Innovative and unique. However, even with all the expansions is so limited.
Eight years later, with screens of The Sims 3 popping here and there, the first game continues incredibly awesome to play. You see, playing TS is still very worth, you can enjoy funny and nice experiences playing The Sims. It's audio is still good. It's graphics, 50% 2D and 50% 3D, are still beautiful to see and play.
The Sims, without any expansions, turns into a boring experience after some hours. Without many things to purchase, you always end without choices to furnish your home, sweet home. Also, after some hours the game turns boring, because you don't have many things to do with ten families with their lives nice (or bad, depending of your mood, will and sometimes, luck). Hopefully, the seven expansionpacks adds many things to the game, and multiplies your experience, making The Sims a highly addictive game.
What I said before can look like a paradox, but isn't. The Sims is boring, if you don't have any expansionpacks, but it's a remarkable and wonderful game to play with all the seven expansionpacks added. So, my oppinion is: don't play The Sims without at least one or two expansions, because doing this can make you have a wrong analysis about this game.