YMMV / The Sims: Bustin' Out

• Best Level Ever: Malcom's Mansion is the ultimate reward for making it to the end of a career, a beautiful mansion with tons of fancy furniture and appliances. Said furniture and appliances can even be replaced with the rewards obtained throughout the campaign, for an even better mansion. Many of the other houses can be quite fun, depending on the player's preferences, although having to share it with other roommates can be annoying.
• Demonic Spiders: Burglars, when staying in houses that have a lot of furniture that's too expensive to be replaced, such as the Goth Mansion. Worse yet, once the player about to move into another house, the owners of that robbed house will strip them of all their cash, blaming them for the loss of their valuable furniture.^note This is meant to prevent the player from cheating, by selling off entire houses and making money off it. However, the game can't differentiate this and circumstances the player doesn't have direct control over, such as a burglary. Having a security alarm is tremendously important for preventing these circumstances.
• Game-Breaker:
  • In addition to the Disk One Nuke mentioned on the main page, the SlushRush Bar Counter can boost a Sim's cooking skill as they make drinks that negate their need for food or sleep. The Bug Zapper can also become this as it boosts a sim's energy at the cost of their comfort which is faster to increase.
  • Gamecube players who also owned the GBA version and the GCN-GBA Connection Cord could effectively break both games. Any player could import their GCN version into the GBA version complete with a transfer of their skill and money. Combined with the Disk One Nuke mentioned previously, and if the player went to work at least once or twice, the player could enter SimValley on the handheld within the first 1 hour of the console game's playtime with some token skills and way more money than the zero skills and pocket change, effectively rendering the challenges of the first two chapters in the handheld version moot. Once you get access to Chapter 3, you have basically free rein of the valley and once completing the objective to reopen the library, now has access to all the skill building they need, made all the sweeter by the fact that on the handheld, skill does not have the exponential XP curve it did on console making it quicker. You can then complete all your skills easily (and even faster if you're lucky enough to be able to visit the Cheat Ninja), while also gaining simoleons. These skills and simoleons actually transfer back to the console version, meaning that you can effectively treat the GBA version as a skill trainer and come back to the console version still at Mom's or Dudley/Mimi's place with all your skills at Lv 10 and thousands of simoleons on standby, breaking the progression of the console version.
  • Even if you don't have the GBA game, you can still unlock an arcade machine in the console game by the GCN-GBA connector and doing so will let you play three of the career minigames in the GBA version. Not only does it quickly increase your Sim's fun meter but depending on how well you do at the minigame, you can earn cash that goes back into the console. A quick and easy way to make money is to start a minigame, pause the console version, then resume when you're done with the minigame to get free cash. Repeat as much as you like to get as much Simoleons as you desire.
  • Much like in the previous game, you'll get reimbursed or fined when you move out in Bustin' Out mode, depending on how much the place's value had changed since you moved in. Unlike the previous game, you're free to move in and out whenever you like. This makes it easy to game the system by renovating a place, getting paid for it, then moving back in with extra money that you can put into *more* renovations. While this can swing in the opposite direction and leave you with crippling debt and barely anything in your name, it's also the best way to make money while making every house in the game exactly how you want.
• Hilarious in Hindsight: After completing all careers, you go to a reward show and win the vote for a golden gnome.
• Polished Port: The Xbox version, likewise with The Urbz and 2’s console version, natively runs in 720p and with a slightly smoother framerate. The PlayStation 2 version actually had online multiplayer- albeit more as a chatroom than a full cooperative experience.
• That One Level: Goth Manor can easily become this with the sheer amount of money that can end up needing to be spent. This is because the bills for the location are extremely high as the lot value is above 100,000 simoleons meanwhile the player's sims are only in the early stages of their career meaning that paying them will take a hefty amount of their wages. In addition, in its default state, Goth Manor lacks a good way to increase many needs and skills which will add to the amount a player will end up spending here.
• Unintentional Uncanny Valley: While the game is surprisingly good at avoiding this despite the close-up of Sims faces (others in the handheld, yours and anyone you’re controlling in console), the console promotion animations get a little too cartoony and end up firmly in here.