Review: Animal Crossing New Leaf (3DS)

I'm just coming off of a terrible headache today (time change side effect? Or just the ticking timebomb of migraines in the family, I don't know), so please excuse if this isn't the most coherent. I can't sleep more at this point, so better to be trying to do something.

So, Animal Crossing: New Leaf. I've finally taken this game out of my 3DS after 80+ hours of gameplay, which is sort of ridiculous, but it's a game that doesn't really "finish". Even so, I haven't actually unlocked everything, and I'll probably pick it up a couple times a month to catch seasonal bugs & fish.

I think I've jumped too far ahead. Animal Crossing: New Leaf is a kids town-builder game, where you're the mayor of a town of anthropomorphic animals. You earn money ("bells") for selling various things, you can collect furniture, insects, fish, fossils and clothing, and you make friends with the townsfolk by doing favours that they ask of you - simple things, like getting them something they want (fruit, a bug, whatever) or visiting their houses. For a price, you can buy new things, upgrade your house and build new buildings for the town.

It's... a little inane, and tends to re-explain things, but it's cute and calm to play. I found it hit me the same way dailies in MMOs do - because there were certain things I could do once per day only, I would pull out my 3DS for about a half hour a day just to make sure I did them. As it went on, I started running out of those things, which is why I finally put it down (well, that and the fact that I have other 3DS games I want to play). I gather there's multiplayer and such, but that's outside of my interest in a game like this. I was happy to idle around prettifying my town, helping ridiculous animals (Olaf is the best, FYI), and just generally being goofy.

So: quite enjoyable, but maybe a bit too much of a pull for a collector-type like myself. Even though I wanted to play other games, I would end up thinking "oh, AC is in there, I'll just dig up the fossils for today..." and then never get to it. It also makes you feel kinda guilty when you don't play every day, so keep that in mind if that's likely to bother you.