The Sims series has been around since the year 2000’s and its considered to be one of the most unique video game franchises of all-time. If anything the Sims series helped put the social simulation genre on the map during the 2000’s and 2010’s decade during a time period where causal gamers preferred action adventure and role-playing video games. There are many people who would go on record and argue that the Sims series had peaked in popularity during the 2000’s and almost everyone can agree that Sims 3 was the most popular installment within its own franchise. The Sims 3 was released back 2009 and was the sequel to the Sims 2 title from 2004. The Sims 3 was a game that saw significant improvements over its predecessor in relation graphics and even gameplay. The graphics for Sims 3 looked beautiful on game systems such as the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 and the open world neighborhoods was one of the key features that made it stand out from other entries within the series. The Sims 3 also had a layer of creativity that was absent in Sims 2 with the introduction of the Create-a-Style tool. The Create-a-Style tool gave players more customization options and was a feature that was beloved by many people until it was removed in Sims 4. The cool thing about The Sims 3 was that it started off as PC/mobile exclusive game before it was ported to game consoles and it managed to grow in popularity during the early 2010’s. The console versions of The Sims 3 were great quality wise as players did not have to worry about legnthy loading screens during certain parts of the game.

The Sims 3 also felt more realistic than the first two main entries since players could encounter certain situations depending on their status, occupation and age. Players could also die of natural causes whether it be through starvation, drowning or an accident. The Build/Buy Mode along with Create-a-World allowed players to push their creativity beyond its limits since they could design their own neighborhoods along with the interior of their homes. Buying vehicles and appliances was fun and building families in Create-a-Sim along with having the option to edit relationships versus letting them play out naturally added to the overall realism to The Sims 3 game. Since its 2009 release the Sims 3 has managed to reach at least ten million units in sales making it one of the most popular PC titles of the 2010’s decade. The Sims 3 was so good that its sequel Sims 4 from 2014 felt like a downgrade in terms of overall quality. There have been many people around the world who have been waiting for Electronic Arts to produce a Sims 5 game for almost a decade now and it seems unlikely that its going to happen anytime in the near future. If Electronic Arts ever decides to release a Sims 5 they should bring back key features that made Sims 3 a big attraction including Create-a-Style and Create-a-World along with a revamped Build/Buy mode. Even if Electronic Arts announced and released a Sims 5 game in the future it would be hard for the company to capture the same magic it did with Sims 3 especially since the social simulation genre was more popular over a decade ago than it currently is now.