekend off from school. Able to call in sick to work, or call work to quit. Elders can call in to retire.	Same as The Sims 2, except Sims cannot call in sick to work, but can still miss work at the expense of work performance. With some patches, you can take up to 5 unpaid days off work.
Sims do not collect memories.	Sims collect visible memories and invisible memory markers for use in gossip.	Memories return in The Sims 3: Generations, now with screenshots and fully customizable, as well as sharable online.
Bills delivered once every 3 days.	Bills delivered on Tuesdays and Thursdays.	Same as The Sims 2.
PlumbBob colour reflects precise mood: optimum is green, worst is red.	PlumbBob colour represents approximate mood: optimum is platinum, worst is red.	Same as The Sims.
No pregnancy, babies can simply appear after user says yes to random "Should we have a baby?" prompt after romantic interaction, or an adoption opportunity. No genetics other than skin colour are passed down. Personality for children are randomly generated.	Try for baby may lead to 3 day pregnancy for adult female Sim who is not within 3 days of transition to elder, genetic traits are passed down from both parents. Alien abduction via telescope may lead to 3 day pregnancy for adult male Sim who is not within 3 days of transition to elder.	Same as The Sims 2, except Alien pregnancy, which is not included.
Household accounts screen can be accessed, showing income and expenditure over past 3 days and current day	No such screen.	No such screen.
Buildings limited to 2 floors. Basements, foundations and lofts not possible. Roof pitches not customizable and depend on building shape.	Buildings limited to 5 floors, or 4 with foundation. In expansions after University this can be changed to up to 15 floors (without foundation) using cheats. Buildings with foundation can have basements incorporated into them. Lofts theoretically possible. Roof pitch can be changed (first in the cheat console in Pets, and later Mansion and Garden Stuff, where a roof pitch changer is added). Various roof types like pagoda and dome are added via expansion packs.	Buildings limited to 4 floors and 4 floor stages as basement. Different sorts of roofs.
Children with failing grades are banished to Military School and never return.	When a child in the family has failing grades, all children are taken away by a social worker (unless they're at school), and other families may adopt them.	Same as The Sims 2.
Random phone calls pranking or giving out money. Couples will occasionally get a phone call asking if they want to adopt a baby. Phone will also ring to announce being fired from your job. Other Sims never call.	No prank or money calls, but friends and acquaintances may call at random. Following the Nighltlife EP, Sims that you've met from gatherings can tell other Sims about how fun your night was, thus random contacts may call up to ask your Sim out. Sims with less than 2 Nice points can make crank calls.	Friends may call at random, opportunities also come via phonecalls.
Chance cards will force career change when at the top level of a career. Other chance cards may rarely emerge, giving out skills or money, or sometimes having no effect.	Chance cards at all levels of career, causing gain or loss of rank, skill points, etc.	Chance cards rarely appear and have nearly no effect on the job except for changing carreer as in The Sims, and cause various moodlets.
Many NPCs not interactive	All but a few NPCs (drivers, Rod Humble, social workers, etc.) interactive	Same as The Sims 2, except more NPC is interactive (e.g. Social Worker and Reposim).
Child Sims go to a single school.	Child and Teen Sims go to public or private school. Teens can apply for scholarships and move out to a University and gain the Young Adult life stage (with University expansion).	Child and Teen Sims go to a single school (5 broarding schools with Generations). Also in Generations young adults can go to college. Older Sims can go to certain rabbit holes to take classes for skills.

Differences in Create-A-Sim

The Sims	The Sims 2	The Sims 3
Last name is the same for all Sims.	Same as The Sims, except in the University Create-A-Sim, where different surnames could be given to each Sim in the household.	Each individual Sim can be given a different last name.
Head Style determines hairstyle, head shape, hair color, eye color, facial hair, etc	Head style determines only the shape of the Sim's heads	Same as The Sims 2.
Hair Color determined by the Head Style	Hair (and eyebrows) color determined by user, with preset colors	Colors chosen with a color-picker
Sims have light, medium, or dark skin	Sims have 4 skin tones ranging from light to dark	Sims have a range of skin tones with a slider determining exact color
Body type dependent on types of clothes worn by the Sim	Thin, Fit, and Fat body types possible, with Thin or Fat types available in Create-A-Sim	Independent sliders for muscle tone, body fat, and breast.
Sleepwear, swimwear, and formalwear are chosen automatically	Sleepwear, swimwear, formalwear, underwear, exercisewear and (with Seasons) outerwear are chosen in Create-a-Sim. Maternity outfits are chosen automatically.	Same as The Sims 2, with the exception of merging underwear and sleepwear into one category. Players can select more than 1 outfit per category (with the updated version of The Sims 3).
Jewelry, shoes, glasses, etc. not customizable, determined by the Sim's body or head style	Glasses may be taken on or off, other accessories are determined by Sim's outfit. Bon Voyage (and every EP after) introduces user control of jewelry. Shoes come with pants and are uncustomizable.	All accessories, jewelry and shoes may be customized
Sims' personalities determined by 25 Personality Points placed in 5 different categories	Same as The Sims, except Aspirations were added.	Personality Points and Aspirations no longer used, replaced by traits and lifetime wishes
No Family Tree	Relationships between spouses, siblings, and parents/children can be established in Create-a-Sim. Family Tree available in relationship panel.	More relationship status were added in expansions and patches.

See also

• Comparison between The Sims and The Sims 2
• Comparison between The Sims 2 and The Sims 3