Animal Crossing Turns Over a New Leaf

OK. As much as I’ve been trying to get a lot done here, I have had one distraction lately. I haven’t gotten anything for my Nintendo 3DS in a while but when I heard the local gaymer group that a new Animal Crossing game was coming out, I decided I had to have it. There a few twists this time around. Obviously, there’s the 3D effects on it but I found it easier to play with that turned off and I’m not the only one. (This is the first actual 3D game I’ve played and if they all end up as fragmented looking, I think I’ll be leaving the 3D off.)

This time you’re the mayor. Yes, you get off the the train and mistaken identity leaves you as the mayor. Being the mayor, you obviously can’t work at the store to get yourself a house so they start you off with a tent to live in and you have to work to get the money gathering fruit and shells and (once you have the money to get them) fish an catch bugs. Being mayor isn’t just a title. You actually get to do stuff. Through Isabelle, the clerk in your office, you can get leads on things early on if you don’t know what you’re doing. Later on, once you have a good enough satisfaction level from the citizens of your city, you can construct things or set-up city-wide ordinances. The problem with the constructions is that they need to be paid for. I picked a second bridge and that costs 128,000 bells. Citizens will donate towards it but they do so very slowly. I’m less than 10% after a week and I’ve put a majority of the money into it. I’ve mostly been trying to pay off my house but it may come down to which I want more.

Some of the old side characters come back. The museum and it’s night own curator are there collecting fish, bugs, fossils, and paintings. (Sadly, his response to everything is that it reminds him of being a kid with no customized description.) Gulliver ends up passed out on the beach from time to time. Sahara comes walking through the city but this time, instead of trading carpets, she sells you both a carpet and wallpaper. (No sign of our fish loving friend this time around.) The post office is staffed as it was before and Pete is around even more than before. We even see Kaptain down at the dock to take you to the island and he still sings a stupid song that you can’t break out of. (Talk about a waste of time!) Tom Nook and his kids return as well but the roles they play are a little different, which brings us to the next topic…

Though keeping everything the same wouldn’t make for a good sale. There are a lot of new things beyond being the mayor. Tom Nook deals with your housing needs before but he no longer runs the store. He’s passed that on to Timmy and Tommy while he runs a storefront just for house related stuff. You can order expansions, buy new house fronts, doors, mailboxes, roofs, and fences. Eventually, you can even buy a whole new style house exterior. There’s even an area where you can view other people’s houses and order stuff that they have. The main store doesn’t sell plant stuff any more. Instead, there is another store that sells just that. That’s not the only new store. On top of letting you design new patterns, the sisters now sell a number of head based accessories. The island that Kaptain takes you to is small but there’s a lot to it. You can get bananas and other fruit to take back. You can catch fish and bugs as well as dive for other sea stuff underwater. There are also things you can buy on the island but you can’t buy them with bells. You have to spend medals on the island. You get those from mini-games that are fun by Tortimer. There’s all kinds of games to play and while playing, you can catch bugs and fish as well as gather fruit to take back with you. There’s also a storage container that allows you to take a whole ton of stuff back to the mainland. While you can still smack a rock once a day to get as many extra bells as you can, there’s also another rock you can break to get a crystal you can sell for money. Also, you have to wait for K.K. Slider. He’s not automatically sitting outside each Saturday night to give you music. It’s not until later in the game when someone shows up to open a club where he will play. (I’ve gotten approval to open the club and am waiting for it to do so so I can’t speak on what it’s like.)

Overall, it’s a fun game. I haven’t gotten to travel to anyone else’s cities yet so I can’t speak on what goes on there. I’m looking forward to that but I’ve been having a lot of fun with what I can do in my area. I’d recommend checking it out. It gets addicting though and you want to hop in each day so you don’t miss things, get cockroaches, or accumulate too many weeks. I’m sure I’ll be playing this for quite a while though.