The Sims 3

 PC
The Sims 3 Image
Metascore
86

Generally favorable reviews - based on 75 Critic Reviews What's this?

User Score
7.8

Generally favorable reviews- based on 1235 Ratings

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  • Summary: Create lifelike Sims with a unique personality and take them anywhere in the neighborhood. The powerful Create-a-Sim tool allows you to create Sims that are more realistic than ever. Select from dozens of personality traits such as brave, artistic, kleptomaniac, clumsy, paranoid andCreate lifelike Sims with a unique personality and take them anywhere in the neighborhood. The powerful Create-a-Sim tool allows you to create Sims that are more realistic than ever. Select from dozens of personality traits such as brave, artistic, kleptomaniac, clumsy, paranoid and romantic. With Create-a-Sim, you can create a limitless number of truly unique Sims. The Sims 3 allows for infinite possibilities to design the interior and exterior of your Sims’ surroundings using the Create-a-style feature. Enjoy the challenge of short and long-term goals and then reap the rewards! Based on personality traits, skills and career choices, your Sims have Wishes that provide constant fun challenges and so many things to do and achieve. You have the ultimate freedom to choose whether to fulfill their destiny, giving them lifetime happiness and rewards or not! Register your copy of The Sims 3 for PC and Mac at www.TheSims3.com to enjoy the robust online and community features unique to your game including an all-new town called Riverview that you can download for no additional charge once you register. You will also gain access to 1,000 SimPoints to purchase items from The Sims 3 Store including exclusive outfits, hairstyles, furniture, home décor, and architectural items to customize your Sims appearance and houses in all-new ways. Visit The Store each month for new, never-seen-before themed items. Additionally, be the director of your Sims’ movies by capturing clips during your gameplay, visiting the official site, and editing the soundtrack, story, and transitions, then share it with the world! These easily accessible tools inspire creativity and allow you to share your masterpieces with your friends and other players on The Sims 3 official website, personal blogs, or any social media network. See what you can create with The Sims 3. [Electronic Arts]… Expand
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The Sims 3: Generations developer diary

Critic Reviews

Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 74 out of 75
  2. Mixed: 1 out of 75
  3. Negative: 0 out of 75
  1. Cynamite
    100
    Sims 3 is the perfect example for a brilliant, fun game that works without any violence.
  2. PC Format
    91
    This game may well manage to suck some of the harder gamers into its clever paws thanks to sharp wit and genuine originality. [July 2009, p.86]
    All this publication's reviews
  3. GamerNode
    90
    If you never really "got" why people played the games, The Sims 3 might give you the answer you've been seeking.
  4. NZGamer
    90
    The living, breathing world of Sunset Valley, the town that comes pre-packaged with the game, is a fascinating one.
  5. Play.tm
    85
    It's really chuffing addictive.
  6. Eurogamer
    80
    It's both more of a role-playing game than it's ever been before, and more of a design game than it's ever been before. It may suffer a few glaring compromises, but it's an essential play for anyone with an interest in what videogames can achieve outside of a targeting reticule.
  7. VideoGamer
    70
    It’s only the inclusion of a much slicker set of tools to allow the recording of machinima movies and the sharing of customised content that prevents an even harsher score. While there was a significant step up both technically and in gameplay terms between The Sims and The Sims 2, the same can’t be said of The Sims 3 compared to its predecessor.

See all 75 Critic Reviews

User Reviews

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Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 143 out of 231
  2. Mixed: 48 out of 231
  3. Negative: 40 out of 231
  1. PrincessT1991
    Nov 1, 2010
    10
    The Sims 3 is an amazing game, that is very life like. I am looking forward to getting the new Expansion Packs. But I will agree that havingThe Sims 3 is an amazing game, that is very life like. I am looking forward to getting the new Expansion Packs. But I will agree that having no choice to have pets does kinda suck, and the graphics aren't the best. But this game will have you singing along to whatever Sim Language song is on the radio.… Expand
  2. zarvx
    Jul 20, 2023
    10
    sims 3 is still my favorite sims out of all. the gameplay, mechanics, and art is so much more realistic.
  4. seanr
    Jun 7, 2009
    9
    I give this game a 9 as opposed to a 10 because it looks like EA is going to plug us with priced expansions and DLC for The Sims 3, much like I give this game a 9 as opposed to a 10 because it looks like EA is going to plug us with priced expansions and DLC for The Sims 3, much like before. Though the advent of user-made content being made free is really quite something on their part. I didn't play 2 as I felt they overkilled it with the expansions and so lost my interest...so keep that in mind..but anyway, I freaking love this game. I got it in the mail the other day and haven't stopped playing it since, pretty much. It's possibly the most addictive game I've ever played -- no lie. I agree with everyone who says this game is a masterpiece -- I wanted something different for my collection, a real full package that offered what something only like The Sims can offer, and godamn, did I get it. As noted, probably the game's greatest strength is the combination of its breadth and accessibility -- the accessibility doesn't feel "stupid", though, if you get my meaning. In short, this is a near perfect game, and I think pretty much everyone should have it. Get stupidly addicted ("I just gotta do this next thing..!") -- you'll be thankful for it.… Expand
  5. CursedKnight187
    Jul 25, 2012
    8
    The Sims is one of the franchises that isn't drowning in the new wave of games, and continuously releases good and fun games. Playing theThe Sims is one of the franchises that isn't drowning in the new wave of games, and continuously releases good and fun games. Playing the game, you do feel very much like you are living another life within the game. However, the franchise does need something soon to jolt it back into the life, otherwise it will inevitably die a slow death.… Expand
  6. King_Angusii
    Feb 25, 2014
    7
    This game would deserve a 10/10 if it wasn't so ridiculously buggy. About 75% of the bugs you come across can be fixed with console cheats ifThis game would deserve a 10/10 if it wasn't so ridiculously buggy. About 75% of the bugs you come across can be fixed with console cheats if you know how. Such as, Sims getting stuck places they shouldn't be, Sims disappearing, etc. However some aren't as easily fixed such as miscalculations of the Sims in your household meaning you can't adopt, graphics glitches, stopping your Sims from finding a job, sound loops etc. It seems the longer you play one saved game the more likely you are to come across bugs.

    Aside from the bugs the gameplay is awesome. You can customise your Sims pretty much however you want, you can extend their life to ages and ages or move through generations quickly, build awesome houses. Sims 3 gives you a lot more control over the game than previous Sims games. However, the exception to this is the building which doesn't offer anything new and can be very clunky at times. If your the main thing you do in the Sims is build homes I'd suggest you play TS2 and skip all the bugs.    … Expand
  7. Lloyd
    Jun 8, 2009
    6
    While its a fairly solid release with little bugs to annoy me, I can't help but feel the new direction EA has taken TS3 - which isWhile its a fairly solid release with little bugs to annoy me, I can't help but feel the new direction EA has taken TS3 - which is 'take out the majority of contents useable in TS2 and make everything available on the EA Store'. Is it just me or does TS3 seem less in content then TS2 included in it's vanilla base game? Eg, the Tiki set costs a lot more than i could afford on the EA store.… Expand
  8. MrAmazingSocks
    Mar 1, 2014
    0
    You would think a game that primarily focuses on AI would have better AI but no, the AI is as simple as it can be not to mention the fact thatYou would think a game that primarily focuses on AI would have better AI but no, the AI is as simple as it can be not to mention the fact that the game comes with very little content in the base game with something like 3 hairstyles for each gender unless you're willing to buy from the sim store or buy the overpriced expansion packs which don't add enough content to be worth £30.

    There is really no point in having relationships in this game because in addition to the sims being souless nonhuman robots(like EA's staff it seems) in my experience the option for proposing marriage has ALWAYS came up before 'propose going steady' and I can't play this game for very long before the AI decides to get stuck somewhere and make the game constantly freeze.

    **** EA.    … Expand

See all 231 User Reviews

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Awards & Rankings

13
#13 Best PC Game of 2009
13
#13 Most Discussed PC Game of 2009
7
#7 Most Shared PC Game of 2009

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