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Updated November 4, 2026

The Sims Bustin’ Out

The Sims Bustin’ Out (2003): the story with Malcolm Landgraab, the careers, each version, PS2 cheats, multiplayer, and if you can play it today.

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What is The Sims Bustin’ Out?

The Sims Bustin’ Out is a Sims game for consoles and handhelds from December 2003. It came out on PS2, Xbox, GameCube, and Game Boy Advance, and later on the N-Gage. Your Sim leaves the home lot and goes to other places. Game Rant calls that its main selling point. It has a story mode and a free play mode.

We opened Wikipedia, Metacritic, four reviews, and the news of the 2025 re-releases on November 4, 2026. The facts below come from these pages. We did not play the game for this post.

What are the key facts of Bustin’ Out?

FactThe Sims Bustin’ Out
Release in North AmericaDecember 16, 2003. N-Gage: May 12, 2004.
PlatformsPS2, Xbox, GameCube, Game Boy Advance, N-Gage
DevelopersMaxis for the consoles. Griptonite Games for the GBA. Ideaworks3D for the N-Gage.
PublisherElectronic Arts
ESRB ratingT for Teen
ModesBust Out Mode (story) and Freeplay Mode
MetacriticPS2 81, Xbox 81, GameCube 81, GBA 79, N-Gage 78
AwardConsole Family Game of the Year, 7th Interactive Achievement Awards

In Japan, the game came out in February 2004 with the name “The Sims”. Europe got it on December 19, 2003. The PS2 version won an ELSPA Platinum award, for at least 300,000 sales in the UK.

What is the story of The Sims Bustin’ Out?

On the consoles, the villain is Malcolm Landgraab. His tenants did not pay the rent, so he takes their things. You work through the career tracks, buy back the things of everyone, and get rich. At the end, you evict Malcolm from his mansion and move in.

Bust Out Mode

Bust Out Mode is the story. It gives you goals, one after another. One example from TechCentral: cook dinner for your mother. Each goal opens new places, items, and careers.

Freeplay Mode

Freeplay Mode has no story. It plays like the original The Sims: you make Sims and live with them as you like.

What the game took from the PC

The game has content from four expansions of the first PC game: Livin’ Large, House Party, Hot Date, and Superstar. It was the first Sims game that did not also come out on Windows at the same time.

What careers and places are in Bustin’ Out?

The TechCentral review names these careers:

  • Movie star
  • Mad scientist
  • Gangster
  • Fashion victim
  • Paramilitary
  • Counter culture
  • Jock

The places include a laboratory, a gym, a trailer park, Club Rubb, and Pixelated Acres, a nudist colony. Wikipedia also names Shiny Things Lab and Casa Caliente. We found no full list of careers on a page that loaded, so this list can be short.

For the jobs of the newest Sims game, see the Sims 4 careers database.

Which version of Bustin’ Out is best?

The three home consoles have the same score on Metacritic. The differences are in the extras.

VersionWhat is different
PS2The only one with online play, the Online Weekend mode. The servers closed in 2008.
XboxThe best pictures and HDTV support, Gaming Nexus says. No online play.
GameCubeIt can move a Sim to and from the GBA version.
Game Boy AdvanceA different game: a summer holiday in SimValley. You walk the Sim with the D-pad.
N-GageThe GBA game, plus Snake on the phone of your Sim, after you find three cartridges.

The GBA version led to the GBA and DS versions of The Urbz: Sims in the City, in 2004.

Does The Sims Bustin’ Out have multiplayer?

Yes. Every version has a two-player mode on one console, Gaming Nexus says. Both players work together in the free mode. Some players remember it as split screen. The reviews do not say so, so we do not confirm it.

The PS2 version also had Online Weekend: free play and story play with other players, with chat through a USB keyboard. The servers shut down on August 1, 2008. That was the same day that The Sims Online closed.

For multiplayer in the newer games, read Sims 4 multiplayer.

What are the cheats for The Sims Bustin’ Out?

On the PS2, you first call the Cheat Gnome. Pause the game, and press R2, L1, R1, L2, Left, Circle. The gnome then stands outside the house. Talk to it to use these codes, from TheGamer:

CheatButtons (PS2)
$10,000L1, R2, Right, Square, L3
All locationsR2, R3, L3, L2, R1, L1
All objectsL2, R2, Up, Triangle, L3
Fill motivesL2, R1, Left, Circle, Up

We did not find the codes for the Xbox and GameCube on a page that loaded. For the cheats of the PC games, read Sims 2 cheats or the Sims 4 cheats list.

Can you play The Sims Bustin’ Out today?

Only on the old hardware. We found no re-release on any current store. Here is what the sources say for each platform.

Xbox 360, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X

Bustin’ Out is not on the Wikipedia list of Xbox games that work on the Xbox 360. The list has The Sims 2 and The Urbz, but not Bustin’ Out. We found no sign that it works on the Xbox One or the Series X.

PlayStation 4 and 5

We found no PS4 or PS5 version. In January 2025, Push Square wrote that EA’s re-release project “doesn’t extend to PlayStation.”

PC and the 2025 Legacy Collections

On January 31, 2025, EA re-released The Sims and The Sims 2 as Legacy Collections, on PC only. Bustin’ Out is not part of them. It was never a PC game.

Is there a remaster?

No. We found no announcement from EA. Fans ask for one often, on the EA forums and on Reddit. Destructoid calls the game a “cult classic” in the back catalog of EA.

Is there a game like Bustin’ Out to play now?

LifeSim, our game

LifeSim is free, with no ads, no subscription, and nothing to buy. It plays in a web browser at play.lifesim.com and in an iPhone app. You live one life in a real city, on a 3D map of Earth.

LifeSim fits the part of Bustin’ Out that players loved: you leave the house. You walk through a real city, and the people have jobs, homes, and friends. You talk to them in your own words, and they remember you.

LifeSim does not fit in other ways. It has no Malcolm Landgraab, no Cheat Gnome, no build mode, and no couch multiplayer. It is not on a console. It cannot read a PS2 memory card. But you can bring a Sim from a spin-off with screenshots: read bring a Sim from a Sims spin-off.

Other choices

For games that are like the Sims, read games like The Sims. For life sims on a console you own now, read life sims on the Nintendo Switch. For an other Sims spin-off of the same years, read The Sims Castaway.

Questions

When did The Sims Bustin’ Out come out?

On December 16, 2003 in North America, on PS2, Xbox, GameCube, and GBA. The N-Gage version came in May 2004.

Who made The Sims Bustin’ Out?

Maxis made the console versions. Griptonite Games made the GBA version. EA published all versions.

Is Bustin’ Out on PC?

No. It came out only on consoles, the GBA, and the N-Gage.

Who is the villain in Bustin’ Out?

Malcolm Landgraab. He takes the things of tenants who did not pay the rent.

Can two people play Bustin’ Out?

Yes. Every version has a two-player mode on one console.

Is Bustin’ Out backward compatible on Xbox 360?

No. It is not on the list of Xbox games that work on the Xbox 360.

What we could not verify

  • The full list of careers. We have only the seven careers that TechCentral names.
  • That the two-player mode is split screen.
  • The role of Mom in the story, and the starting house.
  • The total sales of the game in the world.
  • The cheat codes for the Xbox and GameCube versions.

More Sims guides

Sources

New to life sims? Read what a life simulator is, or play LifeSim, a free online life simulator on a real map of Earth.

Sims 4 database

Look it up in the Sims 4 database, read from the game files: cheats, traits, careers, moodlets, deaths, packs, challenges, recipes, popular mods, pack finder, and the death odds calculator.

On this topic: testingcheats, motherlode, and Genius trait.

Step by step: all Sims 4 how-to guides.

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