lemonzotz
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I have a lot of mixed feelings about this game.
For context, this is one of my favorite game series. I started with Wild World as one of the first games I ever played on my 3DS I got around age eleven. I played almost every day, getting to around 200 hours. I picked up New Leaf a couple years later, sinking in another 70.
This game came out at a perfect time. I have a lot of really specific, wonderful memories with it. It mirrored a lot of my childhood-- stuck in a room, playing Animal Crossing. But at the same time, I couldn't help but feel that the game didn't live up to its predecessors. I even returned to previous titles while initially playing to confirm my suspicions. And they weren't just based on simple childhood nostalgia. At launch, the game missed many fundamental pieces of what made Animal Crossing wonderful.
Luckily, they did release a steady stream of updates and content that made up for it. Still, I felt the game could be much more than it already is. Some small things showed up-- How you can't have your fossils assessed and donated in the same turn. How the gyroids were remade and softened, losing their charm. How the terraforming felt clunky and slow. I could go on and on about the small things that made my experience feel just slightly off, but even all that would just take me down half a star from a perfect score.
My main complaint is the villagers, and how they were rewritten. It truly, deeply bothers me that every villager you meet immediately loves you. I love this series because of how isolating it initially felt. The creator even talked about how he made this game based off of his experience moving to a new town. You don't get that feeling in New Horizons. Every villager is kind, upbeat, friendly, and the most dialogue you get that's even slightly rude is when you intentionally push them or hit them with a net. That, and the dialogue is incredibly repetitive. For an Animal Crossing game, this is what I find the most egregious. The whole point is to interact with and grow closer to the town around you.
It would be a fine game on its own. It's fun to fish, collect bugs, and design your island. But it's not-- It's part of a greater series that it fails to live up to.
I still enjoy it, and find myself coming back to it every so often to start an island anew. I say all of this as someone who currently has about a thousand hours logged in the game. I'm still forever heartbroken about how this game could've been better.
For context, this is one of my favorite game series. I started with Wild World as one of the first games I ever played on my 3DS I got around age eleven. I played almost every day, getting to around 200 hours. I picked up New Leaf a couple years later, sinking in another 70.
This game came out at a perfect time. I have a lot of really specific, wonderful memories with it. It mirrored a lot of my childhood-- stuck in a room, playing Animal Crossing. But at the same time, I couldn't help but feel that the game didn't live up to its predecessors. I even returned to previous titles while initially playing to confirm my suspicions. And they weren't just based on simple childhood nostalgia. At launch, the game missed many fundamental pieces of what made Animal Crossing wonderful.
Luckily, they did release a steady stream of updates and content that made up for it. Still, I felt the game could be much more than it already is. Some small things showed up-- How you can't have your fossils assessed and donated in the same turn. How the gyroids were remade and softened, losing their charm. How the terraforming felt clunky and slow. I could go on and on about the small things that made my experience feel just slightly off, but even all that would just take me down half a star from a perfect score.
My main complaint is the villagers, and how they were rewritten. It truly, deeply bothers me that every villager you meet immediately loves you. I love this series because of how isolating it initially felt. The creator even talked about how he made this game based off of his experience moving to a new town. You don't get that feeling in New Horizons. Every villager is kind, upbeat, friendly, and the most dialogue you get that's even slightly rude is when you intentionally push them or hit them with a net. That, and the dialogue is incredibly repetitive. For an Animal Crossing game, this is what I find the most egregious. The whole point is to interact with and grow closer to the town around you.
It would be a fine game on its own. It's fun to fish, collect bugs, and design your island. But it's not-- It's part of a greater series that it fails to live up to.
I still enjoy it, and find myself coming back to it every so often to start an island anew. I say all of this as someone who currently has about a thousand hours logged in the game. I'm still forever heartbroken about how this game could've been better.