Which Sims game is the best?

I think there is no way to 'settle' this argument because it's an individual feeling. I know I enjoy Sims 3 the most (with all its flaws), but I played Sims 1 and 2 too briefly to have a real opinion about those games. And Sims 4 fails for me but that might also be because I'm not prepared to buy all those seperate additions for the game and spend a few 100 dollars more for a game I'm not even sure about.

In reaction to what @M13Vulpecula says: for me the saving system in Sims 3 in fact is the best system. I care about my families, not about the world they live in. I in fact love how easy it is to put households in totally different worlds and go from there. I also like how recognizable those files are in the TS3 folder and I even can save entire households to MediaFire. So for me that system is an improvement in comparison to Sims 2. And on top of that the attention for environment and the open world for me helps to really get absorbed (and identify) with my sims. From all iterations I feel the most attached to my sims in 3. Again, it's personal.

Each one is good or best in its own way, plummit.
The Sims 1 is dated and simple today but it's a very good game. It's uncomplicated and simple, yet deep and very long-lasting. It's dated mood makes for top-notch nostalgia and the wacky, curious humor is arguably the best in the series.

The Sims 2 is probably the best at doing what it's supposed to. TS2 is very anti-nonsense and it's the most coherent, well-designed installment in the series. It's just right in a lot of ways, and it's the best-looking for it's day by far.

The Sims 3 is about more, more, MORE. More homes, more worlds, more colors, more patterns, more stuff, more friends more Sims, more profits for EA's treasure chest, more FREEDOM. It tries to hold itself together but ultimately descends into an unfortunate yet beautiful chaos. If Sims games were decades, TS3 would be the 80s and there'd be cocaine all over it. But besides that, it's also the best life simulator in the series. It's the realest, openest, life-iest Sims game and the consequences of that are yours to deal with.

The Sims 4 goes back to The Sims 1 in a lot of ways, it tries to be simple and fun and accessible, but with a very modern twist. In some ways it succeeds, in others it fails. It also goes back to The Sims 1 in a lot of ways it shouldn't have, but if you don't take The Sims as seriously as some others do, you'll probably like it.

So I can confidently say that 3 is my favourite, but I wouldn't know which one'd come after that.
All I know is that 4 is at the bottom of my list, even though I've tried very very hard to like it for a long time. I'm not sure if I hate it or not. I have a very weird relation with TS2 because I loathed it for a long time after TS3 came out, even though I kinda hated TS3 when I first saw it. TS2 is probably the one I've played least, but I know that it's the best in a lot of ways and I can't wrap my head around why I haven't been able to get into it in recent years.
TS1 is, well, it's TS1. Nostalgia is a force to be reckoned with. It's good because it used to be, and it's fun to go back to sometimes. If you never experienced it the way I did, I feel bad for you.

The Sims 1 has a certain nostalgic charm, although it's for me to go back to that gameplay. The graphics have a certain photorealistic style. Prerendered, I guess. When I first played it, I thought it was absolutely amazing. As a kid, I played games with shooting, jumping, etc., but truthfully I always wanted a game where you could just be someone trying to go about their day. When The Sims came out, I remember picking up the box at the store and gawking at the back in amazement before I actually bought it. Wide-eyed wonderment The game had some very cool expansion packs--some of which were downright essential!

The Sims 2 is my favorite by far. It's the ideal sequel: adds so much and improves on every level, without taking away*. I still play TS2 to this day, although I use mods to fix various annoyances like stray pets. I LOVE the cute little babies. I also like the aliens. I hate the genetics, though. In this game, dominant always wins, and recessive always loses. For example, every time I have a brown haired Sim and a blonde haired Sim have a child together, the child is always brunette. That is not realistic at all.

*with a few exceptions like the basketball goal

I did not like The Sims 3 very much at all. I don't like the characters' faces, the car system, the sound effects, or the rabbit holes. The police uniforms look nice, though. I'm also something of a control freak, so I don't like having "life go on" in the neighborhood without my personal intervention.

I haven't played The Sims 4.

"WarGreymon77;c-15970862" wrote:
The Sims 1 has a certain nostalgic charm, although it's for me to go back to that gameplay. The graphics have a certain photorealistic style. Prerendered, I guess. When I first played it, I thought it was absolutely amazing. As a kid, I played games with shooting, jumping, etc., but truthfully I always wanted a game where you could just be someone trying to go about their day. When The Sims came out, I remember picking up the box at the store and gawking at the back in amazement before I actually bought it. Wide-eyed wonderment The game had some very cool expansion packs--some of which were downright essential!

I know exactly how you feel about that. When I was a kid, me and my parents would always go on day trips or weekend trips to family or whatever, and often when we'd come back we'd take a quick look around at the multimedia place they had inside the train station, and they had these crates full of video games, and I remember seeing The Sims Deluxe Edition and immediately knowing I NEEDED to have it. So I ran up to my mom asking if I could have it, and that's how I became hooked on The Sims.

And now that I mention that, I'm suddenly also nostalgic for those train journeys. This was a time when the trains and train stations, and I spent a LOT of time there as a kid, were all from the 80s and 90s and most of that is gone nowadays.

Got to say that Sims 3 is my favourite sims games because It was my ever first sims games. It had everything I loved, including create a style, open world and everything! I loved the seasons changing to autumn and winter then spring then all over again which I abouslety love and also GENERATIONS! MY FAVOURITE! I loved everything from the pack, I loved giving my old sims walking sticks because It felt more realistic! Pets, another fav, loved everything including puppies and kittens!

I loved creating families with unique story lines which I still do to this day. Will never leave Sims 3 ever since It doesn't lag for me at all, phew!
I love the mods and CC, because when I discovered mods, they really saved my life so much and STORY PROGRESSION MADE MY LIFE more interesting especially families with alot of storylines!

That's it! <3

I have barley any sims games, I have been a fan of watching TS3 gameplay on YT since 2013 and the same for TS4 and then TS2 and in November my friend accidentally got a second copy of TS3 so he gave me it and then for Christmas i got TS4 and i won a copy of TS4 City Living then i got TS3 Into The Future and recently i got TS2 Ultimate Collection and I have to say they are equally good for certain mechanics
so heres the goods and bads for the games
Goods:
Sims 2-Hairstyle options are great. The pre generated Shrek-like faces are funny. Having the Ultimate Collection gives a certain feel that I have the whole game and I love the pre made trailer park.
Sims 3-This was the first sims game I played and watched gameplay on so it holds a special place in my heart. When I first got it from my best friend I played it for four days straight. I love the Create A Style tool and I wish it could be added in The Sims 4. I feel that Sims 3 has the best family making mechanics and it is easy to make a family. This also is great because for family options it has the option to have two people dating or engaged so I don't have to go through the trouble of having two friends get married. I feel this game could be the best one especially because of all the great things Into The Future has to offer.
Sims 4-I first got this on Christmas and a lot of LEGO Ninjago sets. I had to make a schedule on when to play with LEGO's and play Sims 4. This game has the option to renew vows and I feel this is good. I feel this is the first sims game where you can completely create a sim this makes it so much easier to make long haired males or transgenders or other types of sims. This game has so many great things with the City Living expansion. I feel that this game has so much potential just like the series it's self and let's hope the sims never ever go away.
Bads:
Sims 2-Lacks the option to mix & match shirts & pants in every outfit but everyday. This lacks so much more like weddings but the good features make up for it.
Sims 3-Lacks the option to renew vows. This also has bad car mechanics as I would like it if a sim can die in a car crash or being hit by a car. I also felt this should have the ability to buy a school bus. This game is one of the best ive played.
Sims 4-This lacks cars and create a style completely. This can be fixed an an update.

Absolutely Sims 3 Ive played them all, been here just about from the beginning. The Sims no matter what stage or game you start at, gets into your life and stays there oh you can take real life break but you always wind up coming back to one of The Sims games. I do have to say Sims 4 is my least favorite, It saddens me to say that about my beloved Sims. My file for Sims 4 is huge and I don't have 1/4 of the CC in Sims 4 that I do in Sims 3 . I know there were a lot of bugs in Sims 3 but I hate and I do mean HATE that I'm stuck with the ugly patterns and colors that either the game has or the CC creators use. A lot of CC comes with so many choices of colors and patterns but about 90%of it I would never use, I am pretty mad at the fact that nothing I do makes my Sims unique, in their clothing or decorating their homes, the same colors and patterns as every other player and artist. I want to beg as I have discussed this with many players CC creators that's the one thing about Sims 3 they want when Sims 5 comes out. And honestly the sliders for CC and in game in Sims 3 was easier and I was able to do more to customize mt sims looks etc. There are more things about Sims 3 that I and a lot of the players/CC artist or CC creators love about Sims 3 but this seems to be the biggest and I am begging with everything I have to make Sims 5 more like Sims 3, if the gurus cant see how big Sims 3 got because of the ability to customize even the CC then you aren't really looking. It busted out and went straight to the top with glory, Sims 4 has success but nothing like what I saw in Sims 3 and I still play and create in Sims 3. I try and try to like Sims 4 and I'm only making Sim models in Sims 4 and they are ok in CAS but once they open their mouths they look like a cartoon, the Sims in Sims 4 are more cartooney and I thought for sure you'd make them more real, ok we know all about the graphics and all but a lot of games are making their simulated heros etc look more like a human than a cartoon. Please Please as a long time invested player of all Sims PLEASE PLEASE Make Sims 5 with the Sims 3 goodies. I think you may loose the interest in the games or a big chunk of it if you don't make Sims 5 more like Sims 3 and I don't want to see The Sims die off, right now I feel like and I see that its just not quite it and no matter what packs you make it still wont be as big as Sims 3. Ive spend a ton of time thinking about this and talking to many many players, Im begging you to Please save the Sims . Thank you

The Sims 2 is my favorite. With that said though, I am playing The Sims 2 Super Collection which is not only faster but also has better graphics than Ultimate collection or the old discs. Yes it is lacking some EP but it is still an all around great game. I love that they've improved it because it is what I played back when Sims 2 was still the most recent game they came out with. It has so many chat and objects functions compared to the newer ones. Sims 3 was also a pretty good game except Mac users were very dissapointed because it had many issues. Sims 4 is probably the least best Sims game for the main fact it was so watered down it feels like you should be playing it on your console. Although I do like how you can morph your body parts but it is just very plain and simple. Like why make a Sims game and wait over 2 years to add toddlers?!

"HarmonieBreeze;c-15900490" wrote:
Honestly sims 2 is my favorite. It may have terrible graphics but I feel like it's more fun, I always remember going to the city sitting in a starbucks on my laptop playing it as well, good memories :)

It's weird I almost never play 2 anymore (the amount of time it takes to load somehow always puts me off starting the game in the first place) but as much as I loved playing 1 as a kid, and really like both 3 and 4, the sims 2 was just magical :D i loved my sims the most in that iteration & I kinda miss the way you could make their personality. I dunno why they dropped the star sign thing (even in 3, because there it doesn't matter). Nowadays I mostly play 4 , that I've been fortunate enough to come to enjoy a lot more, and sometimes 3, but 2 is still the best :D

S.i.m.s. .3.