The Sims 3 vs The Sims 4 || Which One Is Better?

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In today’s post, we talk about some major differences between The Sims 3 and The Sims 4. We also compare the two games, and at the end, I even reveal which one is my favorite!

I hope you enjoy learning these Sims fun facts, because I’m really liking these types of post.

I’m going to talk about five big differences that I’ve noticed between the two, and also reveal which one is my personal favorite! And feel free to play along with me, because I’d love to hear you guys opinions too.

But without further ado… let’s get started.

The Sims 4 Offers More Customization For Building Your Sims

Screenshot from The Sims 4 & Edited in Canva

One of the best features of the Sims 4 is its Create-A-Sim mode, since it contains a lot of different ways to make your Sim completely unique. Ranging from their appearance to their attitude!

Because, instead of just dragging a bar to determine physical features… you can actually click on an area of your Sim that you want to change and use your mouse to manipulate it to your liking.

This allows you to do virtually anything you want. You could give your Sim a Pinocchio nose, a really big forehead, or super small eyes just by dragging and pulling your mouse.

Plus, you can add even more customization to your Sim by choosing personality traits, picking out and adjusting their vocal tone, and changing their walk!

So all in all, the Sims 4 Create-A-Sim mode is really detailed!

In comparison, the Sims 3 Create-A-Sim tool seems pretty basic. Since it only offers the bars for adjustments, and only features four slots for traits. Instead of the five slots that the Sims 4 has.

I will say though, in the Sims 3’s defense… The entire Sims universe has quite a bit of customization for character creation compared to other games. So even though the Sims 3 doesn’t necessarily measure up to the Sims 4 when it comes to customizing Sims, it does have a good character creation mode in its own right.

The Sims 3 Offers More Customization For Clothes, Furniture, Etc

Screenshot of The Sims 3 & Edited in Canva

While the Sims 4 might excel when it comes to letting you customize your characters, the Sims 3 offers more customization in terms of furniture and clothes with its “Create-A-Style” feature.

Create-A-Style allows players to change up a lot of in-game items by choosing from a wide variety of patterns, recoloring them if needed, and then placing them on furniture or clothing of their choice.

Not only is this feature super fun to use, but it also lets players match up a lot of patterns throughout their builds, even if the furniture’s basic coloring options don’t coordinate.

But the Sims 4 got rid of “Create A Style” and reverted back to the old way of doing things, where you only have a set amount of recoloring options for clothes and furniture.

This means that in the Sims 4 if you find a really cute armchair and choose a pastel color for it, you may not be able to find a couch to match it completely. In which case you’d need to settle for something similar in color, or just something that looks nice alongside it.

But in the Sims 3, you could just create a style and sync the two up!

The Sims 4 Has More “Intelligent” Sims

In many ways, Sims in the Sims 4 are smarter and more emotional than ever before. Because in this installment of the series, Sims are especially influenced by their environment and their actions might be affected by their mood.

Decor, recent events, and other factors can contribute to whether a Sim is happy or sad. Instead of it all being influenced by their needs like in previous games. And to make the game even more challenging, there could even be consequences for moody Sims.

For example, happy Sims will be more successful when they attempt certain tasks, whereas unhappy Sims won’t be met with positive results. So it really pays to monitor your Sims’ emotions, and find ways to keep them content.

And this is a really fun addition to the game, because it keeps things fresh and forces the player to strategize a bit more.

In the Sims 3 though, things aren’t nearly as complex. And the “moods” of your Sims are controlled almost completely by how well they’re being taken care of. Which can feel a bit basic at times.

The Sims 3 Has The Ability To Leave Households Running While You Visit Other Ones

Screenshot from The Sims 3 & Edited in Canva

For those of us simmers that always have multiple households in one world, the Sims 3 changed things up for us. Quite a bit actually!

Because they introduced a feature that left households running in the Sims, even if you weren’t there. At least… until you turned off the game.

So for instance, let’s say you have Susan in one household and Jeremy in another. You could leave Susan to go check on Jeremy, and when you get back she could’ve taken a shower, eaten a grilled cheese sandwich, or done anything else that a Sim might “decide” to do.

And if you were to leave Susan for an extended amount of time, she would have even aged as if you were there playing with her.

This feature makes for a lot of chaos in the Sims 3, but also does a lot to add to the game’s realism. And it makes it a whole lot easier to create stories with your Sims that actually progress like they’re supposed to.

Sadly for fans of this feature, it didn’t make its way to the Sims 4 base game. Although you can still capture the chaos with the help of certain mods.

The Sims 3 Is Open World, But The Sims 4 Is More Stable

This last difference is one where there’s no clear winner between the Sims 3 and the Sims 4, and it really comes down to personal preference.

The Sims 3, as many people know, has an open world! Which is a first in the Sims universe, and is also many fans favorite feature of the entire game. Because it provides a whole new level of gameplay.

With this open world you can travel around and explore, make use of a lot of new environments, and experience your Sims world in a whole new way.

If you decide your Sim should take a trek up a mountain, they can! If you want to follow their journey to work every day, instead of just letting them disappear and fast forwarding until they get home… you can! The concept is really fun, and really freeing. As well as being a nice change compared to all the other Sims games.

BUT, it does come with a downside… which is that the game is tough to run and has a lot of glitches.

The Sims 4 on the other hand, didn’t attempt the open world thing and thus… is a lot easier to run and can be played on most systems. Something that people with less high-end PCs and consoles really appreciate.

And of course, it doesn’t have nearly as many glitches either.

Final Thoughts!

And with all that being said… my favorite is The Sims 2. I’m just kidding, I realize that I need to choose one out of the options, although overall the Sims 2 is probably my favorite, but I prefer the Sims 4 over the Sims 3 personally. Although I do think some features from the Sims 3 would be nice to have in the Sims 4.

If you could add one feature from the Sims 3 to the Sims 4 (and vice versa), which would it be?

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