The Sims™ 3

The Sims™ 3
86
Metacritic
86
Steam
89.408
xDR
Our rating is calculated based on the reviews and popularity of the game.
Price
$19.99
Release date
27 January 2011
Developers
Publishers
Steam reviews score
Total
86 (27 188 votes)
Recent
88 (172 votes)

The Sims 3: Create the perfect world with full customization at your fingertips. Refine personalities and help fulfill destinies.

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The Sims™ 3 system requirements

  • OS: Windows XP (Service Pack 2) or Windows Vista (Service Pack 1)
  • Processor: (XP) 2.0 GHz P4 processor or equivalent; (Vista) 2.4 GHz P4 processor or equivalent
  • Memory: (XP) 1 GB; (Vista) 1.5 GB
  • Graphics: 128 MB Video Card with support for Pixel Shader 2.0
  • DirectX®:
  • Hard Drive: At least 6.5 GB of hard drive space with at least 1 GB additional space for custom content
  • Sound:
  • Built-in Graphics:
    • Intel Integrated Chipset, GMA X3000 or above.
    • 2.6 GHz Pentium D CPU, or 1.8 GHz Core 2 Duo, or equivalent
    • 0.5 GB additional RAM
  • Supported Video Cards:Nvidia GeForce series: FX5900 or greater, G100, GT 120, GT 130, GTS 150, GTS 250, GTX 260, GTX 275, GTX 280, GTX 285, GTX 295; ATI Radeon™ series: ATI Radeon 9500 series of greater, X300, X600, X700, X800, X850, X1300, X1600, X1800, X1900, X1950, 2400, 2600, 2900, 3450, 3650, 3850, 3870, 4850, 4870 series or greater; Intel® Graphics Media Accelerator (GMA): GMA 3-Series, GMA 4-Series
  • *Please note that the GeForce 6100 and 7100 cards are not supported

Recommended:

Recommended requirements are not yet specified.
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RenRarity
RenRarity

Always will be my favorite game to play when bored or in my spare time! Love it lots!~ I can make a family on there or become great at something in the game like cooking lol :) Haven't tried it fully with the pets, so far it's been playing four seasons pack :P Would recommend

PrimPink
PrimPink

The legendary game of the sims franchise! A must have game for every simulation genre lover. Dont bother with sims 4 it isn't even a touch on the sims 3!

10 out of 10

Cons.. known for its bugs but the internet has plenty of simple solutions.

Can still mod and use custom content on the steam version which is good to know!

Get it now!!

Taithfech
Taithfech

>Be Me
>Stay at home husband
>Lazy so hire maid
>Sleep with maid
>Wife catches me
>Divorce
>Marry Maid
>Maid gets new job
>Hire new maid
>Sleep with maid
>Wife finds out
>Divorce
>Play Sims 3 and do the same thing in game

Kedorati
Kedorati

I bought this game awhile back for my little sister to play. I played it some too. It's a pain in the butt to make mods for because of its age. It's a little restrictive in some creation aspects, but hey, it's a classic. Ignoring the fact that I paid $50 on sale for three "DLC".

Saschelle
Saschelle

If you have windows 11 or a newer PC, don't even buy it. A week before I got my new PC I got this and pets, and I absolutely love it. Worked fine until my sim glitched and I could not even see her anymore. Well I figured my new computer would be fine, maybe just my older computer was struggling with the game.

... no. I can't even play it anymore and Steam won't refund the wasted money. Nor can I find a direct answer to fix the problem so I can play the game. Sims 3 is better than sims 4 in my opinion but I can't give much else since I can't even PLAY the game. Just don't even waste your time or money.

Anonymous
Anonymous

I've spent seven hours trying to figure out how to get this game to run smoothly, and apparently Steam punishes you for persistence, because when I finally gave up and requested a refund, they said I couldn't have one because I played too long. They call it play; I call it torture. So now I'm out the time, and the money, and own an expensive unplayable game.

badgercore
badgercore

I don't know what it is, but the Sims 3 has something that Sims 4 doesn't, and will never have. Hopefully EA knows what it is, because as good as the Sims 3 is, it's aged. We need a new installment -- or maybe, a new franchise. But anyway, I RECOMMEND THE SIMS 3 !!!

Pingus Crack Pipe
Pingus Crack Pipe

I've seen tons of discounts for Sims 3 on steam and many times it has been way cheaper to buy it here than on Origin. Keep it on your wishlist and wait, don't be discouraged :)
By buying here the only thing you lose out on is
1. Katy Perry pack (who ACTUALLY cares about that though)
2. Pets expansion key not working with Origin (?) I believe Origin can be contacted though to resolve this

As of right now, you don't require Origin to launch the game or even to play it? I don't even have Origin installed on my PC right now so idk what some people are talking about.

You can use the create-a-world official program, however, it won't work with Steam launcher so you can either use Origin for it (easy way) or muck around with PC registry edits. There are guides for it and should be easy enough if you follow them well.

There's also this weird thing with the launcher where every time I try closing it it says "Stop! You're uploading files, are you SURE?" and no, I am not uploading files? I have nothing to upload? A few times I tried shutting down my PC to have this stupid dialog window keeping it on all night.

Anyway, this game is the superior Sims game in every way. I've been playing Sims 3 since it came out and I am still to this day discovering new things. The modding capabilities are also pretty fun!

While I would love to be into Sims 4 I just can't get over how ugly it is.. Not to mention the HORRID UI. What an eyesore of a game.

poopcat.net
poopcat.net

Sims 3, the last Sims that was worth your time. Grab this game when it goes on sale which happens once every blue moon occurs. Sims 4 is free but I wouldn't play any Sims made after 3 even if I was paid to do such an atrocious action.

memorylane88
memorylane88

I enjoy this game a lot and there is always something to do. You plan out one idea for your sims, but they take you down another path instead because they decided this is what they want for their life instead since I play wants-based.

Serenity
Serenity

I was a huge fan of sims 2 growing up. However The Sims 3 is the best game in the entire franchise. I've played 4 and it's okay... but I just keep coming back to Sims 3. The way you're able to customize in sims 3 is more in depth than any other game i have ever played. You can explore worlds, literally go anywhere you want in each world, and create any type of person/people you want. You can change the color/ design of almost every item in the game. The Sims 3 makes each game feel unique and different just based on your choices. its amazing!

porcelain
porcelain

I love the sims so much. I grew up watching my cousin play since i was really young. when i got older, i got to own the sims 4. i loved that one too. i recently bought the sims 3 to relive my childhood but it wont launch. i know why, i just don't know how to get it to launch on my computer. when it comes to that stuff i blank, it's not my strongest suit. if anyone knows an easier way to help me get the sims 3 to launch, i will gratefully appreciate you. us simmers has to stick together right?

Swyllikx
Swyllikx

This review does not contain spoilers.

Thanks to Steam sales, I own every expansion and stuff packs, barring Katy Perry's Sweet Treats. That being said, none of the stuff packs are worth it. There is a plethora of free mods available in lieu of Electronic Arts' immoral cash-grab practices. However, the expansion packs are all worth the discounted sale price. In my thirteen years of playing this game, my top three choices for expansions would be Late Night, Seasons, and University Life.

For a game released over a decade ago at the time of this review, the game and its expansions hold fairly well albeit with some manual tweaking to allow modern hardware compatibility. If you have any NVIDIA RTX Graphics Card, the game will run without utilising your GPU as it is not natively supported. The guide linked below is extremely helpful.

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1131162350

Graphics and performance aside, let's talk briefly about gameplay. The Sims 3 is by far the most liberating for the player. The ability to move between lots without a loading screen; and creating a style with user-defined patterns, textures, and colours is by far the two must-haves in any Sims game. The fact that neither have been integrated in the latest game in the series, The Sims 4, is disconcerting; however, Project Rene looks promising. Although The Sims 3's story progression leaves much to be desired, mods and mod suites, such as NRaas, helps fill the void that was left behind.

All things considered, it is my personal opinion that The Sims 3 is the de facto best game in the franchise. I cannot stress enough how integral Create-A-Style and the open world nature of the game is to my gaming experience. Mods are still being developed which keeps the game new and exciting, and although I would highly recommend getting this game, I still cannot recommend getting it at full price. Buy it on sale.

Follow my curator page.

Anonymous
Anonymous

Great game. It's perfect if you like to get creative and build things, as well as if you like to create characters to live vicariously through. Or both. You will probably need a pretty powerful computer to play properly. It tends to take up too much space and lag on a typical PC. So keep that in mind if you want to play with all the expansion packs. The only expansion pack that is a bit of a problem is the Sims 3 Island Paradise expansion pack, it has a problem with lagging and glitching. However, I have found that you can make it work if you delete all the boat houses and the ports they were on. It just depends on how much work you want to do. I will say its a pretty cool expansion pack if you work past all of that. All in all the Sims 3 game and expansion packs are a lot of fun to play, especially together. Well worth your time and money.

Pippet Emily
Pippet Emily

I’ve had error code 16 coming up for me every time I try to save which means I can’t play very far into the game without it crashing. Total garbage and steam won’t do a thing about it even though the game is unplayable like this.

Lunch
Lunch

You are much better off spending money on Sims 3 than 4, mainly because of price vs the content you receive.

Sims 3 doesn't take you out of the experience with a loading screen to transition you out of your home, and into the city, the city is always loaded (this is a bad thing for performance in the long term but can be remedied with mods)

Sims 3 has more worthwhile content packs, they add more content than their Sims 4 counterparts.

Horses, Cars, Future Tech, Supernatural stuff, Ambitions, family units that feel like family.

Sims 3 is also not constantly updated, so you won't have to check for mod compatibility every 2 to 3 weeks.

Sims 3 requires some finagling of the settings in order to get it to be semi playable today, with mods that smooth out the UI interactions.

OtakuPanda101
OtakuPanda101

The Sims 3, though sometimes buggy, is an amazing simulation game. There is so much to do, especially with the additional game packs and expansions. It is worth the investment (though I did get it when it had an awesome sale going on). Be prepared to spend hours on hours gaming away. The story lines and potential is endless.

dawnvaupel7
dawnvaupel7

I only get to play the game once, and when I close down it will not open back up. I go into the files and it states 2 files are missing and will be reacquired and sims 3 will not come back up at all, I have to uninstall and re install the game and my store items which takes all day to do. I have sims 3 on ea play app and have issues getting it to work, so decided to try steam

all4game
all4game

This my favorite Sims game. There is a lot of fun different kinds of characters you can make and role playing to be had. The world and neighborhood can be customized greatly too (such as foliage, terrain, houses, the kind of families, business, and other establishments)

My favorite character was one that spend all day everyday in a one bedroom house making world class novels. One day, I decided that he should call up some women he somehow meet and become married to. They they moved in together.

Another I got a guy who worked at a restaurant, married the owner (who had lots of money and a great career) then used to their collective wealth buy up properties and business in town (this felt like cheating but was so fun).

mochachicken156
mochachicken156

I definitely recommend it if your into customizing furniture with your own colors, but if your online and building and decorating alot, it will crash without saving. I recommend going offline when your going to plan on building alot. For the sims I enjoy alot, its better with expansion packs because it gives more stuff and items to do stuff with. But after playing sims for a while it will eventually start to glitch out, like my sims was making Stu suprise for her family but when she was about to put it on the stove it suddenly glitched into her hand and started to do the thing I told her to do next. one of my other sims got stuck in the wall and couldn't move at all, I had to turn on cheats and press Teleport Me Here option. But it doesn't happen all the time, it could just be my thing to always go offline and it doesn't have enough time to update.

Anonymous
Anonymous

Relaxing, chill, exciting game. Does not have as much details as Sims 4, but just enough more detail than the Sims 1 and 2 graphics and design. This edition is one of my favorites without the expansion packs.

mary.merriman2005
mary.merriman2005

pros: you can play as pets, wolf/cat pack challenges
cons: graphics aren't the best, some glitches, and doesn't always launch

ViperBrains
ViperBrains

The basegame is not good enough as a stand-alone product. If you plan on buying you’ll need a few dlcs as well unfortunately they are all stupidly overpriced (considering how old and broken they are). Find a way to pirate it with all the dlcs instead.

Anonymous
Anonymous

I like being able to play the pets

Wolfves
Wolfves

SIMS 3 is just most fun with use of mods. It is really the best one out all 4 games. And sims 4 just does not feel right without the open world.

Anonymous
Anonymous

THIS GAME IS AMAZING!! WHY? BECAUSE IT HAS THE BEST GAMEPLAY!! IT'S A BIT REALISTIC! RECOMMEND IT TO YOU ALL!

captal787
captal787

really good even good for children

Anonymous
Anonymous

After creating my sim and buying the cheapest house, I had one intention; To disturb shit. I promptly romanced a local married sim and asked her to accompany me on a date. Where during this date some unfortunate events transposed and my sim caught on fire and DIED.

10/10 would recommend

GroovySimmer
GroovySimmer

Sims 4 is great for the time, but SIms 3 is way more realistic! There's tons of stuff you can do, it's open world, & it's just overall more immersive.

hilocalcryptid
hilocalcryptid

the sims 3 is a really fun game and a really nice entry in the sims series with endless gameplay, full customization and fun little details that are leaps and bounds ahead of the sims 4.

however, the game isn't properly optimized, the island dlc and back to the future dlc are not really worth it as they really clog the game up and just makes it run so slow, so you would have to rely on mods to have a proper experience. if you have a low end laptop it will definitely struggle with additional packs, so pick wisely when buying packs.

the base game is fun, and gameplay is fun when you carefully select what packs to play with, there is a 'bonus' store of content to purchase but ultimately it's not worth it to purchase said content. sadly, the create a sim, some of the build buy menus and even the start up menu is full of ads to entice you to purchase. a few worlds are locked behind these paywalls.

overall, the sims 3 is a really fun game and has full customization options but is just plagued with lack of optimization. mods can fix this problem.

dfilley101
dfilley101

always better than sims 4 in a way

HzDonut
HzDonut

Get yourself the 4GB patch, "smooth patch", and check the pcgamingwiki before running this and you'll be able to enjoy a pretty much functional trip down nostalgia lane. Now all we need is for all the DLC to not be $20.00.

Spooky The Cat
Spooky The Cat

In this version, sims was very sensitive to die. I found 8 ways to killed them and got different kind of ghosts. I played it by using Parallels Desktop and got very tough to control by Apple magic mouse.

Hatsu
Hatsu

see the price of the new sims 4 dlc? thats why i stay on this game.