I could construct an elaborate pun here about turning, and a new leaf, and all that jazz...
and frankly, after playing Animal Crossing: New Leaf, it'd seem completely appropriate,
because MAN does this game love its bad comedy.
It's tame, it's harmless, but it's so honestly stupid that you almost have to laugh out of
pity.
After all, you're an adult, and there's no way you'd be so impressed by a cute village
full of various anthropomorphic animals wandering around, fishing and imploring you for pondskaters
or sending you on other quests, right?
You've got things to shoot, or flags to capture, or... oh, who the hell am I kidding.
You get to run your own town full of animal people, customizing every minute detail like
the tune that plays on the bells each hour and even the municipality's flag!
(And yes, I know, I should've gone for San d'Oria instead of Jeuno, but do you have any
idea how tough it is to find an anthropomorphic ring-tailed lemur who can play bagpipes with
any degree of skill?
I didn't think so.)
Much like the Animal Crossing titles before it, your goal is... well, is to enjoy this
village to the fullest.
What that means is entirely up to you.
You're the mayor, after all, whether you like it or not, and who's gonna tell you otherwise?
You wanna build yourself a mansion by playing directly into that maniac Tom Nook's wallet?
You go right ahead.
You wanna hoard loads of sweet Nintendo swag, and occasionally kick the heroism up a notch
by dressing like Link or Samus or whomever?
You go right ahead, but be prepared to do some walking because all the best swag comes
from the fortune cookies you buy with play coins.
(You remember those, don't you?
Or did you blow them all playing Find Mii?)
You wanna sit at home all day, pounding down smoothies and watching sentai shows?
You sound like some friends of mine.
You wanna create and trade your own designs for hotel-enfuriating cosplay?
You go right ahead.
The world... or, well, these few acres of your jurisdiction... is your burrito.
Just make sure your residents don't have fleas.
The timeless hallmarks of the Animal Crossing series return, including (but not limited
to): a musical venue where you can enjoy bad comedy from a showbiz-washout axolotl by day
and our old friend K.K.
Slider gettin' his Rob Gordon on at night; a museum for the diligent detailing of every
available bug, fish, fossil, and priceless work of art; a tropical island where you can
go online to compete with other tourists for medals, which can then be redeemed for SWEET
HAWAIIAN SHIRTS; and of course, the dream of completing the entire catalog of items,
thus quote-unquote "Winning the game."
If there can be any such thing.
It's a social game; there is no winner or loser, just those who are adept at city planning
and those who obviously need to have a subordinate shouting "YOU WILL REGRET THIS!"
at intervals.
It'd be ridiculous to say that the 3DS lends a sense of depth to the town, because... well,
yeah.
But I was really blown away by the visual presentation, and in particular the quality
of the various villagers.
Which kinda feels off compared to the rather low-res designs of their clothes, if only
because those textures have to be more universal than a single character model.
The music, as well, really sets the tone of the game.
You're not here to complete a goal, you're here to take a vacation from the jerk who
cut you off on 28 and the jackhammering that's been going on outside your window and corrupt
politicians who wouldn't stop down and deliver a package to a guy on the other side of town
for a million bells.
You can be better than that.
You can be the leader this town deserves.
Animal Crossing: New Leaf, like the majority of Animal Crossings before it, can be made
or broken by the support any given player gets from the players around them.
More than a "game," it's a social platform where you can invite your friends over, trade
your rare swag for their rare swag (seriously, I've got like three Green Shells thus far,
please take one), take group photos, and pass them around via swapnote.
Or, just pass by them with Streetpass, and their home becomes showcased just north of
your town, where you can critique their interior decoration and/or covet their goods and/or
mail-order said goods.
It's tough to find a bad word to say about Animal Crossing, because it's so patently
not a "game."
It's more like an "Absurd fun platform."
For some people, that's not enough.
But for some people like me, that's exactly what I need sometimes.
An absurd fun platform.
With penguin-people, cha.