Developer/Publisher: Nintendo Released: June 2013

Played on: 3DS

When I boot up New Leaf, I have a habitual series of activities I run through. Firstly, check my mail box, then start wandering around my town, El Tez, and saying hello to all the other townsfolk. It’s good for them to see their mayor. At the same time I’m carrying a shovel, inevitably some dinosaur fossils will have risen closer to the surface overnight and I’d better dig them up so we can add them to the collection at the museum. The villagers of El Tez are my best friends in the world, but they can also be a little bit stupid, and if something arises where I need to deliver Diana (a deer who I wish would leave town, she can’t take a hint) an item that she left at Savannah’s house (Savannah is a horse) then I will do so. Because that’s the kind of Mayor I am, one willing to run pointless errands for their citizens for the chance to get some kind of rare and delightful item in return. Sadly, its usually a horrid piece of clothing that I sell or gift to someone else immediately.

Winning a bug catching competition

Once I’ve scoured the main town for villagers and fossils, I head up to the shopping district and run straight to the museum. I show Blathers (owl and curator) the fossils I’ve found. He’s got most of them, but there is often one that is new. But no time to stop and enjoy the exhibits in the museum – its time to see whats new at the shoe shop, the clothes shop, the hat shop and the convenience store. Their stock rotates daily, so if I see something particularly awesome (like the pirate hat I wore for a while) I buy it on the spot. My pockets are now full of fruit, fossils, furniture and clothes, so I run back to my house, dump the stuff I want to keep in my cupboard, and head over to Re-Tail where Reese the alpaca will give me top price for unwanted items.

Downtime in the museum’s aquarium made up of sea creature I’ve donated

That usually takes around 20 minutes, and sadly that’s often as long as I can spend in El Tez before having to return to the real world. However if I have more time, I often take a boat to the The Island where I rent a net and a fishing rod so I can catch huge bugs and sharks that will fetch me a pretty penny back at Re-Tail. With that money I can upgrade my house or contribute to one of the many essential public works projects I have under construction in town, including the recently completely Pyramid where my subjects shall bury me when I tragically die after falling into a shallow pit.

There is so much more to New Leaf, it is by far the most rich and varied Animal Crossing game in the series – a series which is quite hard to describe to people, and even harder to have them understand what you like about it so much. New Leaf is essentially a life simulation game with a customisable town, an endless list of collectibles, and a random selection of NPCs, each with distinct characteristics and interest. But it is in the level of quality and detail that each of these elements is bestowed with that makes the game so special. You can make strong connections with these well-scripted characters simply by interacting with them everyday and either being sucked in by their charm, or infuriated by their personalities.

When I first moved to town, there were only a handful of folk around, and none of them struck me as interesting. Aside from Peck. Peck was a little bit self-involved, obsessed with his huge muscles (despite having scrawny wings), but he was also bristling with enthusiasm. He made me laugh, so I decided to humour him. I wrote Peck letters, gave him fruit, played hide and seek with him, and before we knew it, we were besties. I even got him a really thoughtful birthday present (yep, each character has a birthday, and the day/night/season cycle of the real world is reflected in the game world).

But then I got busy, and hadn’t visited El Tez in a while. I went to Peck’s house to visit and this happened:

Distraught, I was almost ready to give up on Animal Crossing for a while. But as villagers leave, new ones arrive, and soon I had a new friend named Henry. Henry reminded me of Peck a little, he exuded enthusiasm, but lacked the obsession with muscles. I also think Henry might have had a crush on me. I’m cool with that.

I feel like I’ve poorly described the game and have barely scratched the surface of the things that can be experienced. I’ve spent around 120 hours in El Tez since June, and still find new things to occupy my time with. I haven’t picked it up in a little while, Fire Emblem has been taking up my 3DS time, but I will inevitably return to El Tez to see what has changed in my absence and to go about improving the town and making new friends. (I’ve omitted the part where I get all my new “friends” to swear constantly and graphically in Arabic. That bits just for me.)

Verdict: If I could make time for Animal Crossing: New Leaf everyday, I would.

Should Bradley play this: EVERYBODY SHOULD PLAY THIS! (P-Lan Patent Pending)