The Sims 2 was released about 20 years ago now, a long time ago, and The Sims is currently in its fourth generation with The Sims 4. The Sims has come a long way since then, but The Sims 2 still remains a firm classic, not to mention a favorite, including myself. I started off playing The Sims 2 Pets on PS2, which kickstarted my love for the series, and I’m still playing The Sims to this day. Although I don’t play The Sims 2 as much nowadays, I still have a fondness for it, which is why I’m eager to do a ranking of the Expansion Packs. I previously did a ranking for the Stuff Packs, but it’s the Expansion Packs that can really alter the game. In The Sims 2‘s era, 8 Expansions were released over 4 years, and here I’ll be ranking them and declaring my all-time favorite. I’ll start with my least favorite and leave my top favorite until last, going through each Expansion and what I thought was great, or not so great, about them.
For more The Sims rankings, check these out:
Open For Business
Wait a minute, did I really put The Sims 2 Open For Business Expansion last?! Unfortunately, I did. Something had to be last, and this was what ended up being at the bottom of my list. I know a lot of Sims players love running their own business, hence why they tend to put packs like Open For Business at or near the top of their rankings, and I can see why. Open For Business is a good Expansion Pack in what it sets out to do: allowing you to run your own business. In fact, I’d probably say that The Sims 2 does business running as one of the best out of all four games, even beating The Sims 4.
There’s a few reasons why Open For Business does business management gameplay so well. It gives the player a lot of control with running their own business. For one, you can run a business from home, something you can’t even do in The Sims 4. You can also run a business from another property. There are a lot of different businesses you can run with Open For Business, thanks to how much it introduces into the game. You can have your own toy store, bakery, hair salon, flower shop, furniture store, robotics store, car dealership, grocery store… The possibilities are endless. Even The Sims 4 doesn’t have that many options.
The Sims 2 Open For Business had your Sims learning some new trades as well as learning how to run their own business.
Open For Business gives you a lot of tools and resources for running the ideal business. There are lots of shelves and displays in different designs you can get to outfit your store to display your wares, as well as decorations and uniforms to wear. You can buy everything you need, such as a till to serve customers and an open/close sign to manage the store’s open hours and invite budding customers in. With Open For Business, you can easily set the prices of your wares. You can sell things at the standard retail price, make things cheaper, or make them more expensive. You can hire employees to help you run your store, and fire them if they’re too much of a liability. Open For Business also includes a business perks system, where you can obtain benefits to make your store more successful or make it easier to run. You gain points for perks by running your business and increasing your star rating.
With Open For Business, your Sim can learn lots of new skills and craft new objects. These include the ability to build robots, including the servo. You can also make flower arrangements, and build toys. Your Sims can even learn to be a hair stylist.
Open For Business even adds in a new sub-neighborhood: Bluewater Village, where lots of pre-built businesses are based, plus there are Sims living there.
Open For Business sounds pretty good, so why have I put it last in this list? I’ll be honest: it’s not because I don’t like the Expansion. For what it is, it is very good. I just personally don’t dabble much in the whole running-my-own-business gameplay in The Sims generally, let alone The Sims 2. When it comes to careers and making money, I tend to get my Sims a job, whether it be full-time, part-time, or freelance, or I set them up doing a side hustle, such as selling paintings or writing books, or even odd jobs. I don’t think I’ve ever had my Sims running their own business in The Sims 4, but perhaps one day I should give it a try, as I did once or twice when playing The Sims 2 Open For Business.
Pets
The Sims 2 Pets Expansion at number 7, really? Yes, sadly, this is near the bottom of my ranking. Again, it’s not that I dislike this Expansion. It’s just another one of those that I didn’t play as much compared to the others. To be honest, I don’t know why. Is it because pets are hard work, and as I tend to focus a lot on careers and family gameplay in The Sims, I feel that pets are a big distraction and they demand a lot of attention? Possibly – but pets are also very rewarding.
The Sims 2 Pets added animal companions into the game. It primarily focused on the introduction of cats and dogs, but also included birds and wombats as smaller pets. For an early game in The Sims, The Sims 2 Pets got it pretty right with cats and dogs. They were pretty realistic with their appearance and mannerisms. Similar to Open For Business, I’ll go as far as saying that The Sims 2 probably did cats and dogs best in the series in terms of gameplay. You could pet and stroke them, play with them, walk them, and even teach them tricks. You could even send your pets to work in 3 different career tracks to make a little extra money. I think The Sims 2 was my favorite regarding the pet objects, including the food bowls, beds, and accessories such as scratching posts. One thing I love about any pets game in The Sims are baby animals, whether it be puppies or kittens. They were just so cute!
Another thing I liked about The Sims 2 Pets was the new objects that came with this pack. I’m specifically talking about the astro-themed furniture and furnishings. It was one of my favorites in the whole game across all Expansions and Stuff Packs. In fact, The Sims 2 as a whole was excellent when it came to themed objects.
Nightlife
Going up to sixth place in this ranking is The Sims 2 Nightlife, which was the second Expansion Pack released in the series. Nightlife was all about going out into town for a fun night out – and it didn’t fail to deliver there. Nightlife added a new sub-neighborhood: Downtown, a new fun-filled place to send your Sims to in which to get them out of the house, hanging out with friends or meeting new Sims, and going to some cool places. Downtown was full of interesting places to visit, such as parks, stores, and a few new Lots such as restaurants, nightclubs, lounges, and bowling alleys.
In my experience playing The Sims 4 Dine Out, restaurants can be hit or miss. Sometimes you’ll be waiting forever for your meal to arrive. I don’t remember Nightlife being like that. You didn’t have to wait too long for food to get to your table – that is if the waiter or waitress didn’t drop it! Still, it was a fun experience dining out in Nightlife, and the restaurants in Downtown were beautifully decorated. The nightclubs and lounges weren’t a disappointment either. If you’re looking for a fun night out, either alone or with friends, these were the places to go to. There was dancing, bars to grab a drink, and other activities such as the beloved karaoke machine and the crazy electro sphere.
There was one other major thing that Nightlife added into The Sims 2: cars! Lots of Sims players love cars, including myself. How could you not want to have a car in The Sims? These objects were great to own. There was a decent selection of cars you could purchase, including an old junk, a saloon, a pick up, and a supercar. You felt very cool owning and driving around in one of these. No more going to work or school in the carpool or school bus! If only The Sims 4 would allow you to drive around in cars. One day maybe…?
Apartment Life
Ah, Apartment Life! This was the swan song for The Sims 2, the final chapter (actually, that was the Mansion & Garden Stuff Pack, but regarding the last big DLC…) I still remember this Expansion being announced, knowing it was the final one for The Sims 2 before the team behind The Sims moved onto The Sims 3. Being the final big DLC of The Sims 2, Apartment Life set off to end the era on a high, and I honestly think that it did. It was certainly a good Expansion to end The Sims 2 on, and felt as if it was throwing in a lot of good stuff to leave us with.
Before Apartment Life came along, Sims mainly lived in houses and mansions, basically single household Lots. Apartment Life gave us a new type of residential Lot to live in, one that made you felt like part of a real community. I have to give serious kudos to The Sims creators: the neighborhood that came with Apartment Life, Belladonna Cove, had some very impressive and well-designed Lots, including apartments and community Lots. The whole neighborhood was so well put together, clicking together like a jigsaw puzzle. It was probably one of the best neighborhoods they ever created for The Sims 2.
Apartment Life also scored very highly in terms of the new objects and Create-A-Sim content. It added in items that fit the styles that Apartment Life introduced, including socialite, gearhead, and bohemian, to name a few. The items were unlike those from previous The Sims 2 packs, feeling edgy. Apartment Life, being the final Expansion for The Sims 2, also added in some really cool objects such as vending machines and a ton of new playground equipment. There was also a cool new occult stage: Witches and Warlocks, although in my experience it was VERY difficult becoming one of these without the use of cheats.
Although Apartment Life ultimately didn’t make it to even the top 3 of this ranking, it remains to me a highlight in The Sims 2 era and a successful send-off to the game.
University
University, the first ever Expansion and DLC for The Sims 2. With University, The Sims 2 was off to a good start with its series of Expansions and Stuff Packs. Admittedly, later iterations of the university experience was done better with The Sims 3 University Life and The Sims 4 Discover University, but I still have a genuine fondness for The Sims 2 University.
Dorm life was my favorite part of University, whether you were in the smallest dorm with only 5 rooms, or one of the much bigger ones with 16 rooms. The dormitories were full of life, young Sims studying or partying, living the true university experience. You had the new College Rock station blasting day and night, the cafeteria where they served up mac and cheese and chilli con carne and bowls of cereal, half-finished blue homework books strewn everywhere, and students coming and going to class. I can still remember my Sims spending hours hunched over a computer typing up their essay, ambling around slowly as only a Young Adult Sim in The Sims 2 could, and playing with the new musical instruments and forming a band. There was also the thrill of moving into the dorm out of home for the first time, and then finally graduating and leaving the dorm, which always felt quite sad as another chapter of my Sims’ life came to an end.
Seasons
We’re going into the top 3 of this ranking of The Sims 2 Expansions now, and at number 3 is… Seasons? Why number 3 and not number 1 or even 2? There is a reason for that, and that’s simply because the last 2 Expansions I liked better. However, it’s not to say that Seasons wasn’t a good Expansion, not by a long shot.
Every generation in The Sims series except the original has released an Expansion Pack dedicated just to seasons and weather. The Sims 2 Seasons was the first and one of the greatest. I’ve already written an article exploring which series in The Sims did Seasons best. Here, I’ll talk about The Sims 2 Seasons in depth in the context of this particular ranking.
As with all Seasons Expansions, The Sims 2 Seasons introduced the four seasons into the game: Spring, Summer, Fall, and Winter. In each season, you got different weather, such as rain, snow, and even thunderstorms and hailstorms. When it snowed heavily, it would blanket the ground, creating lots of fun new activities for your Sims such as snowball fights, snow angels, and building snowmen. For The Sims 2 era, the four seasons were quite realistic and distinguishable from each other, so it really did feel like a fresh spring day or a freezing cold winter day. The trees would reflect the seasons, such as displaying beautiful autumn colors in the fall and the leaves dropping off in the winter. It may not have been transitionally as realistic as The Sims 3 and 4, but it still added something different to the game. Each season also had influences on your Sim, so they gain more skill in the fall and have more success with romance in the spring.
The Sims 2 Seasons Expansion made the world feel more alive as it went through each season.
Seasons added a ton of new gameplay. There was a new Gardening activity (yes, gardening was not part of the base game in The Sims 2), where you could grow things such as tomatoes and eggplants in greenhouses. The swimming pool tool also had some updates, so you could now customize the pool floor and walls, have curved pools, and even add on a fun water slide. Other new objects included a scarecrow that came to life and a juicer, in which you could blend the fruit that you grew. The blended drinks would give your Sims special benefits, such as increased skill gain.
The Sims 2 Seasons, like Pets, had in my opinion some really great new themed objects. These included the country-themed objects, which I thought fitted Seasons perfectly. I had a lot of fun building country houses with this stuff. There was also the racing car themed room for kids, with its bright and bold colors.
Out of the three Seasons Expansions in The Sims‘ history, I think The Sims 2 had the best in terms of Create-A-Sim content, at least regarding outerwear. I loved the generous selection of raincoats, thick jumpers, and well-padded overcoats that your Sims got to wear with The Sims 2 Seasons.
This Expansion also added six brand-new careers to the game, and they were all really cool careers too, such as Adventurer, Education, and Law.
There’s no doubt that Seasons was an excellent addition to The Sims 2, and a must-have if you owned the game. So, if that’s the case, why is it not my number one, or even my number two? What could possibly top Seasons?
Bon Voyage
There’s nothing like going on vacation, even in a life simulation video game like The Sims 2. You might be wondering why I put a vacation-themed Expansion Pack such as Bon Voyage at number two on this list. I’ll admit, it’s partly for sentimental reasons. You see, Bon Voyage was the first ever Expansion I bought for The Sims 2 – and I absolutely loved it.
For the first time in The Sims 2, Bon Voyage allowed your Sims to jet off on holiday, with 3 wonderful destinations to choose from: Takemizu Village (Far East), Twikkii Island (Tropical Island), and the Three Lakes (Mountain). Each of these destinations were excellent to visit, each of them unique with different hotels to stay in, vacation homes you could purchase, places for tourists to visit, and tours to go on.
Bon Voyage assured that your Sims would never get bored or run out of things to do. Being on vacation was a far cry from the drudgery of home life. A favorite of mine was going to the beach, where you could watch the waves, swim in the sea, go sunbathing, build a sandcastle, and dig for shells. Other holiday activities included venturing onto an old pirate ship, where you could explore and play pirates no matter your age, and you might have a run-in with a real ghost pirate, who, if you ask nicely, will teach you an old sea shanty. You could do LOTS more on vacation, including getting a massage (which your Sim could also learn), relaxing in a hot spring, raking a zen garden, learning how to teleport from a ninja, learning how to fire dance, visiting a giant stone statue, axe throwing, and balancing on logs.
In each destination, you could try out their cuisine, or perhaps learn a unique dance from the locals, as well as getting to grips with the local greetings. Each destination also featured a Secret Lot, which each had something or someone unique there. In the Far East, if you befriended the old man there, he would teach you an old tale that you can recite to your friends back home. On the Island, you could visit a Witch Doctor, who might give you a Voodoo Doll to play with. Then in the Mountains, you could encounter Bigfoot, who you could take home with you.
One thing’s for sure: you’re never guaranteed to have a dull time on vacation with The Sims 2 Bon Voyage.
(Video from JustATheSimsFan)
FreeTime
Finally, we’ve made it to the top spot on this list, my number one Expansion Pack for The Sims 2. But what’s left? Well, there’s only one Expansion that I haven’t covered yet, and that is… The Sims 2 FreeTime! Wait, seriously?! I’ve put an Expansion about your Sims’ spare time as my number one? But why? Why not fan favorites such as Seasons or Open For Business? Well, there are a few reasons for that. To be honest, I just love this particular Expansion.
Here’s the rundown of what The Sims 2 FreeTime is all about. Essentially, without this pack, your Sims’ lives are all about working on their careers, and spending time with friends and family. But what about all the inbetween stuff, when your Sims just want to wind down and chill out, have some fun? There’s watching TV, dancing to the stereo, perhaps reading the newspaper, but for a video game, that’s not very exciting to watch. That’s where FreeTime comes in.
The Sims 2 FreeTime introduces 10 hobbies – yes, 10! – into the game. Your Sims can develop an enthusiasm for Cuisine, Arts & Crafts, Sports, Tinkering, Music & Dance, Nature, and more. You can choose to focus on one hobby, or lots at the same time. Every Sim has one specially designated hobby that they are destined to be particularly passionate about. By spending time on your Sims’ hobbies, they can gain rewards as they level up in enthusiasm. This includes magazine subscriptions, gaining new social interactions, and new activities such as blogging on the computer. When they reach the midway point in their hobby’s enthusiasm, they will gain the invitation to the hobby’s Secret Lot, a place in which they can indulge in their hobby to their heart’s content, even accessing special career reward objects.
The Sims 2 FreeTime made your Sims’ spare time more meaningful and rewarding.
Once a Sim reaches level 10 of any hobby, something special happens. Not only do your Sims earn a special plaque, but whenever they spend time working on their beloved hobby, they enter The Zone. This not only slows down your Sims’ Need decay, meaning they can spend hours doing what they love without their Needs interfering, but your Sims may experience some unique effects. For example, a Sim playing basketball may imagine hearing an audience cheering them on.
What I really love about The Sims 2 FreeTime is that this Expansion adds a TON of new objects for your Sims to delve into their favorite hobbies, as well as incorporating base game and older Expansion objects. For example, the piano from The Sims 2 base game builds Music & Dance, while the easel counts towards Arts & Crafts. The new objects that FreeTime adds is quite extensive. One such object is the fixer-upper car. Your Sims can work on the engine and body work, and then finally spray paint the car in any color they wish. When the car is done, they can sell it for a tidy profit, or of course keep it and drive it around themselves! Another cool object is the train set. Sims can spend hours working on this, adding decorations and watching the train go around. Other new objects include the ballet barre, basketball hoop, violin, exercise bike, sewing machine, pottery wheel, and toddler playtable.
Other new objects I love in FreeTime is stuff for kids. I especially love the pastel colored wallpapers and flooring, and the wooden furniture. These are excellent for the perfect nursery, playroom or bedroom for your young ones in The Sims 2. It’s not just the new objects as well, but the clothing. Toddlers and children often feel overlooked in The Sims 2 in favor of adults, but FreeTime has a lot of focus on them, giving them lots of new clothing options. Teenagers also get a new wardrobe with FreeTime.
FreeTime also adds a lot of new activities for Sims that don’t require buying objects, new or otherwise. For example, Nature lovers can work on their hobby by collecting bugs, as well as bird watching and going for nature walks. This Expansion certainly doesn’t fail to fill in that gap when your Sim isn’t focused on their careers.
Ranking the Expansion Packs for one of my favorite games wasn’t easy, but I had a lot of fun going through them individually and reminiscing on the good times playing them. In fact, it’s made me want to fire up The Sims 2 again. Perhaps one day I will!
This is my personal ranking for The Sims 2 Expansion Packs, but which ones are your favorites? Is there something in The Sims 2 games that you wish was in The Sims 4? Why not let us know in the comments!
