Animal Crossing is one of of Nintendo’s biggest franchises and when the 3DS version came out, many stores were sold out.  As someone who had never played an Animal Crossing game, I decided that the 3DS version would be a great place to start because there was major hype!  I went to my local EB Games to pick it up, soon to discover that they had sold out immediately, so I ended up purchasing it at Walmart.

When I first played the game, I remember being really intrigued about being the mayor of my own town.  I hadn’t played a simulation game in a long while and figured this would be a great way to get back into them.  At first, I thought this game was incredibly fun.  I had my own town, all the citizens were excited to have me as their mayor, and most of all, the Streetpass feature was the most exciting.  I couldn’t wait each day to carry my 3DS with me in the hopes that other people would have their 3DS with them so that I could get access to their houses and get new furniture for my house!  Well this may seem boring and dull (and it is), for about a month, it was the only thing I could think about.  When this came out I was still working at the mall and so many people had their 3DS with them and were playing Animal Crossing: New Leaf as well.  Every time I went to the mall, I would walk past certain places I knew people with 3DS’s would be, and then I could not WAIT to see what kind of houses I had access to.  At the time, about three of my other co-workers were also playing it, and so each shift we couldn’t wait to discuss our town, our houses, and who had the better furniture to go inside them.    I was truly addicted.  I collected fruit all day long to gain money from the recycle shop to buy more and more furniture.  I collected bugs, went to the special island you can go to, and literally spent hours just wasting my time with this game.

One day, no one cared anymore.  The fun of this game was that so many people around me were playing it…but then all of a sudden the charm wore off and we all realized that this game was infinite and not going to go anywhere.  There was never any satisfaction of beating a boss, getting to a new town, getting a high score, etc.  Not to be a Negative Nancy, but this game became a complete waste of my time.  I haven’t touched it since the fall of last year and I really just don’t care anymore.  That’s the problem with these simulation games, after awhile you think to yourself, “What’s the point?”  There isn’t a gripping story for me to get myself lost in, the soundtrack wasn’t anything to get yourself worked up over, and the gameplay is just honestly ‘meh’.  The online feature of minigames on the island was fun, but nothing spectacular.

Many people really loved this game and still play it even after a year of it being released.  Some people wanted to have the best houses, or just play it as a time waster.  I, on the other hand, have so many games I want to play, that this was not the best use of my time, especially because I am not just playing games, but I am also trying to binge watch certain shows (currently, Sailor Moon, lol), so Animal Crossing: New Leaf became a huge snore.  When I went to the mall with my AC:NL cartridge and my streetpasses were from other games, I knew people were done with this game.  I like games that have a beginning and an end; a goal that I can achieve.  Animal Crossing: New Leaf did not provide that for me, but honestly, that’s okay, I mean, it’s not like I didn’t really know that going in.  After playing this game I have realized that these types of games are really not my thing, but lots of people LOVE them.  If you love collecting items and playing simulation games, then you may really like this game; it’s just not for me.