The sims to me now just look "too" realistic, when in real life, not EVERYBODY has super smooth skin, (Even wrinkles for elders make them still younger than they could be) or having a "chunky" feeling (not that they're fat, it's just something I can see for some reason).
The fun with Sims 2 was that even though they were supposed to look like humans, they weren't, and it showed nicely. With Sims 2 you could enjoy yourself making lovable faces and appearances, built up with creative personalities and aspirations and preset goals (of course could be changed XD), whereas thus far, I've yet to see a decent Sims 3 sim. I think the makers focused more on reality and less on creating itself.
On the basis of the game speed, I think it was a good idea to make the hours in the game longer lasting (more time to do things, for example), and would make it more efficient and you wouldn't need to pause the game when you have "OMG ONLY FIVE SECONDS LEFT BEFORE YOU'RE LATE FOR WORK/SCHOOL/ETC ONOES" (Heck, that was my deal, at least). This would also eliminate the "limited time" thing where it seems to take forever before you get something done when in real life, it time wouldn't pass that quickly; or so the sims won't age too quickly (I played my family's lot a lot and now I'm almost an adult, it's too soon
). A minute's a second, but sims move like a second's a second. But apparently EA went and overdid it.
WHAT? You can only play ONE family at a time? That's bull. Seriously. And you can't make your own neighborhoods either??
Now, I do not have the game nor do I intend on buying it (the fear of SecuROM or whatever they put in there, the peoples' reviews on the game, also I just don't want to buy it), but this is what I think about the game. I think Sims 2 is just funner, freer, so to speak. Even if the game speed's a tad too fast for me.
And I highly doubt that the sims are any smarter. 