On this day 4 years ago the hugely popular The Sims 3: Island Paradise hit the shelves for players to buy, proving to be one of the most popular expansion packs to date it allowed the user to create and live in house boats across the ocean surrounding Isla Paradiso.

Following the announcement of The Sims 4 in May this pack was the penultimate expansion pack for The Sims 3, it marked a sad occasion in the franchise as it meant that the 4 year old iteration was coming to a close, but what a way to go out! Although it was massively popular there were a lot of complaints, the game was huge and added many new features on to the already aging game engine meant it caused large lag spikes making it unplayable for users with older or underpowered computers.

The expansion added much more than just house boats, it added the ability to stay at and run a resort, create it how you wanted and run it as a fancy five star or an offensive one star. It wasn’t a simple task though, the phrase “everyone’s a critic” applies here as guests were able to rate their stay meaning if you leave someone with a bad taste in their mouth then you can expect the guests to stay away.

The features didn’t end there either, for the first time ever Island Paradise allowed our Sims to travel underwater as scuba divers and discover what the waters had to offer, but if you think that was the only way to search the sea you’re very mistaken. Mermaids were finally brought to the game and they were stunning, with their amazing tails and shimmering scales it was a welcomed addition.