Last weekend I booted up my copy of The Sims 2 out of nostalgia for last June.  I was planning to buy some of the Christmas themed items from the Sims 2 store (where I still have 1,000 Sims 2 credits orphaned and apparently non-transferable to the Sims 3 store) and have a holiday blowout.  Alas it was not to be, because the Sims 2 store kept giving me an error when I tried to purchase anything.  No Santa for you Sims 2 Sims, I guess you were naughty!

The first thing that struck me was the loading screens, which were endless, and lengthy.  I remember now that I used to get a significant amount of knitting done while waiting for the Sims 2 loading screens to finish.  (And that doesn't even count the first one, really, because if you press the Escape key right after the Sims 2 logo, it skips that mini-movie.)

Upon entering the lot, I was struck by the "blue mist" that used to isolate our Sims from the rest of the world.  The seamless neighborhood was one of the great advances in Sims 3, and it's difficult to understand how quickly it became normal.  Until you go back to Sims 2 and see your Sims' house sitting there surrounded by that creepy pale blue emptiness.  

Twice a day a neighbor emerges from the blue mist on the right, walks down the sidewalk, and is absorbed by the blue mist at the left.  If you have a Sim with enough athletic skill you can send them off jogging.  They disappear into the mist and reappear a while later, sweaty and tired.  It's kinda eerie!

The obvious difference between Sims 2 and Sims 3 at this moment in time is that Sims 2 has a lot more awesome stuff.  I spent a lot of time playing with the piano, the photo booth, the hot tub, all the musical instruments, and of course the pets!  I hope they are planning to release a Pets expansion pack for Sims 3, because I really miss the ability to make my Sims have to cope with a peeing, furniture chewing, hole digging puppy.

One subtle difference between Sims 2 and Sims 3 is something that I remember reading about, back at the beginning of the year.  I remember seeing a producer say that "Your Sims are going to be a lot more capable of taking care of their own needs."  I didn't really notice this when I started playing Sims 3, but I definitely noticed it when going back to Sims 2.  I swear that I almost lost a Sim to starvation, even though she was standing in a kitchen with a fridge chock full of leftovers!  She just stood there, and wailed, and gave the "Hunger" warning bubble.  I watched her for a long time in disbelief before I finally told her to EAT SOMETHING FOR PITY'S SAKE.

Ditto for bladder function.  I didn't bother monitoring the bladder status bar, and several of my Sims wet themselves as a result.

Overall, even though we like to bitch about all the stuff that Sims 3 is missing (like the piano, and cats), I am convinced anew that the functionality is SO much better than Sims 2.