I loved Sims 2. It was groundbreaking for its time and it was obvious that the game was a labor of love. There was so much detail and variety.
Having said that, TS3 catered to everything that I ever wanted in TS2. Namely, it allowed me to concentrate on a family rather than the whole town. I loved story progression (the parts that worked). I loved that Sims aged and that each generation had a different cast of characters who would be friends, lovers, or potential enemies.
I also loved that the world was open. Sometimes, I would just send Sims out into the world to find the lost little alcoves or the perfect overlook for a proposal or a spur of the moment teen rave. All I had to do was plop down a lot and bam, anything that I wanted, practically anywhere that I wanted. It was wonderful.
In addition, TS3 provided incredible flexibility in the game play. Due to the open world, I could play all Sims in a family at once, no down time. The first time that I clicked on a Sim, the camera swooped across the world, and it zoomed in on them doing there own thing, I was hooked. Sometimes, I would simply pan across the world to see what the other citizens were up to in the course of their day. Sims weren't just walking around on scripted routes. With TS3 each Sim had something to do and somewhere to be. TS3 worlds felt alive.
I also loved the flexibility of TS3. CASt was a game changer. I no longer needed to download recolors or to fiddle my way through making my own. I could have any color scheme that I wanted, in real time. Fantastic.
Build tools allowed me to create almost anything that my mind could imagine. I'd pick a place on a map, put down a lot, and start building something that would blend into the aesthetic of that particular location.
Create-a-World opened up a universe of possibilities. There were so many ridiculously talented world builders: RFlong7, Sim Realty, Coasterboi, and Awesims were among my very favorite. Those players did more for the landscape of TS3 than the designers would have ever been allowed to do. It was pure, unfettered creativity and attention to detail.
TS3 had a level of individuality, creativity, and control that has never been seen before or since. For me, that game was the gold standard. It was ahead of its time and a destination that I hope the series will aspire to visit again, especially since computational power is cheaper and more accessible now than ever. The Series should be seeking more depth and complexity, not less.
If the Sim interactions and animations had equaled the detail of TS2, TS3 wouldn't have been just my favorite Sims game. In nearly thirty years of games of all genres, TS3 would have been my favorite game, period.
