8.11.2013

Animal Crossing New Leaf. Where do I even begin? Well first, let me talk about the hype behind this game. Pretty much ever since the 3DS came out, I heard tale of a new Animal Crossing game for the 3DS. I’ve been a longtime fan of Animal Crossing (ever since middle school), and I played Wild World to death. I eventually bought a 3DS just so that I could play New Leaf. As it turns out, the release date was constantly pushed back, and it felt that I would never be able to play the game. However, as the release date drew closer, the tension began to rise. Nintendo kept posting videos about the game, which made me want to play it even more. Finally the game released and my copy was shipped to me.I literally could not sit still while I waited for my package to arrive. I checked the tracking info every few hours just to see if it was any closer. When it finally arrived, I was ecstatic. I furiously played through the game for the first few weeks after that, and I still play it to this day.Usually when I review a game, I make sure I completely finish the game (or get as far as I can in the game) before doing so, however this game doesn’t really have an “end,” and since it’s been almost two months since the game was released, I think it’s high time that I do my review.StoryIn New Leaf, you play as a young person moving to a new town. What you don’t realize is that when you arrive there, the anthropomorphic citizens think that you’re their mayor. The plucky secretary won’t take no for an answer, and you very shortly begin life as the mayor of this small town full of animals. You don’t even have a house, but luckily real estate tycoon Tom Nook agrees to build you a house that you can pay off at your leisure. Before the house can be built, you have to live in a tent while you complete your mayoral duties. After that, you can build expansions to your house after you pay off your loan, and you can work your way up to a huge mansion. Along the way, you can decorate the inside of your house with hundreds of different pieces of furniture ranging from the familiar to the exotic.The characters in your town are all different kinds of animals, yet they all act very much like people. It’s often funny to read their dialogue and see just how normal they can be, despite being frogs, rabbits, ducks, alligators, etc. There are so many different possible villagers, and it’s exciting to see someone move in, because you never know what kind of interesting character you’ll get next.GameplayHowever, this much is very similar to past Animal Crossing games. What sets New Leaf apart is your role as the mayor. As such, you can shape the town to your liking, building decorations and much more. You can enact one of four Ordinances (such as the Night Owl ordinance, which allows your shops to stay open later), to shape how you interact with your town. You can also build Public Works Projects, which can range from benches, fountains, and street lamps, to new buildings, and remodeling existing structures. Of course, you’ll mainly be paying for these yourself, and as such you’ll have to collect upwards of 50,000 Bells (the game’s currency) to pay these off. Some projects cost almost 200,000 Bells, and take a while to pay off.To make money in New Leaf, you can sell a variety of things you find around town. You can sell fruit, which is more valuable if it’s not native to your town, fish, which you can catch in the rivers and ocean, bugs, which you catch with a net, and much more. There are loads of ways to make money, and you’ll be spending a lot of time doing so.One of the best ways to make money in New Leaf is by going to the Island, a new feature which opens up in your first week of playing. It costs 1,000 Bells to go to the Island, but once there you can catch all sorts of exotic fish and bugs, as well as find Island-exclusive fruit. You can also go on “tours,” which are fun minigames that let you compete for medals, which you can exchange for exclusive items and furniture. You can also use a feature called “Club Tortimer” to connect to random players via Wi-Fi and play minigames with them. One thing I have to say, though, is that the island is rather over-powered, in that you make way more money from the island than you can in your town, so most players will spend almost their entire time on the island.When you’re not catching expensive beetles, you can visit the many shops on your Main Street. Returning are series-staples, such as the Nook Convenience store (run by Nook’s nephews, Timmy and Tommy) and the Able Sisters tailor shop, where you can purchase new shirts, pants, and headgear to customize your character. As you progress through the game, however, new shops will start to open up, including a garden shop and a shoe store. What I like about all these places is that they take a while to open up. Many won’t even open until a month or so after you’ve played through the game, so it rewards you for sticking with the game, and makes sure you don’t rush through the game in a week and move on to something else. Also, many of the shops expand, so you’ll get lots of improvements to the shops that appear in your town.You can also connect to others via StreetPass, and their house will appear in your Happy Home Association Showcase, where you can go through a copy of their house and order any of the furniture you see there. Also, once a place called the Dream Suite opens up, you can generate a Dream Code, which allows anyone to access a copy of your town in their own game. They can run through the town, cut down your trees, or anything they want, and it’ll reset once they leave. It’s a good way to let anyone see your town without actually opening your gates to them. Of course, you can always do good old-fashioned multiplayer, and have your friends visit your town via local wireless or Wi-Fi. I’ve noticed that the game BSoD’s you a lot less on Wi-Fi than Wild World did (although it does pay to save frequently). One interesting feature is it lets you register “best friends,” and only open your town to your “best friends.” Plus, the game will show you when your best friends are online, and you can send them instant messages via Wi-Fi. It’s not super sophisticated, but it does make it much easier to see who’s online and say “Hey, wanna visit my town?”One problem I had was that there’s no way to know where a villager is going to move in until right before they do so. In previous games, there were signs around town that marked where potential houses could be, however there aren’t any signs in New Leaf, so one day someone could build a house right on top of one of your exotic fruit trees. This can be really annoying, and it really shouldn’t be a thing at all.PresentationAnimal Crossing games have always been relaxing and fun to look at, and New Leaf is no different. The characters are much taller than in past AC games, and it makes a lot more sense. The game also looks really good in 3D, although I can really only play in 3D for a little while before it hurts my eyes. The textures seem a lot different than before. They often look rather shiny, yet a bit fuzzy. It’s really hard to describe, but once you play the game it makes sense. It’s not necessarily a bad thing, just something I’ve noticed.The music is pretty decent, but it doesn’t really stand out, with the exception of one or two songs. I can’t say I like it as much as Wild World music. The nighttime music is especially calming, and I often find myself about to nod off as I play the game.TL;DRAnimal Crossing New Leaf is an adorable game, and it’s an absolute delight to play. It keeps you coming back every day to see all the new things, and keeps you invested long-term in its many projects. The townsfolk are funny and adorable, and you’ll be sad when your favorite villager moves out. Basically, it’s worth all the hype, and if you’re an Animal Crossing fan, you owe it to yourself to get this game. Even if you’re not, you’ll probably fall in love with the game. It’s most definitely the 3DS’s killer app.Pros:- Lots of features- Great pacing- Something to do every day- Expansive customization- Great multiplayer featuresCons:- The Island is a bit unbalanced- No way to tell where villagers will move in- Music is nothing specialFinal Score: 9.5/10

1.3.2014

I think it's time that Animal Crossing: New Leaf really needs a thorough PROS and CONS (more emphasis on the cons) of this game. I want people to be well informed on this.For previous Animal Crossing fans who played previous games: This one is the best out of all of them. On top of improved mechanics, the multiplayer (local and ONLINE) have improved drastically. At some point in time, you can even play with random people online [on a local level or an international level] via the Island with mini-games as an unlockable feature. Those custom patterns can now be APPLIED to walls/flooring, as well as your town's ground as well, making even more interesting designs and pathways.You can upgrade the house exterior into different parts and colors. Also, after unlocking a particular feature, you can use the QR feature to scan your own design to share online, or do the reverse and grab someone's design because it got your attention. Characters can get their hair changed as well as color later on in the game. The upgrades you go through are doubled in size (previously three rooms, now the rooms doubled to six. Four rooms first floor. And one second floor and a basement). Not only you can fish or catch bugs for the competition, but you can also compete in getting the best scoring house. The FIRST character that gets generated in animal crossing becomes the mayor, and has control of how the town develops via town projects. The Second, third, and fourth characters that are made can not decide what projects that can build, but they can chop trees, dig, plant flowers however they like just as the other games. However, if you are sharing a game with someone and they decide to get their own copy of the game. They can transfer their house as-is but would have to start their new town from scratch without the upgrades from the previous town they migrated which makes sense, and not all is lost! That's a huge plus to transfer characters over to a new cartridge (or digital copy if that suits your fancy).But for those who missed out the train on this charming game, let me put it this way: For people who are into collecting, managing your town and room's appearance while interacting with your favorite animals that reside in your village. It's quite a godsend for those people. I would not recommend it to people who want action or a layer of strategy. The point of the game is to enjoy the game in real-time, based on your calender clock. It celebrates all the American holidays (if you get the EU version or the JP version, you'll get different / exclusive holidays there as well as different online items to download for a limited time.)This game is meant to be played over a long period of time. If you are the patient person and don't mind playing this game on a near-daily basis, you'll achieve quite a bit in the game. This can be both a pro and a con and perhaps a deal breaker. There are some people who spend huge bursts within the game, wanting to proceed quickly within the game. Again, this game's time basically runs on your 3DS clock, via real time if you've set up the correct time. Of course, if you have friends to play this game with, the fun only exponentially gets better, more so than most games since you are sharing each other's resources, furniture, and other stores you may have.Despite how charming this game is, this game can be stressful to the core fan or OCD / perfectionist. I must warn all of you with this game if you are picky about what your town will look like, please read this paragraph very carefully. Otherwise, skip this. From the very beginning of the game after answering your name and personality type, you have the option of choosing four towns. If none of the town layouts are to your liking, you might as well restart. Because once you choose the land layout, you can NEVER go back unless you delete everyone in that town. If I were really the mayor, it would be nice to have some feature to change the terrain of your town instead of relying on "If these four towns don't have the layout I like, I'll restart."The other minor complaints (this one is subjective from an Animal Crossing from the GC days such as myself) is that occasionally you'll hear the villagers repeat themselves as you keep talking to them. Eventually, they will get depressed and you have to take a break from talking to them (that limit is a bit generous). But the dialogue to this game's quite lengthy and there may be something that catches your eye on occasion. Blather's dialogue really doesn't change much at all when you get a new collection to your museum. It toggles between three different ones on getting a painting, bug, or fish. That's it, the description can be found in the museum. However, the puns in this game that throws out at you for catching each one's charming.If you especially have a favorite villager you'd like to keep, this game practically encourages you to play the game and check up on it daily to make sure they do not move. Because villagers in this game do move in and move out as well. This results people who 'ragequit' the game from losing their favorite villagers.It's interesting, for a game so charming and casual, it can be very heart wrenching if you get very, very attached to your characters. That's part of the addiction to the game, alongside collecting all the items that tailor to you. However, the main drawback to this game is that this game really takes a lot of time to invest to see it's full potential (within a month or two of having the game, I'm not kidding. Unlocks take real time.) Which works more so towards people who tend to be busy over people who want to spend a lot of spare time with the game.Speaking of the game taking quite some time to get into the better 'unlockable' stores / services in the game. The road to getting there for some people, may feel like a grind. Even if you are well aware of what you need to do. The time game really kills it for some people. However, that gives off an unintended effect as this game was really trying to make a fun, casual building experience of talking to your villagers and making your town/house look nice.I've played since the American launch of the game, easily one of the flagships of the Nintendo 3DS lineup. Sure it got a four-star rating, but let me tell you this: It's easily a 10/10 for those who really want a game they can build and share with friends. It's easily a 10/10 for people who really want a whole new level of Animal Crossing. For anyone else who is completely new to the series, please be mindful about the time frame of the game, and potentially the 'repetitive' nature of taking care of your village on a day-to-day schedule.Though, you know. If the game looks cute and the gameplay catches your eyes, then please pick it up. At the very least, you won't be disappointed unless the negatives made you change your mind. I personally love this game and the friends I play it with. I wanted to give out a second opinion and focus more on the negatives that not so many people may see. I just don't really see enough people raising problems with this game (with those that I know).Otherwise, a fantastic game worth looking into of vast majority of players who own a 3DS, even if you may not be a fan of cute, casual building, collecting, and befriending animals within your grasp.

15.6.2013

Nintendo over the years has made a habit out sticking to a select few franchises and re-launching the titles on their newer consoles. Sometimes Nintendo misses the mark on these games as they're simply not different enough to warrant a re-purchase of what is essentially the same game, but Nintendo has proven time and time again that some of their franchises are simply too irresistible to turn away. If you're wondering if Animal Crossing: New Leaf is new enough to warrant the purchase of the title or even a new console, you're in luck.Animal Crossing: New Leaf sticks to the same formula that has made Animal Crossing as popular as it has been over the past decade or so,but lets in a breathe of fresh air to update the franchise to the standards and capabilities of modern hardware. In the newest edition of the Animal Crossing franchise, you'll find that New Leaf has merely expanded on popular features and gameplay that has gotten the franchise to where it is today. However, they've added even more new features ontop of that, most notably that now your player is the Town's Mayor, and YOU decide what you want built in your town and where.One of the reasons why Animal Crossing has been so popular to so many people is because you can customize your play experience to truly fit whatever type of gamer you are, and you can have your character ingame (and their house!) reflect your own style or personality. The customization options in this game have been greatly expanded with the additions of new addons to your home, objects and buildings to place in your town, new furniture, new carpets and wallpapers, new types of fruits to collect, for the first time in the franchise your character can change what type of pants they can wear, and ontop of that there are numerous new shirts, hats, shoes, and all other kinds of accessories.The game has even introduced a new way to earn bells (the currency for the game), as now your character can get a 'diving suit' to go underwater to grab all sorts of aquatic life that your fishing pole cannot normally pick up. Of course, if you're adjusted to the older ways of collecting bells such as through the fishing pole and net, there have been numerous new fish and bugs added to the game.Unlike in Animal Crossing: Wild World, the game has also reintroduced a variety of new holidays that were not seen in that edition of the game, so there is truly almost a reason to play the game anytime during the week. There are also hundreds of different villagers available in this version of the game, so you can almost expect that any of your friends to have unique villagers different to your own.The game has also introduced a new feature known as 'Ordinances' in which your town will adapt to a new specialization to fit your playstyle! Whether you're an early bird, a night owl, a player that loves having a heavy bag of bells on you at all times, or someone that wants to be more environmentally conscious to avoid weeds from appearing in your town and so that yours flowers are better taken care of. The game offers you four distinctly different ordinances to better suit your playstyle. If you pick the early bird ordinance, your stores and villagers will be open earlier and out earlier to chat with you. The night owl is the exact opposite as stores will close later and your villagers will stay out later as well. The ordinances add a new level of depth to any player of the game.For parents that are worried about interactions that their children may have while playing the game, the game supports the 3DS parental controls to ensure that no offensive content may be shown to younger players of the game. Also, at anytime if one of the villagers begins to say bad words due to a catchphrase given to them by another player, you can visit the ingame Town Hall to have that villager 'reset' and avoid from saying such things in the future. That being said, the game does offer online connectivity so that players can play with their friends over the internet, but if you're not far away it still supports local connections between 3DS's.I wish I could cover all of the new things that this game has brought and has done for the franchise, but then this review would never end. If you've ever been an Animal Crossing fan before, or have been looking for the right time to join this franchise, you'll never find a better opportunity than New Leaf.

22.6.2013

The only other Animal Crossing game I enjoyed, was Animal Crossing for the GameCube. After that game, Animal Crossing just kind of fell off my radar. I read about the other titles, but none of them sounded like anything I would enjoy. Animal Crossing: New Leaf, however, is a game I've been looking forward to since the 3DS first came out!After hardly being able to put the game down for days now, I think I'm finally ready to review (my 3DS is actually in need of a charge anyway :P).In short, you are the Mayor of the town in AC: New Leaf. With that title, comes the same old responsibilities had in old AC games (making deliveries, pulling weeds, filling up the town museum, etc.), plus some new ones.Once you break in your mayoral shoes, you can enact ordinances and start construction projects. Ordinances can change town attitudes. For instance, as a night owl, I enacted a night-life ordinance so my stores stay open later. I also built a bridge over a part of the river in my town so I didn't have to keep running all the way around. Oops. Did you maybe find a better spot for that bridge you just built? No problem. Just demolish it and build it again in its new spot.Those things are just the tip of the iceberg of what's new in AC: New Leaf. Now, let me talk about what I really love about the game.The connectivity!My girlfriend also owns a 3DS, so she picked up her own copy of AC: New Leaf. Not only can we visit each others towns locally, but we can also play mini-games together (accessible after a certain point in AC: New Leaf), visit each others stores, send mail/gifts, donate to each others construction projects -- and you can even bring an NPC resident of your town to visit a friend's town! Plus, what's even more fun, is you can open your ticket gate to online friends, and then put your 3DS to sleep in its charging cradle while your friends come and go without any fear of your 3DS running out of battery life. In fact, I leave my ticket gate open when I go to work. I never know what kind of gifts, bulletin board messages, mail, I'm going to come home to. It's exciting and fun.Another cool feature is the ability to snap photos by holding L and R. These photos can then be shared on facebook/twitter/tumblr via 3DS Image Share. I won't post a link, but just Google "3DS image share" to find out how you can share your photos right from your 3DS. Don't worry, it's a Nintendo made tool, so you have nothing to worry about. Just look it up :)The game is a blast and accomplishes it all without sex, violence, language, drugs, and competitive natures. Don't get me wrong, I like M rated games just as much as the next adult gamer, but it's nice to play a game that has such charm and is absolutely addicting without any of the staples present in most modern day entertainment.A must-have if you own a Nintendo 3DS. Five stars!

21.1.2015

Thoroughly enjoyed this purchase. The only legit catch is the game essentially NEVER ends and essentially can take years to complete specific things in-game (item collecting, catalog completing, museum completion, etc. [to collect every single item WITHOUT time traveling /changing time/date on your 3DS system/ or getting any assistance from other person who plays the game can take roughly 12 years as you have a year-end item based on the zodiac signs]). I for one am still trying to complete the museum after 2 years (I just need two pieces of art to finish the entire museum). Game really is a joy when playing with others who have the game and really comes in handy for those specific items that you just can't seem to get your hands on.Then there are badges to make gameplay last even longer... I'm still widdling away at the 'bank 100,000,000 bells' medal :UI don't recommend if you don't at least play the game a couple hours a day to keep relations with your villagers (if you're one who likes to collect the items that prove your friendship among the huge villager list [items known as 'animal pictures']- my usual routine is find the daily 4 fossils and 3 gyroids if it rained/snowed in-game the previous day and find the money rock or on occasion gem rock and the fake rock, shake all the trees around town to get another 2,000 bells and catch the 5 bees from said trees, water all the flowers around town, and lastly talk to everyone around town at least once). If you're one to collect things, this is a great addition to the Animal Crossing franchise (first player you make takes the responsibility of mayor of the town [make initial villagers happy by building public works projects or generally build your town to a perfect condition and/or if you're familiar with the franchise find your ideal villagers as there are over 300 villagers], and every other player you make [up to 4 total including the initial mayor player] is essentially like playing the other Animal Crossing games [though I've only played City Folk on the Wii]).The only thing I can honestly think of that I don't like about the game is that storage items can hold up to 180 items but every storage item placed will contain the very same 180 items. I can understand why it is implemented this way but it is very bothersome if you're one to try to collect everything... especially the animal pictures. I guess if you are one who collects all the animal pictures, I'd probably guess the best remedy for that is use the museum rooms though that can only hold 256 out of the 333 animal pictures.Rating 5/5 because the game is a great, relaxing game and you can literally take as long as you want to play. Gives you something to do to pass time that is honestly quite relaxing over most other games.

6.8.2013

I am a huge Animal Crossing fan. I have 4 Wild World games and have completed 2 and started over. I have City Folk on the wii too. When this came I I wanted it so bad but I have the DS lite and it is for the 3DS. I finally could stand it no more and bought the 3DS just to play this game so glad I did the bigger screen is so much better. I cannot do the 3D as it makes me sick so glad you can turn it all the way off.I have been playing 10 days now and I am so addicted. I am 57 not a kid and I play 2 to 3 times a day. There are so many new things and almost all of the old things but better. I love how the animals actually do things they shop and go to the museum and fish shake trees.

16.6.2013

As someone who has played every Animal Crossing game since the Gamecube, I went into this one with a little hesitation. How much could possibly change? My typical Animal Crossing play cycle is short, about a month or so, where I play for a bit every day but eventually peter out. Only time will tell if that will happen again, but until then, I'm enjoying the ride.Animal Crossing has always been a leisure walk. Wake up, shake some trees, dig up some fossils, chat with the townsfolk. Now I've added "buy a fortune cookie" to this list. Each fortune, which cost 2 play coins (encouraging people to carry their 3DS around and hopefully snag a StreetPass or two), is really funny and often Nintendo related.

10.6.2013

I was a huge Animal Crossing fan on the GameCube back in high school. So much so that I would wake up two to three hours early some days so I could play some before I had to catch the bus. I don't know what it was exactly that sold me so hard, but when I think of my most fond gaming memories from back then, Animal Crossing is top of the list. My siblings and I used to FIGHT over who's turn it was to play.There have been several times were I went back, picked up my old copy, and tried to play again. Only to end up doing the turnip cheat, or time shifting like crazy and just pretty much picking weeds for the majority of my play time. I often found myself saying "what was it I loved so much after all?" and it was never quite the same.

6.7.2013

I have been a fan of Animal Crossing since the release of Wild World. I still play it! But I will admit I was apprehensive about playing New Leaf. Would it live up to all my expectations? Or would I get bored and feel like I wasted my money on a rehashing of Wild World?Thankfully, New Leaf has enough unique qualities that I am totally in love!To begin with, the graphics are gorgeous on the 3DS. I don't play in 3D very often because I find it strains my eyes. But even in 2D this game is beautiful!And I am the Mayor. When you spend your day at a boring, stressful job, it is nice to relax and have all your neighbors come up and tell you how wonderful you are and thank you for making their town so nice (yep,

3.7.2015

Animal Crossing: New Leaf is my first purchase in the Animal Crossing series. It's a game about patience and relationships. And when I say patience, I mean it. This game is on a whole other level. There is a set of items that you would take 12 years in real time to get, based on the zodiac creatures that you get every New Year. And when I say relationships, I mean that as well. Your relationships with other villagers affect everything from their dialog, how much they speak to you, and even if they leave town, never to be seen again. They also can give you unique items or gift expensive items to you, or allow more landmarks and stores to be built in town. For these reasons,

7.9.2013

Those new to the Animal Crossing series are in for a treat! This is a game which has few outright goals. There is no princess to save, no relic to obtain. Animal Crossing has no traditional villains but you play the Hero of your own small town... ok... maybe you're the Mayor.Animal Crossing has you play yourself as the Mayor of a small town, but you're not there for the paperwork! Instead, Animal Crossing: New Leaf offers adorable animal creatures who mosey along and offer a social setting. There is a residential section where you plant trees, flowers, and bushes, layout new buildings the animals request, catch bugs and fish, and participate in seasonal events such as fireworks displays,

9.4.2016

So most people would probably never do this or go as far as I did to enjoy this game...I bought this game like 4x thankfully after the 2nd time this game got cheaper, which is great! The third time I bought this for a friend as a gift because he played mine first and liked it. Then I upgraded to the New3DSXL this is where things started to go to hell for my wallet. So first I owned it physically because there were no digital versions of 3DS titles when this game launched I enjoyed this game for a very long time. I had almost every item unlocked. Almost every time... I had a FREAKIN' CASTLE! I had the cafe in my town! I had EVERYTHING!Then I felt a burning desire to digital after the age of digital gaming was born on the Nintendo 3DS.

11.1.2014

I had very high expectation about this game as such praise was given it. In some ways it has liven up to this praise. Are still some elements of the first Animal Crossing game that I prefer to all others. To be sure, you can do a lot more on this game. I have been playing daily for two months and only feel as if I have scratched the surface of what I can do. Yet I can still fire up my old Animal Crossing GC disc and feel a little cozier than I can in New Leaf. A lot of this extra stuff is very fun too, thus fitting in with this series’ theme of chores made fun. On a daily basis there is a tremendous amount to do. And customization is through the roof, more than I could care for in some areas.

26.9.2013

The game is great abeit considerably simplistic, eventually you will reach a point where all you can do is catch bugs, go diving, or fish after you finish shaking tree's, breaking 2 rocks, and collecting a few fossils per day. Sure you have weekly events but they are WEEKLY lol.I don't mean to judge the game too harshly as it does look good and plays very well, there is plenty to collect and customize but there isn't much meat on the bone when it comes to fun factor. I find myself playing it maybe 1-2 hours per day/every other day just due to running out of stuff to do, buying the daily shop items might take 5-10 minutes but then all you do is collect stuff to sell/hoard for the rest of the

23.7.2013

I have never played an Animal Crossing game before because I'm not that huge into super casual / simulation games but I decided to give this game a whirl because nearly everyone I knew with a 3DS was buying this game and I needed to know what all the fuss was about!I have to say this game is the ultimate time killer! You play as the mayor of a town and you must raise money by doing various activities such as catching bugs, fish, crops and selling them, then you have to decide what to spend your money on and being mayor puts you in the position to spend money you earned toward yourself by buying clothes, furniture, expanding your house or toward expanding your town by building fountains, lights,

Animal Crossing: New Leaf (3DS) - Reviews

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