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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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

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 Multiplayer no The Sims 4.

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:

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

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.

LifeSim, nosso jogo

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.

Outras opções

For games that are like the Sims, read jogos como The Sims. For life sims on a console you own now, read simuladores de vida no Nintendo Switch. For an other Sims spin-off of the same years, read The Sims Castaway.

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.

• 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.

• The Sims 4 Get Together
• The Sims 4 Island Living expansion pack
• The Sims Castaway
• Arquivos de save do The Sims 4: instalar, todos os mundos, backup
• Local do arquivo de salvamento do Sims 4
• Localização do arquivo de save do The Sims 3
• Localização do arquivo de save do The Sims 2
• Como conseguir uma planta-vaca em The Sims 4
• Como pagar contas em The Sims 4
• Como preencher relatórios em The Sims 4
• Como escrever uma música em The Sims 4
• Como editar um Sim em The Sims 4
• Como mudar de casa em The Sims 4
• A Galeria do The Sims 4
• Notas de patch do Sims 4
• The Sims 4 no celular
• The Urbz: Sims na Cidade
• O Filme The Sims
• Guia The Sims Medieval
• Sims 3 vs Sims 4
• The Sims Online
• XML Injector para The Sims 4
• Sims 4 Vida na Cidade
• Sims 4 Aconchego na Família
• Sims 4 Para Alugar
• Sims 4 Negócios e Hobbies
• Sims 4 Encantados pela Natureza e fadas
• Sims 4 sereias
• Alienígenas do The Sims 4
• Como se tornar famoso em The Sims 4
• Sims 4 Descobrindo a Universidade
• Sims 4 Rancho de Cavalos
• The Sims 4 Vida no Ensino Médio
• Lobisomens do The Sims 4
• Vampiros do The Sims 4
• The Sims 4 está no Steam?
• The Sims 4 é multiplataforma?
• Cheats do The Sims 4
• Cheats de dinheiro do The Sims 4
• Cheats de habilidades do The Sims 4
• Cheats de relacionamento do The Sims 4
• Cheats de carreira do The Sims 4
• Cheats de mover objetos do The Sims 4
• Cheats de imóveis grátis do The Sims 4
• Cheats de pontos de satisfação do The Sims 4
• Cheats de depuração do The Sims 4
• Cheats de construção do The Sims 4
• MC Command Center (MCCC)
• Mods do The Sims 4
• Os melhores mods do The Sims 4
• O melhor gerenciador de mods do The Sims 4
• The Sims 4 Studio, explicado
• Cheats de aspiração do The Sims 4
• Cheats de CAS do The Sims 4
• UI Cheats Extension para The Sims 4
• Better Exceptions para The Sims 4
• O mod Slice of Life para The Sims 4
• As regras do Desafio da Legado do The Sims 4
• Gerador de desafio de legado para Sims 4
• Traços do The Sims 4
• Gerador de traços aleatórios para Sims 4
• Gerador de nomes do The Sims 4
• Gerador de histórias do The Sims 4
• The Sims Project Rene
• Conteúdo personalizado (CC) do The Sims 4
• Desafios do The Sims 4
• Como girar itens no The Sims 4
• Habilidades do The Sims 4
• Como ter um bebê no The Sims 4
• Como se tornar um fantasma no The Sims 4
• Como trazer um Sim de volta à vida
• Pacotes de expansão do The Sims 4
• The Sims 4 Realeza e Legado
• The Sims 4 A Aventura Espera
• The Sims 4 Ao Trabalho
• The Sims 4 Estações
• The Sims 4 Vida Campestre
• Kits do Sims 4
• The Sims 4 Apaixonados
• The Sims 4 StrangerVille
• The Sims 4 Parenthood
• The Sims 4 Escapada Gourmet
• Cheats do The Sims 2
• The Sims 4 é grátis?
• Data de lançamento do The Sims 5
• Qual pacote de expansão do The Sims 4 comprar primeiro
• Quiz de escolha de pacote do The Sims 4
• The Sims 4 está no Game Pass?
• Requisitos de sistema do The Sims 4
• Classificação etária do The Sims 4: é adequado para crianças?
• Quanto tempo um Sim vive no The Sims 4?
• The Sims Mobile ainda é jogável?

• Wikipedia: The Sims Bustin’ Out
• Metacritic: The Sims Bustin’ Out
• TechCentral: The Sims Bustin’ Out review (PS2)
• Gaming Nexus: The Sims Bustin’ Out review (PS2)
• Gaming Nexus: The Sims Bustin’ Out review (Xbox)
• Game Rant: The best Sims console games on Metacritic
• TheGamer: The Sims Bustin’ Out PS2 cheat codes
• Wikipédia: Lista de jogos de Xbox compatíveis com Xbox 360
• Gamepressure: EA re-releases The Sims 1 and 2 (January 2025)
• Push Square: The Sims 1 and 2 are returning, but will they come to PS5? (January 2025)
• Destructoid: EA could be teasing a re-release of The Sims and The Sims 2