Animal Crossing: New Leaf is a simulation game released exclusively for the Nintendo 3DS, and forms part of the Animal Crossing series of games. As New Leaf lacks a proper story, there is no requirement to have played previous games, and new players can jump right in to enjoy it. Upon booting up the game, you find yourself on a train and meet up with a stranger, who asks for your name and the name of the town you are heading to. You get to pick those two names and customizability is highlighted here. As you progress through the game, you will be able to pick and choose your own clothing: shirts, pants and shoes.
As you arrive to your city, you can choose the layout of your village, and you'll find yourself the major if said village. You are introduced to the residents, and also your helpful assistant, who will slowly introduce the game's mechanics to you. Then begins New Leaf proper and you'll find out one thing: the game forces you to wait to unlock items. In this aspect, it is like a mobile game in that things are unlocked slowly, and unfortunately, not really a way to speed things up without changing the 3DS's internal clock. Want to build a project? Wait a day before completion. Just finished the qualifications to start being a mayor? Wait a day before you can officially start.
That being said, New Leaf unlocks or promises to unlock, just enough items each day to keep you hooked and coming back. It is best to play this game in short sessions though, perhaps an hour or two each time. New Leaf relies heavily upon the 3DS's internal clock as it runs the game in real time. Haven't played the game in a week? You'll find weeds overgrown around the village and villagers potentially angry at you. It expects you to put in some time every day. Perhaps the most annoying feature is that if you don't have much time to play except late at night or early in the morning, you'll find that shops will be closed when you play.
The issue of the game's clock can be solved easily later on with the introduction of ordinances to force shops to open earlier or later, or you can change the 3DS's clock to be a few hours ahead or later. That means there is also a day/night cycle, and depending on the day, you'll have different seasons too, which affects not only the landscape but the type of things you can obtain. The main objective of New Leaf boils down to one thing: bells, which is the currency of the world. Everything you do has the sole purpose of earning bells, in order to do other things.
As the mayor, you can enact ordinances to force villagers to operate a certain way, such as making everything more expensive (including higher sell prices when you sell your items) or all shops close three hours later. You also decide which new building projects to pursue, from building a fountain to signs and parks. However, these all cost bells, and they do not come cheap. You get donations from villagers which usually amount to around 10% of the total cost but the player has to fund most of it. With a bit of pre-planning, you'll be able to create your own stunning unique town. It's cool that no two players will have the same style of town as each other.
To earn more bells, there are a few things that the player can do. You can grab a fishing rod and start fishing on the beach or in the river. There are a huge variety of fish to catch, and you can start filling up your encyclopedia which records which fish and the record size of your catch. Fish changes with the season so expect to catch something different if you play the game long enough. You can dig for items, which usually brings up fossils. After playing the game long enough, you can perform some gardening activities such as planting trees and breeding flowers. You can pick fruit to eat, give away or sell.
You will eventually get a wetsuit which allows you to dive in deep water, finding sea creatures such as abalone and sea cucumbers. Lastly, you buy a net to catch insects around your village, including centipedes, beetles and bugs. All these are season and time dependent. There are a bunch of shops in the game, you can either buy items or sell your items to earn bells. They can be upgraded with enough purchases. You can also donate any fish, insects and fossils to the museum for display, including pieces of artwork that can be purchased once per week. Play long enough and you'll unlock the ability to travel to an island where it is always summer.
On the island, you will find more insects, fishes, fruit and sea creatures than the variety found in your village. There are a bunch of "tours", which are effectively minigames/challenges. They use the same game mechanics though, so it's nothing new. They are usually sessions where it gives you a time limit to catch as many fish or insects as you can, which gives you medals to purchase exclusive items. The other big feature of New Leaf is the customizability of your own house. You initially live in a tent, which eventually turns into a house and can further expand. Of course, this all costs bells.
Within the house, you can organize furniture, which you can purchase or obtain from NPCs. Throughout your job as a mayor, you will encounter fellow villagers who require your help such as delivering letters, or finding a specific item. Keep them happy and they'll stay in your village, allowing it to grow its population. On paper, New Leaf sounds like it has a lot to do and you will find that it is easy to lose track of time. Play long enough and you'll realize that you're only repeating the same activities day after day and it'll start to lose its appeal. There isn't a really sense of progression apart from seeing your village grow and change.
New Leaf isn't a game for everyone since the progression is slow and staggered, and is very passive. It is a relaxing game. New Leaf surprisingly has a number of online features, the most significant of which is the ability to visit other people's towns or upload your own for people to check out (but unable to wreck havoc upon it). All the other villagers are animals who speak gibberish, you'll be doing mostly reading here. The graphics are nice, and the design of characters are super cute. Overall, Animal Crossing: New Leaf is a nice game but depending on the sort of player you are, it may lose its appeal very quickly. The game is slow paced, and takes a long while to unlock things to do. Give it a shot though, you might just find yourself addicted and before you know it, you've spent 90 hours on this game.
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