The Sims 3: Island Paradise for Windows

A new life in paradise

In the penultimate expansion of The Sims 3: Island Paradise, the Sims move from the boring streets of a perfect residential neighborhood to life on an idyllic island. On this island, you'll find sunshine, beaches, and sirens, though not without certain chores, and occasional danger.

Paradise Island, a place for relaxation and adventure

The game is set in a new neighborhood, Paradise Island. Unlike other expansions of The Sims 3, such as World Adventures or University Life, Paradise Island is not a temporary home, but a new area that your Sims are going to live in.

In this new neighborhood, you can choose between living in a conventional home or owning a floating house. The advantage of the latter is that you can move it around the island to explore and enjoy spectacular scenery.

You can drive around Paradise Island in the expansion's new vehicles: motor boats and ships for visiting your next-door neighbors... or those living at the bottom of the sea.

In The Sims 3: Island Paradise your Sims experience real-life adventures in the island's idyllic waters. You can enjoy such activities as deep sea diving, but you'll also face some dangerous situations. For example, encountering sharks or being in a shipwreck, not to mention other fantastic ones like meeting mythical creatures.

In fact, you can develop such a close relationship with sirens and tritons that you may even convince them to come and live with you. Then you'll discover that they're hybrid beings that become human upon touching the earth.

Don't forget to work!

But not everything in The Sims 3: Island Paradise is revelry - one has to make a living somehow. Apart from choosing new professions like submarine diver or rescuer, the Sims will be able to open their own businesses on Paradise Island, something unavailable since the Ambitions expansion.

With Island Paradise the new aspect of creating and managing a vacation resort is born. This is one of the expansion's most fun options, as it lets you create your own hotel complex from a scratch: construct buildings, design different leisure areas, hire and manage your staff... The success or failure of this business will depend on the opinions of your customers, whose purchasing power will rise if you do things right.

Although The Sims 3: Island Paradise is not technically innovative when compared to The Sims 3 and the rest of the expansions, it is worth noting that it has a series of interesting functions which are new to the saga. It's great to be able to build floating houses and travel beyond the main neighborhood (Paradise Island has several islets that can be unlocked as you explore the area). In this sense, The Sims 3: Island Paradise reminds me of another pretty revolutionary expansion of The Sims 3, World Adventures.

Getting the most out of The Sims 3

As happens with most of The Sims generations, towards the end is when the expansions with the newest functions appear. And that's what The Sims 3: Island Paradise is. It not only offers you new activities or scenery, but also new mechanics never before seen in the franchise (the same goes for Into the Future - the latest Sims 3 expansion).

If you still want to enjoy The Sims 3 before moving on to The Sims 4, Island Paradise is a good option to make the most out of the game.