I bought Animal Crossing ultimately because I needed a new game for my Nintendo Switch. Also I figured it would be something that my girlfriend could play and enjoy. She like to design stuff and organize things. Doom Eternal came out on the same day and I thought it would be a good counter to the ultra violence and demon shredding game play.
I was instantly hooked to the pastel colors and offset fixed camera view. It was, as I like to say, “as wide as a puddle but as deep as an ocean”. At around 200 hours of game play it is one, if not the most, played game on my Switch. Ultimately I didn’t know i liked to decorate and accumulate random accessories and clothing. I quickly found myself logging into the game at various times throughout the day as different times spawned different animals and events. It was the perfect addicting distraction during strange pandemic times as things really ramped up in seriousness.
The game is a colorful and cheeky life simulator which tracks time in real time. You log in in the day time and it’s daytime, when you log in at night it’s night time. There are benefits to logging in at various times throughout the day and night. Different events happen and characters roam at different times through out the day.
I really liked the slow pacing and super laid back vibe of the game it was a great counter to Doom after all. The two games even spawned a good crossover video.
The music made me feel like I was living the island life under crippling debt that I paid off slowly by hustling fruit, bugs, and fish to the local store owned by the islands overlord, a cheery racoon named Mr. Nook. Overall the game could be enjoyed in small chunks throughout the day or it could be dug into for several hours customizing your island with non interactive accessories and furniture. It’s a great game for people who like resource management and collecting things, as well as designers and simulators. My character looked like me even, I found a hair style that could be seen as dreadlocks!
The world instantly fell in love with Animal Crossing. I had never played the game so it was a fresh experience for me. My experience was genuine as I had no expectations and didnt know what to expect. I guess there were lots of little things long time fans didn’t like but I didn’t take much notice and I don’t really care to indulge critics. I like honesty but I don’t like negativity. I guess that’s an oxymoron but whatevs.
there are some truly delightful and eccentric character personalities. anything from nerdy introverts, to wannabe pop stars, to super bro macho type. I had this little bird character from the very beginning who was super into his workouts and fitness! He always yells CRUNCH at me when he is pumped up. He tries to get me to work out with him but I am lazy and have yet to join him.
There are tons of little quality of life things that I wish were implemented. The game is slow pace and it takes it’s sweet time. There is no way to skip lengthy dialogue that you have heard for the billionth time. There are certain aspects of the inventory management that I wish could be improved but it was never enought for me to stop playing. Just noticeable little things that bug oh so much.
Overall this game is a great game and worthy of hundreds of hours of your time. I enjoyed my first ever Animal Crossing game. I haven’t played in a while. Around the time fall rolled around I stopped playing as much. I recently turned it on to check the turnip prices but other than that I got to the point that I had pretty much seen everything and done everything. I was relatively disappointed in the various seasonal updates. They were pretty cool but nothing super engaging. The best updates were the ones that added mechanics such as the swimming and diving.
It’s good to know I have some friendly faces on my island should I ever feel the need to jump back on.