Improving a game with over 100 million fans sounds like a recipe for disaster. Yet The Sims 3 offers up a tasty cake that's sweet with frosted perfection.
For a game that depicts the seemingly mundane roles that many citizens experience every day seemed like a fool's errand when The Sims first debuted back in 2000, but over the course of the original game and 25 expansion and stuff packs, the team behind The Sims 3 faced an daunting task to live up to the franchise's legacy and yet still deliver a new kind of experience to satiate the desires of any Sims fan.

Love

In almost every way, The Sims 3 improves on the genre of games it helped to create, in some ways small and other ways, monumental. For instance, there's more fun here. Players still need to focus on their bladders, eating and cleaning but they're less of a focus here and nearly hidden in the control panel. In its place, Sims seem to have more options to explore their world with museums to explore, ponds to fish in, swimming pools to swim in and even attending a rock concert.

There's also a bigger focus on social interaction here. From gossiping to talking shop to favorite books and so on, other Sims give off visual cues as to what they might want to talk about too (or in some instances, even more romantic cues) so it's easier to make friends, start up conversations and see where those relations go. For Sims fans, there are loads of new interactions and at times, the little interactions seem to offer almost too many options. But it's never overwhelming and all those new ways to interact. One funny note, our first in-game child was born with a slob trait (shocking, right?) and once the kid turned one, our horrible parenting skills caused the child to retain the trait as permanent.

Of course, there's a catch to being the social butterfly that you might want to be. At the beginning of the game you select five personality traits during the Create-a-Sim process. Pulled from the descriptions of personals ads, you could create a Sim with traits like Slob, Light Sleeper, Genius, Neurotic and Computer Whiz to describe yourself (or maybe that's just me). Anyways, these traits alter the way other Sims react to you. So if you chose the kleptomaniac trait, other sims may keep a close eye on you. These traits also determine your Lifetime Wishes from such goals as Rock Star, News Anchor or Become a Creature-Robot Cross Breeder.

To keep it simple, we got the Become a Superstar Athlete wish. So by working out, swimming, working at a health spa and jogging everywhere, we began gaining Lifetime Wishes points. These points (albeit at a slower pace) can also be gained by interacting with friends, in-game spouses and kids. Other wishes can be achieved with learning how to bake new meals, reading about new skills (books available at the library and bookstore), fixing appliances, BBQing, checking to make sure you pick up ballots on Election Day and so on. And while you still send your Sims to work, you can alter the way they work (slack off, focus on tasks, etc), but you won't actually get to see them at work, which seems odd given the mere fact that you get to see most everything else they do.

Social interaction and lifetime wishes are just two parts of the bigger game. Creative players will find that many of the hacks they previously used to create custom sims, in-game items and even movies have been embraced and added to The Sims 3. The new Create-a-Sim tool lets players change their character's face, body build, genetics, and clothes. With the higher detailed graphics, faces look far more lifelike, bodies move based on their weight and you can even design a really obnoxiously detailed Hawaiian shirt pattern if you're so inclined. Buying items for your home is a bit easier now as the new menu offers an easy-to-understand visual list of items that you'll need by room. So if you're looking for bedroom items, you won't accidentally drop a sink where you bed was supposed to be (unless, of course, that's your thing). The new buy tools even allow players to choose items in several different colors and some items even allow you to choose the type of material used (plastic vs. granite countertops). Thankfully, once installed, you can task your sim to add an auto cleaning option to sinks, showers and toilets, anything that lets us go out and play more is always a good thing.

Online presence is bigger here too. Players gain a mini website called My Page that lets them communicate the goings-on of their games or their favorite sims through screenshots, blog or even use the Create-a-Story or Create-a-Movie modes to create more interactive updates. Create-a-Movie may seem too simplistic for anyone with iMovie or Windows Movie Maker experience but given that Sims players have found all sorts of ways to capture video from their games, this gives them a better way to capture those moments. The Sims 3's other big online offering is The Sims 3 Store. With every new copy of the game, players (after registering their game) gain 1,000 SimPoints to use to shop for new clothes, hairstyles, items and other exclusive items they'll use in the game. Honestly, we're not sure how players will react to the Store. On one level, they may get more items without having to buy expansion packs and on the other; it might diminish the powerful and free user-generated content at The Sims 3 Exchange.

With hundreds of new in-game interactions, personality traits that add a quirky change of pace and new tools to create and expanding the ways that players will communicate with fellow Simmers, The Sims may be more of an evolutionary step in the franchise's development but it's a massive step in the right direction, a new way that we recommend for anyone (Teen or older, of course).

The Sims 3 Screens

    What if you had to live your whole life in one location... and then one day, suddenly, you could step outside and go anywhere in the whole neighborhood? The Sims 3 gives you the freedom to create unique Sims and immerse them in your own living neighborhood of endless possibility! New Seamless, Living Neighborhood - Your Sims explore the living neighborhood freely. New Create A Sim - Create any Sim you can imagine. New Realistic Personalities - Every Sim is now a truly unique person, with a distinct personality. New Unlimited Customization - Everyone can customize everything. (Screenshot 1 of 94)

    What if you had to live your whole life in one location... and then one day, suddenly, you could step outside and go anywhere in the whole neighborhood? The Sims 3 gives you the freedom to create unique Sims and immerse them in your own living neighborhood of endless possibility! New Seamless, Living Neighborhood - Your Sims explore the living neighborhood freely. New Create A Sim - Create any Sim you can imagine. New Realistic Personalities - Every Sim is now a truly unique person, with a distinct personality. New Unlimited Customization - Everyone can customize everything. (Screenshot 2 of 94)

    What if you had to live your whole life in one location... and then one day, suddenly, you could step outside and go anywhere in the whole neighborhood? The Sims 3 gives you the freedom to create unique Sims and immerse them in your own living neighborhood of endless possibility! New Seamless, Living Neighborhood - Your Sims explore the living neighborhood freely. New Create A Sim - Create any Sim you can imagine. New Realistic Personalities - Every Sim is now a truly unique person, with a distinct personality. New Unlimited Customization - Everyone can customize everything. (Screenshot 3 of 94)

    What if you had to live your whole life in one location... and then one day, suddenly, you could step outside and go anywhere in the whole neighborhood? The Sims 3 gives you the freedom to create unique Sims and immerse them in your own living neighborhood of endless possibility! New Seamless, Living Neighborhood - Your Sims explore the living neighborhood freely. New Create A Sim - Create any Sim you can imagine. New Realistic Personalities - Every Sim is now a truly unique person, with a distinct personality. New Unlimited Customization - Everyone can customize everything. (Screenshot 4 of 94)

    What if you had to live your whole life in one location... and then one day, suddenly, you could step outside and go anywhere in the whole neighborhood? The Sims 3 gives you the freedom to create unique Sims and immerse them in your own living neighborhood of endless possibility! New Seamless, Living Neighborhood - Your Sims explore the living neighborhood freely. New Create A Sim - Create any Sim you can imagine. New Realistic Personalities - Every Sim is now a truly unique person, with a distinct personality. New Unlimited Customization - Everyone can customize everything. (Screenshot 5 of 94)

    What if you had to live your whole life in one location... and then one day, suddenly, you could step outside and go anywhere in the whole neighborhood? The Sims 3 gives you the freedom to create unique Sims and immerse them in your own living neighborhood of endless possibility! New Seamless, Living Neighborhood - Your Sims explore the living neighborhood freely. New Create A Sim - Create any Sim you can imagine. New Realistic Personalities - Every Sim is now a truly unique person, with a distinct personality. New Unlimited Customization - Everyone can customize everything. (Screenshot 6 of 94)

    What if you had to live your whole life in one location... and then one day, suddenly, you could step outside and go anywhere in the whole neighborhood? The Sims 3 gives you the freedom to create unique Sims and immerse them in your own living neighborhood of endless possibility! New Seamless, Living Neighborhood - Your Sims explore the living neighborhood freely. New Create A Sim - Create any Sim you can imagine. New Realistic Personalities - Every Sim is now a truly unique person, with a distinct personality. New Unlimited Customization - Everyone can customize everything. (Screenshot 7 of 94)

    What if you had to live your whole life in one location... and then one day, suddenly, you could step outside and go anywhere in the whole neighborhood? The Sims 3 gives you the freedom to create unique Sims and immerse them in your own living neighborhood of endless possibility! New Seamless, Living Neighborhood - Your Sims explore the living neighborhood freely. New Create A Sim - Create any Sim you can imagine. New Realistic Personalities - Every Sim is now a truly unique person, with a distinct personality. New Unlimited Customization - Everyone can customize everything. (Screenshot 8 of 94)

    What if you had to live your whole life in one location... and then one day, suddenly, you could step outside and go anywhere in the whole neighborhood? The Sims 3 gives you the freedom to create unique Sims and immerse them in your own living neighborhood of endless possibility! New Seamless, Living Neighborhood - Your Sims explore the living neighborhood freely. New Create A Sim - Create any Sim you can imagine. New Realistic Personalities - Every Sim is now a truly unique person, with a distinct personality. New Unlimited Customization - Everyone can customize everything. (Screenshot 9 of 94)

    What if you had to live your whole life in one location... and then one day, suddenly, you could step outside and go anywhere in the whole neighborhood? The Sims 3 gives you the freedom to create unique Sims and immerse them in your own living neighborhood of endless possibility! New Seamless, Living Neighborhood - Your Sims explore the living neighborhood freely. New Create A Sim - Create any Sim you can imagine. New Realistic Personalities - Every Sim is now a truly unique person, with a distinct personality. New Unlimited Customization - Everyone can customize everything. (Screenshot 10 of 94)