ACNL Review

Animal Crossing: New Leaf (ACNL) is so different to real life, but at the same time, so similar! Firstly, you always have some idea about what’s going to happen! This may make the game sound boring, but after the constant changes of daily life, and the pressure to keep up with what’s going on in the world, Animal Crossing has a comforting routine, with several new features being introduced over time to keep things fresh and interesting.

What is Animal Crossing: New Leaf, and how is it related to previous Animal Crossing games?
Animal Crossing: New Leaf (Animal Crossing: Jump Out) is a video game exclusively for the Nintendo 3DS and 2DS. It is the seventh Animal Crossing related game. As well as games, there are books, guides, toys, CD’s and even a movie, ‘Dobutsu no mori’ (the Animal Crossing movie) relating to the series. ‘Dobutsu no mori’ is a Japanese cartoon about a girl called Ai who moves to Animal Village and has many adventures with the animals living there. It is based on the fifth edition of Animal Crossing.

What happens in the game?
ACNL is a life simulation based video game, where the player becomes Mayor of a rural village. All of the residents of your village are animals. When you first open the game, you arrive into your town on a train, after deciding the name of your town and answering a few questions about why you are moving to a new town. As you exit the station, you will find some of your villagers waiting. They can be deer’s, hamsters, horses, rabbits, mice, and other animals. These animals have different personalities and dialogue, and they all have witty humour that will guarantee to have you laughing! They will mistake you for the new Mayor, and you will take part in a tree planting ceremony to make you Mayor.
Collect fruit, fish, bugs, flowers, ore, fossils and gyroids to sell at ‘Re-Tail’ (an in game shop) and make ‘Bells’ (in game money). You can use the ‘Bells’ you make to buy furniture for your house, ‘Public Works Projects’ for your town, and ‘Ordinances’ to adapt to the way you play. ‘Public Works Projects’ decorate your town, and can be interactive (examples of ‘Projects’ are lampposts, which attract moths, and benches, which you and your animal residents can sit on). ‘Ordinances’ can change the game to your routine, such as shops opening earlier or later, or flowers not having to be watered.
Your town now has its very own shopping district, ‘Main Street’. Over time your shops will grow and as you play more and more your ‘Main Street’ will evolve as more shops and features are added. You can also visit the ‘island’ via a boat, controlled by ‘Kapp’n’ the turtle who sings sea shanties to you on your way. At the island you can fish, catch bugs, collect fruit and play mini games, known as ‘tours’. The more ‘tours’ you play, the more ‘medals’ you earn, and you can buy exclusive furniture and clothing to take back to your town.
You can also play online with others, by visiting the island with Wi-Fi, and by visiting each other’s towns. You can also ‘dream’ about each other’s towns, meaning you can visit without actually meeting the Mayor. You can pick all their fruit, destroy all their flowers, and everything will be forgotten when you ‘wake up’ and return to your town.
Why do I enjoy playing Animal Crossing?
Animal Crossing: New Leaf, even though it is a life simulation game, is a lot different to real life. You can guarantee your villagers will always be pleasant (apart from if you hit them with your bug net), your town will always look beautiful (just remember to pick the weeds!), and if you fancy a change from your town, you can always visit someone else’s or dream about someone’s town.
Your villagers will always be happy to give you tasks, such as getting signatures for random petitions such as ‘the competitive nom-nom club’, and delivering packages to your residents. You can pick fruit to your heart’s content (and eat it) and even receive cute letters from your villagers and friends, with presents! There’s always something new to discover, such as festivals at Christmas, Thanksgiving, Easter, April Fools Day, your birthday and even summer fireworks!
Keep up with your own progress and other peoples by starting and reading blogs! Share pictures online through Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, and unique Animal Crossing forums such as the Animal Crossing Community (ACC) and The Bell Tree Forums (TBT). Most players are friendly and your friend list will quickly fill as you play and trade with more and more people!


I like the sound of the game, what do I need to do to take it up?
All you need to take up the game is a 2DS, 3DS or 3DS xl, and a copy of Animal Crossing: New Leaf. If you find buying the new game too costly, approximately £120 for the 2DS and game (cheapest), try an older version such as Animal Crossing: Wild World for the DS, Animal Crossing: Population Growing for the GameCube and Wii, or Animal Crossing: City Folk (Animal Crossing: Let’s Go to the City) for the Wii and Wii Mini. You can play on your own, without Wi-Fi, or if you like to, switch on the Wi-Fi and play with your friends (exclusive to Wild World, City Folk and New Leaf). You may even make some new friends!

Overall, I love Animal Crossing: New Leaf because it is so relaxing (apart from when you can’t catch that rare coelacanth or find your last fossil!), and reminds me of the simple pleasure of just playing, not trying to delete the evil boss on level four, because there is no bosses to defeat!
Just enjoy the simple life of Animal Crossing!

Beth ♥