I've always been a fan of life sims. Or at least, I am until I slip up, miss a day, and lose interest. A series of life sims that I'm a really big fan of is the Animal Crossing series. I've played its humble beginnings on the Gamecube, I've played the heck out of Wild World on the DS, and I played a bit of City Folk before I realized that it was the same as Wild World but not as good. I've certainly been acquainted with the series for a good chunk of time, so naturally I was following the development of its 3DS installment New Leaf, and I was pulled in. I watched the videos at E3(s) and...well...
YOU CAN HANG STUFF ON WALLS
...were among some of my reactions. Then I heard you could become mayor, and the game had a solid spot on my list for 2013. However, like Paper Mario Sticker Star, my plans for getting it as close to launch as I possibly could fell through due to lack of money, and other summer plans. But due to the glory of December 26th aka the day you spend all your gift cards, a bit of convincing from my friend, and a LOT of convincing from Chuggaaconroy, I picked up the game a few days ago. Was it as good as I expected? Well...yeah. It was.
The first thing you notice about New Leaf is its presentation. All models look good, with human villagers looking more realistically proportioned, and the music is very good stuff. The music changes on the hour, but every track fits the activities you'll be doing around town, and a lot if tracks are very peaceful, very soothing pieces, making for a great soundtrack overall.
On the topic of things to do, well there's a lot of things to do. Many things that you could do in previous games like paying off your house, filling your empty museum, fishing, bug catching, talking with animals, and visiting other towns are still present here. But there are many more things you can do in this installment, making this the biggest Animal Crossing game to date. The big thing you get to do in this game is be the mayor of your quiet little town. As soon as you step off the train, your titled the mayor of your town, and its up to you to take the responsibility of making this place the best it can be for your villagers. As mayor, you can not only set an ordinance, which will make stores open earlier, later, cost more but give you more money when you sell to them, or making your town beautiful, you can also set public works projects. Remember how hard it was to get an extra bridge in the first Animal Crossing game? Well now its as simple as picking where you want it to be, and paying for it in full. Because the other animals aren't going to help pay for it. You can only set one public works project at a time, and these things will be very expensive, but its great seeing your town become its own little area, completely different from anyone else's town.
Some public works projects even add more to the gameplay. Remember Resetti? Of course you do you don't forget Resetti! Well thanks to the crying of kids, he's out of a job now. When you quit without saving, he'll only lecture you once, and never show up again. Unless you rebuild the Resetti Surveillance Center in your town, where he'll lecture you whenever you reset your game. Okay maybe that was a bad example, but you can get different items from him if your lucky. You can also rebuild Brewsters cafe, where you can eventually work to get items from him. But the biggest public works project it the Dream Suite. Here, your town receives a code and is entered into the New Leaf database. Now anyone with that code can visit your town from their own Dream Suite, and you can visit theirs. This is a fantastic way to visit another's town, and its great to see what others can do with their town.
Also there's the island. Once you officially become mayor of your town, you can visit the island. Here, you can fish, catch bugs, dive( Did I mention you can dive? HOLY CRAP YOU CAN DIVE), and play special minigames to get items on the island. And you can do these tours either alone or with a friend. But the best thing about the island is the fact that its a
GOLD MINE. Go there after 5 pm and spend some time catching the beetles. Then go sell them and you'll see what I mean. This is why spending so much money on public works projects isn't that big of a deal. Because you can pick up so much money every night, you can pay most public works projects in one fell swoop. Even your massive house payment, that equals over 7,000,000 bells overall won't be much when you get so much every night.
Speaking of your house, yes you have to pay for your house and all its expansions. You thought you were free from Tom Nook when you didn't see him at the Nookling Junction? Well now he owns a store solely for the purpose of houses. This time however, your house is more customizable. On top of being able to get a second floor and basement added to your house, you can also get three extra rooms added to the sides and the back of your house. The outside is even customizable. You can change the mailbox, the fence, the sides, the door, the front, just about everything about your home is customizable in New Leaf, and it just adds to the list of things you can do.
And there is more to do in Animal Crossing New Leaf. I certainly haven't found all there is to do in this game, and you just have to play it for yourself. And needless to say I'm drawn into this world. Everyday is a new adventure with new stuff to do and accomplish. With all the additions, this is, like I said, the biggest Animal Crossing game to date, and anyone who liked the previous games in the series is bound to love this one. Even people who haven't played the previous games should try this game. Its charming and full of content, and is bound to last you a very long time. I look forward to seeing what the rest of New Leaf has to offer, and I look forward to seeing what Nintendo can do with the next entry in the series.
The Silent Protagonist named his town Ruo. He's very clever you see.
All images are the property of their original owners. If I could make graphics this good, I'd on a team making games instead of writing about them.
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