On June 14th Animal Crossing: New Leaf will be
released for the 3DS. Chances are that if you’re reading this you’re already
well aware of what the Animal Crossing series entails. But the perfectionist
(or perhaps completest, but neither feels like the right word) in me feels
there should be an explanation here. So here goes…
In a nutshell the Animal Crossing series sees you create
an on-screen version of yourself and move into a small town of anthropomorphic
animals. There’s no right or wrong way to play the game and no definitive
mission statement, although paying off your mortgage and cultivating
friendships with the animal-headed townsfolk are pretty important aspects of
playing. There’s also a museum to be stocked with fish, insects, fossils (which
are surprisingly abundant), and artwork.
Time progresses in synchronization with real life, so if
you play at night it’s night in the game and when you play in December there’s
snow on the ground and fairy lights on some of the trees. There are even
(slightly rejigged) holidays present in all but the DS version, as well as
monthly contests and made-up holidays.
To the uninitiated it can sound dull. In truth it’s
difficult to sum up exactly what the series’ appeal is. But there is one.
I’ve played every game in the series so far. I was so
desperate to play the Gamecube version that I bought a Freeloader disc and a US
copy so that I could play it without having to wait for the UK release. I can’t
recall how much that cost me no. I assume it was a lot.
I loved the game and played it solidly for nearly a year
before becoming bored. It was caused by a combination of my favourite villager
(Limberg) finally moving away, paying off my final mortgage, filling the
museum, and experiencing every in-game holiday I was interested. There was nothing
left to do. I’d seen and done everything I wanted to.
Animal Crossing: Wild World for the DS rolled around a
while later and I bought a US version of that too. I played solidly but not for
the year of the original. I didn’t enjoy it as much. The reality-inspired hols
of the original game were replaced by a line-up of uninspired fictional ones. I
still earned myself a swanky mansion but I didn’t enjoy the experience as much.
I missed the train tracks too.
I played City Folk but there wasn’t enough new content
included to keep me interested. I don’t remember how far I got but I remember
thinking it was the most unimpressive game in the series. There was particularly
exciting going on and there were once again no train tracks anywhere in town.
Thankfully New Leaf looks to have righted all the wrongs
of City Folk (with the exception of getting rid of the irritating grass depletion
dynamic that sees grass dying the more you walk on it). A swarm of new
characters have been revealed, the trains are back, and you’re now able to
customise the town as a whole rather than just the innards of your house. From
what I’ve seen there’s plenty on offer to keep people playing long after
getting that large mansion. It looks like the series finally realising its
massive potential.
The purpose of this blog is to provide an account of my
experiences with the game. I thought it would make an interesting experiment.
There’s not going to be any faux first person narrative here: I’m not going to
pretend that I’ve actually moved into the town. That seems to be a popular
approach from what I’ve seen but I don’t care for it and I don’t think I could
keep it up either. I’d end up slipping. This will be my experience as a player,
providing thoughts on everything the game comes up with.
So… bring on day one.
