The last few days have all melted together into a slurry of bugs, fruit, furniture and adorable animal villagers.   That’s right, it’s time to review Animal Crossing: New leaf.

I’ll be the first to admit that I did not ‘get’ AC when it first came out on the Gamecube.  It was a bizarre series, even for Nintendo, putting the player in control of a large-headed mute migrating into a village of tiny schizophrenic anthropomorphic animals.  You caught bugs, collected furniture, and just kind of hung out.  It was all very zen, and it was the first game I’d ever encountered that was so different from the goal-oriented ‘get-to-the-next-level-beat-the-boss’ formula that every other game seemed to follow.  There were no levels, there was no boss.  The only real measuring stick for making any sort of progress at all was how enormous your house had become.  And the strangest part of all was just how much fun doing nothing at all could be.

Fast-forward to now, Animal Crossing has become a staple series in the Nintendo lineup.   It’s been released on multiple consoles and gotten great reviews on nearly every one, with the formula staying relatively unchanged.  And yet, the series doesn’t really seem to suffer for it.  Maybe it’s the laid-back atmosphere itself that doesn’t really demand a lot in the way of change, or maybe this is a genuine case of “if it ain’t broke, etc.”

But I digress, onto the new game itself.  New Leaf is far and away the most enjoyable entry in the game to date.  Once again proving that the 3DS doesn’t seem to realize that it’s a portable console, it contains every one of the features that made the previous titles enjoyable, while even going above and beyond to grant the player more control over their town with the new Mayor features.  Promptly upon arriving in town the player is informed that due to shenanigans, they have been dubbed the new Mayor of their town, and after doing a bit of housekeeping, are given all of the power that role grants.  The player is able to set ordinances such as how late businesses and villagers operate, as well as the level of income in the town.  They are also allowed to build various structures around the town, from tiny cosmetic additions like streetlights and fountains, to constructing entirely new stores and buildings that unlock new game features and villagers.

Also new to this game is a brand new collecting side-game, swimming and diving.  Simply by obtaining a wetsuit a player can frolic about in the ocean bordering their town and collect various sea-dwelling critters to add to their museum, adding an entirely new collecting distraction for those that have grown tired of merely collecting hundreds of bugs, fish, works of art, and fossils.  (Each of those sections has been made more robust as well, in case you were worried.)

The City from City Folk doesn’t return, but instead players are given a ‘Main Street’ section just to the north of their town that conveniently groups together the majority of the shops and buildings into one area.  Many of the stores aren’t available from the beginning of the game and must be unlocked by completing various objectives such as filling out the museum or tending to mayoral duties.  One such new feature that can be unlocked adds an interesting new dimension to visiting other people’s towns in the “Dream Suite.”  Basically, it’s a way to visit the towns of players whose friend codes you don’t have, the catch is that you can’t really damage their town in any way, so it provides an interesting way for people to see and explore your personal town, without having to worry about griefing.

Various other older features have been improved substantially or streamlined, such as the museum donation process.  It’s now a simple matter to have all of your fossils identified in one fell swoop, and just as easy to donate multiple new finds all in one dialogue option without having to sit and donate each individual piece.  Now this does mean that we aren’t treated to one of Blathers’ anecdotes for each and every item donated to the museum, but a lengthy description of each specimen/piece is available on a plaque next to it.

My favorite addition to the game is the fortune cookies available in the general store once a day using the 3DS’ Play Coins currency. (Tracked and awarded to the console when the player walks around in the real world)  These have a random chance to contain various pieces of Nintendo-themed clothing and furniture.  It’s like a daily chance at getting to geek out a little bit wondering whether the next cookie is going to contain a warp star, the Master Sword, or the Varia Suit.  It is, hands down. the best part of my day.

This is kind of an odd game for me to review, because as I said before, the game series has changed so very little over the years, it just becomes more polished with each iteration.  This game, so far, is the pinnacle of that polish.  Everything you do is fun and rewarding.  The characters are likable, adorable, and talking to them is delightful.  Each one has their own individual style and personality, evident in the design of their house, their mannerism, and they way they dress.  The game is just fucking fun.  End of discussion.  End of Line.  Go buy a 3DS you fucking mongoloid.