The Sims 2 has arguably some of the best expansion packs in the Sims series, and players today are still talking about the quality of each pack. Some of the gameplay features and extra content make The Sims 2 a favorite among fans, despite being over twenty years old.
All The Sims 2 expansion packs, ranked
There were only eight expansion packs created for The Sims 2, but each one holds a special place in many players’ hearts. After playing with each one via the 25th Anniversary Legacy Collection pack, and uncovering what each has to offer, there doesn’t seem to be a bad pack among them. With that in mind, here’s how we would rank them from worst to best, although even the worst pack is pretty great!
Pets
The Pets expansion pack in The Sims 2 comes with a decent selection of ready-made Sims and animal-themed lots to move into. The pets available include dogs of all shapes and sizes, and different cat breeds, each unendingly customizable. Not only can you choose between cats and dogs, but there are also birds and smaller mammals if you prefer something a bit less demanding.
This pack has some decent content and a bit of extra gameplay with the pet careers, but it feels a bit lacking compared to other packs. Sure, you get to play as a werewolf for the first time, thanks to this pack, but that aspect just feels a bit lackluster. It isn’t until The Sims 4 that werewolves really come into their own. There are cute build and buy items, and it’s a fun pack to have, but it comes last on our list because we wish there was just a bit more to it.
Nightlife
NightLife is The Sims 2 version of Hot Date from the first Sims game. With this pack you get to experience the exciting Downtown area where your Sim can go on dates with your potential love interest and explore what each other has to offer. To make it easier to get to your date, your Sim can now purchase their own car (although you don’t get to physically drive it), so Downtown is only a click away.
Downtown offers so many activities your Sim can do alone, on a date, or with friends like bowling, karaoke, poker, and spinning in the ReNuYuSenso Orb. All this extra fun means your Sim’s relationships are more intricate, with specific turn-ons and turn-offs. Sims will develop chemistry with other Sims, making it easier to find those special Sims you want to connect with. Just like with packs like FreeTime and Bon Voyage, the extra activities in NightLife bring an extra level to the game that it was missing before.
Bon Voyage
Bon Voyage adds some fresh gameplay to The Sims 2, with exotic destinations full of relaxing or exciting things for your Sim to do. This pack is especially good if you get bored with the monotony of a Sim’s everyday life. You can choose from three types of vacation destination, each with its own accommodation, tours, and souvenirs. All the best vacation activities are available from camping and singing around the campfire, to relaxing in hot springs or getting a massage.
The best thing about this pack is how it influences your Sim’s life when they return home. If your Sim gets involved with the local culture and discovers new abilities, they can bring those skills home to show off to friends. They can even improve their career if they come home happy and well-rested. This pack would be higher on our list if it didn’t get so repetitive after a while.
University
University is a pack full of extra features, including four new career tracks, interactions, and items. Sims can now purchase bubble blowers, gym equipment, and mobile phones, or learn how to play an instrument to boost their Creativity skill. As this pack revolves around teenagers and young people, you have new themes for fashion and music including punk and Greek. This means your Sim can enjoy building their own style to match their personality.
As well as bringing all the fun and chaos that college life can add, this pack also leans into the paranormal. When a loved one dies, they can be brought back to life with the Resurrect-O-Nomitron, becoming a zombie, a brand new life state in The Sims 2. Any horror fan will love this aspect of The Sims 2 University pack, as it adds a gross but hilarious bit of fun to a regular game.
Open For Business
At last, your Sim can work from home and never neglect their pets or children again. Open For Business gives you the option to start a business from the comfort of your own Sim home, or to take over a community lot in the town or city nearby. A new pre-made shopping district, Bluewater Village, has a bakery, electronics store, nightclub, and more, many of which you can run on your own if you have the money.
Being the boss of your own business is a lot of fun as you hire and fire employees, stock your business with any of the 125 new items, and develop all new skills. You can build your business from the ground up, designing every aspect of the building, the inventory, and the employees. It certainly makes a change from seeing your Sim disappear in a carpool in the morning.
Apartment Life
Apartment Life is what players thought The Sims 4 For Rent was going to be. Despite being centered on apartments, this pack was more about fulfilling player requests for The Sims 2. This pack also added butlers to perform all boring household chores like cleaning up after pets, watering plants, and so much more. Weirdly, although we aren’t complaining, the Apartment Life pack also added magic to The Sims 2. Your Sim can become a witch and use spells and craft magical items to perform good deeds or cast evil curses.
Apartment Life also brings a new neighborhood, Belladonna Cove, a large city made up of different types of Sim from all walks of life and a selection of rentable apartments or purchasable homes. There’s a trailer park for those Sims who can’t afford to live in a brick-walled building, or a mansions for the ultra-wealthy. The pack adds a good variety of people and places as well as some fun gameplay features but its lack of cohesiveness is a tad confusing.
Seasons
Seasons brings a bunch of new items and interactions that add some immersion and realism to the game. Some of the Seasons additions have become players’ favorite features from gardening and greenhouses to skating rinks and curved swimming pools. With Seasons, Sims can now play Marco Polo as they splash about, go bug-hunting in the flowers, and make snowmen or snow angels.
If you have the Pets expansion pack, you can see your dog eating snowballs or your cat chasing fireflies in the garden. The changing weather may not seem like a game-changing aspect at first, but it brings a variety that you would soon miss if it disappeared. Sims can now die by lightning or hail, or by making a wish at the wishing well. The only negative to this pack is the PlantSim life state. Some players enjoy this half-plant Sim who craves sunlight and water, but I don’t feel like they add much to the game.
FreeTime
The Sims 2 FreeTime introduces a neighborhood where everyone is comfortably middle class with healthy hobbies and some free time to enjoy them. Sims now have Lifetime Aspirations so your job is to try and keep them as happy as possible through their entire lives and spend their accrued points on special abilities.
The FreeTime pack adds a bit of color to your Sim life with new wants, skills, talents, and career paths. If you have always wanted your Sim to become the Hand of Poseidon, this pack is for you. A lot of the new hobbies are physical and they are fun to watch, while others, like birdwatching or bug hunting, are just cute, gentle pastimes. This is one of our favorite packs as it adds not just items and activities but improves the richness of their lives overall.
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