Video Game Review: [Flashback] Turning over a New Leaf

Nintendo has been around for many years. When it came out with the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) in 1985, it was a big hit. Over the years, more and more consoles and games have been produced.

The first Animal Crossing game came out in 2001 for the Nintendo 64. Since then, this game has been revamped over and over. The newest version of Animal Crossing is Animal Crossing: A New Leaf for the 3DS gaming system.

This game is amazing! Originally, a character in Animal Crossing was limited to upgrading his house, styling his hair, buying decorations and tools, and buying or creating shirts and hats. Though it was fun, most of the time, the game became boring once the house was paid off and the coins were maxed out.

New Leaf has so much to offer, I guarantee you will be playing for long awhile. In this game, you can now fully dress your player. You can buy shoes, socks, shirts, pants, skirts, dresses and accessories. You can also try to impress Gracie Grace, the fashionista Giraffe, to build and upgrade her store in your town.

The best part of this game is? You are the MAYOR!!! You can build public work projects like statues, fountains, bridges, and my favorite, a cardboard cut-out for your player to put their face in. You can make a face cut-out of your favorite celebrity, TV show, anime or game character. You could even do designs like trees or hot dogs. If you don’t want to design it yourself, there is a mode you can unlock by talking to Sable, the Able sister, at the sewing machine, until you are her friend. She will let you use her mega sewing machine that allows you to use the camera function on your 3DS to read Q-readers of your favorite designs from online sites like tumblr and Pinterest.

There are 3 other new additions to Animal Crossing. You can now access the tropical island without using a connector. At the island, you meet Kappa and his family who can sell you tropical items and play games. Tortimer, the old mayor, will give you directions on playing these island games. You can also go diving for sea creatures both in town and on the island. Another addition is the dream suite. By adding the dream codes of other towns, which can be found on social media sites or from your friends, and use it to visit others towns. You can’t bring or take anything with you though.

Lastly, there is a recycling center in your town. The center is run by a friendly couple who auctions furniture, buys your items for bells, and can redesign furniture you have. Don’t like the color of your exotic bureau? Just pay a small fee and like I did, make it red and black, or a different style. You can even use jewel ores that you can get by breaking rocks to get jeweled furniture!

The rest of New Leaf is similar to previous games with the fossil finding, fishing, bug catching, gardening, etc. Animal Crossing: New Leaf is a fun game where you can do what you like. I would recommend this game to all my friends who have 3DS’s.