Animal Crossing: New Leaf

My husband is always on the lookout for a new game for me to enjoy.  He definitely struck gold when he landed upon Animal Crossing: New Leaf.  In reality, I am a casual gamer.  All of hobbies and interests get cycled through depending on my mood and schedule.  And video gaming is one of those hobbies that gets cycled through.  Which is one  of the reasons I love Animal Crossing: New Leaf.  It's a game that I can play for several hours in a day several days in a row or just check into for a  few minutes every few days or so and have a great time regardless.  There's even a setting that accommodates the infrequent gamer.  This is right up my ally.  Here's a few of my favorite things about the game.



Collectibles
I call them collectibles for lack  of a better word.  You can collect insects, fish, fossils, and artwork all to be stored in the museum.  And then there are a host of other things that you can collect and display in your house (furniture, novelty items, wallpaper, carpet, etc) or throughout your town (flowers, trees, etc.).  And if you collect duplicate items you get to sell them to increase your cash reserves.  With so many different ways to collect and display items, it makes for a great collectibles component.

Mini-Games
Every day you can leave your town to go to the island and play lots of mini-games in addition to the other types of collectibles that are a lot easier to find on the island than in your own town.  Although the mechanics are all pretty simple, the variety is pretty extensive, and the selection changes every day.  And of course there's the flexibility of playing any amount of mini-games that you want including the same one over  and over again.  Playing the mini-games also gets you rewards that you can use to purchase items that cycle through on a regular basis.

Town Management
There are very few town ordinances that you can put into effect, and only one can be active at any time.  However, there are lots of ways to micro-manage the town.  There are improvement projects that provide increased functionality and/or aesthetic appeal such as bridges, fountains and additional floors to buildings like the museum.  These are funding both by yourself and your townspeople.  Speaking of townspeople, the other part of managing  your town is having personal interaction with your citizens.  You can simply chat with them or complete assigned tasks so that they like you more.  Sometimes you even get to eavesdrop on their conversations with each other.  I like that these very simple characters actually seem to have a real personality as the game progresses.

Customization
There is so much customization you can do!  Now this overlaps with the collectibles of course, but it still has a life of it's own.  This week I've been planting patterns of flowers around the river and pond shores--just because I can.  And my house changes weekly just because I like the variety.  And my character's wardrobe is getting a little big even though I haven't been playing the game all that long  yet.

Overall, I'm loving this game and looking forward to many hours over the next couple of years just casually picking it up and exploring this little world of mine.