The Sims has turned 25! To celebrate, EA released the The Sims Legacy Collection, which now allows players to play The Sims and The Sims 2.
I remember growing up in the early 00s playing The Sims on my family computer. Kissing used to create babies; kids failing school would be sent to military school and never come back; and no one would age. As they added expansions, we were able to become magicians, get famous, and own pets. These features carried over to The Sims 2, where the devs added aging, college, and seasons. Through the different base games, the devs have built upon the successes from prior games to get us to The Sims 4.
Any Point to Playing The Older Editions?
Yes and no.
I bought it for the nostalgia factor. When I booted up The Sims, memories of me sitting at the giant white PC, watching my Sims light themselves on fire and die because I forgot to buy a fire alarm came rushing back. Memories of my years of killing off my neighbors and stealing their money in The Sims 2 as a middle schooler until 5 a.m. on school nights because my mom made the foolish decision to let me move the family PC into my bedroom still make me laugh.
The unfortunate reality is that the rereleased game crashed…a lot. Luckily, I got it to work after a while. My kneejerk reaction to save every half hour saved me a lot of grief. Despite this, it’s been a real treat to go back and learn how to use mods in The Sims and The Sims 2. When I first played, I never knew about mods because I didn’t have access to the internet at the time. Now, I’ve discovered the ancient texts. I am having an absolute ball, breaking my game for ultimate chaos.
However, others may not see the point of playing these older games because they lack a lot of the QoL from the newer games. The constant crashes may have also deterred new players.
Wishful Thinking
The Sims franchise also has some console releases with The Sims Bustin’ Out and The Urbz. These two games are very different depending on the system you played it on. I’d love to see a future release of all four of these games without the constant crashing.
The Sims Bustin’ Out
On the PlayStation, The Sims Bustin’ Out followed your Sim as they work their butts off trying to buy back their friend’s repossessed items from the greedy landlord Malcolm Landgraab. The main goal was to become rich enough to kick Malcolm out of his mansion.
In the Gameboy Advance edition, your Sim is put in SimValley for a summer holiday. You live on a farm with your uncle and work your way up in popularity until you become mayor. You learn about your sim’s alien heritage as the game ends, leaving players wondering what just happened.
The Urbz
On the PlayStation, The Urbz follows your Sim as they work their way up in popularity amongst the different cliques in Sim City. For some reason, The Black Eyed Peas are in the game and help your character out in the tutorial stage. The game ends when you become the most popular socialite in Sim City.
In the Gameboy Advance version, the player is thrown into jail after trying to steal a key. The player is put on probation and finds themselves recruited into staging a protest against Daddy Bigbucks, the man in charge of the city’s real estate. The player finds themselves uncovering Daddy Bigbucks’s plot to own more land and immediately gets to work to thwart his plans and bring peace to the city.
The Future
EA has stated they’re not working on Sims 5 but on a new project called Project Rene. The team has showcased a new feature that allows players to freely move furniture around. This can be done using mods in older Sims projects. They’re also building on a better multiplayer aspect for the game. Project Rene is rumored for a 2026 release, but there is no new information. For now, players have multiple Sims games to play as they wait.
