In the console version, Malcolm Landgraab is going around his neighborhood, stealing items in return for unpaid rent. The player's objective is to complete each career track, unlock and buy back everyone's many possessions, and become rich enough to evict Malcolm from his mansion and move their own Sim in. Furnishing items are unlocked through the completion of different objectives. Aside from the objectives, gameplay is similar to previous
Sims titles. The Game Boy Advance (GBA) and N-Gage version puts the player's Sim in "SimValley" for a summer holiday. Like the console version, GBA/N-Gage version gameplay is objective-based – every time the player completes a series of tasks, the game progresses. In this game, there are no furnishing objects to unlock. Instead, the player must complete all tasks to unlock new houses. Deviating from the "point-and-click" selection process used in every previous
Sims title, this version allows the user to control their Sim directly, using the GBA's directional pad. In these versions, new mini-games (jobs for the Sims) are unlocked progressively when certain tasks are done. The GBA and N-Gage versions are largely the same, but the N-Gage version has an exclusive feature that allows Sims to collect three cartridges from various locations and play classic games such as
Snake on the Sims' mobile phone. In both versions, there are various locations that Sims may visit throughout the course of the game. As Sims advance through the game, new areas become accessible.
Online features The PlayStation version of ''Bustin' Out
featured a free online play mode titled "Online Weekend". This mode allowed players to participate in both freeplay and storymode with each other and chat using the USB keyboard on the PlayStation 2. The server for the game shut down on August 1, 2008, the same day The Sims Online'' was shut down, rendering the game impossible to play online. == Development and release ==