

Your Sims can buy an existing resort lot or build one from the ground up, say, from an uninhabited island you discovered. It’s not quite a full-on hotel management sim, but it’s one of new features that I enjoyed the most. Speaking of development, building and running resorts is another highlight of this expansion. When found, these islands become lots owned by your Sims, who can then develop them, if desired. With the addition of the snorkeling and scuba diving skill, Sims are able to explore underwater locations and find sunken treasure, which may reveal the locations of several hidden islands scattered around Isla Paradiso. Island Paradise also offers an element of exploration and discovery, similar to World Adventures. You’ll also find speed boats, sailboats, beach towels, underwater cameras, water slides, and other themed objects that really add to beach and aquatic activities. Houseboats can also be upgraded by handy Sims to move faster or run on autopilot, and some of the new boat-related space-saving objects, such as ladders and all-in-one bathrooms (which fulfill the bladder and hygiene needs simultaneously), are also convenient. Your Sims might get seasick, but not to worry-there’s a trait and a Lifetime Reward for that. What makes them better than ordinary home lots is mobility: you can park your houseboat at any open dock, move it to a dive location, or even leave it out on the water wherever there’s space.
The sims 3 hidden islands full#
They can’t be quite as large as some land lots and don’t have a yard for planting fruit trees, but houseboats are otherwise pretty similar to regular lots in that you can build a full five stories on the boat base, as well as one basement floor underneath.
The sims 3 hidden islands how to#
Without in-game advice or an Internet search, I don’t know how players would naturally know to do this.Īfter I figured out how to build a houseboat, though, it was a lot of fun. You need to find an empty dock lot, specifically enable that dock to accept houseboats, place down a specialized houseboat base, and, finally, after all of that, you can build a houseboat or place a premade lot on the base. Unlike any other lot type we’d be familiar with from previous play, houseboats can’t just be plopped down on any old empty lot, not even if it has a beachfront. Sims games usually err on the side of being almost too helpful in providing starting tips to help bridge any gaps, but not so in this case I actually had to seek help on the Internet for the first time about an expansion feature as basic and major as this. I was surprised by how much I enjoyed building and playing on a houseboat, though it’s not terribly intuitive to figure out how to go about doing so. A beautifully designed island archipelago, Isla Paradiso offers Sims an abundance of new activities, such as sailing, building or living on a houseboat, playing on beaches, scuba diving, working as a lifeguard, and running a resort. (The Sims 2 had eight expansions, and The Sims had seven.)Īs suggested by its title, Island Paradise is a tropical and vacation-themed expansion, which includes the new town of Isla Paradiso. I’m a little amazed that Island Paradise is, in fact, the game’s tenth expansion.
The sims 3 hidden islands update#
It’s almost difficult to believe that The Sims 3 was released over four years ago, a testament to the success of EA’s release of a seemingly endless stream of expansion packs that update the Sims 3 experience every few months.
