Animal Crossing: New Leaf imparts life lessons

Animal Crossing is a series that’s not very well known in the South African gaming community – probably because it’s so easily dismissed as a kiddie’s game.

While it might not tickle the fancy of all gamers it has ample to give to those who dig deeper into this charming and colourful world.

In the newest instalment, Animal Crossing: New Leaf, players become the mayor of a small village that’s inhabited by friendly animals – each with personalities and quirks of their own. As mayor it’s your job to turn this small town into something more.

Animal Crossing: New Leaf

Animal Crossing: New Leaf is essentially a life simulator, but it’s unlike anything else on the market. There are no status bars to keep green, citizens to please, or mundane tasks to fulfil.

You don’t have to feed your character, keep him happy, go to work, pay bills or do anything that you don’t want to do. Animal Crossing doesn’t try to be realistic nor does it take itself too seriously.

Animal Crossing: New Leaf

However, it has one of the best “realism” features – something that all other simulators tend to neglect. Animal Crossing takes place in real time; there’s no fast-forwarding or pausing the clock.

The shops open at 9AM every morning and close at 10PM. Seasons change in your town, your villagers celebrate Halloween and Christmas with the rest of the world and when they say “come back in an hour” they mean come back in an hour!

It’s this remarkable time-consciousness that keeps Animal Crossing: New Leaf fun and motivates you to come back for more. There’s something new in your town every day – be it a rare flower that started growing, a visitor, or a new building in Main Street.

Reviewing Animal Crossing: New Leaf was like having a life coach in the form of fuzzy animals and catchy tunes. It makes you appreciate the small things in life and taught me a couple of vital life lessons:

1. You can sustain a lavish lifestyle through bug- and fish-trading.

In Animal Crossing: New Leaf your primary income is from catching and selling whatever you find in your town. Rare bugs, fish and fruit can sell for a significant amount and is more than sufficient for a healthy town fund.

Animal Crossing: New Leaf

2. OCD should be encouraged – not treated.

No other game can make a player obsessive about the placing of virtual flora in a virtual town. Once you get into the daily habit of watering every single flower and plucking every single weed you experience something soothing, even magical, about the routine you’ve established and the joy it brings into your life.

3. Time waits for no one.

I started planning my life around the real time events in Animal Crossing: New Leaf. If there’s a sale on furniture at 7PM I meticulously schedule the rest of my day to fit into the game. That means work has to be done by 6PM so that there’s just enough time to make something to eat and I can snuggle up with my Nintendo 3DS.

Animal Crossing: New Leaf

4. It’s always better to bring a friend.

Animal Crossing: New Leaf features a wide array of online and local multiplayer modes. Open your town’s gates and up to three other friends can visit your town. Use the time together to show off any new Public Works Projects you’ve completed or play one of the many mini-games in the nearby tropical islands.

5. Rome wasn’t built in a day.

It takes a minimum of a day to build a single new feature in your town and there’s no rushing to reach some goal or deadline. Enjoy the journey to a perfect town and take things as they come – rest assured that Animal Crossing: New Leaf will be on your playlist for quite a few months!

Animal Crossing: New Leaf

The sheer scope of Animal Crossing: New Leaf makes is impossible to cover in a single review. It’s everything that we know and love from the old games plus a whole lot more. With most of the new content only available after a week of playing you’ll never run out of new content and things to experience in your town.

Animal Crossing: New Leaf is the equivalent of a puppy on a fluffy cushion in the middle of a field of flowers. It’s cute, innocent and you just can’t keep your hands off it. It’s by far the only life simulator worth investing in.