Rate top gamesOnce again I was allured to Animal Crossing more than ever, it was fun, it was great, but soon, slowly but truly its charm disappeared a fair amount.
I'm not a fan of review bombing, but I'm surely counting negative aspects that a lot of people are complaining about, if not for them, this review will be easily a 9 or so, but as it is, I believe a 7 is a fair score, without further ado my thoughts are as follows:
Starting with the positive things, NH is as ever an incredible time if you're up to the task of giving your heart to it, long gone are those days when you could only customize your house, now the full island has customization, and almost every furniture or item is placeable wherever you want, and it gives a lot of freedom and customization. As it was in New Leaf where you could make public structures, like arches or statues, now they're just items like it should have from a long time ago. Another good addition is its new point system called 'Nook Miles' in which you have to meet certain requirements like achievements and you'll be rewarded with miles, this system comes as unique achievements and a daily wheel of minor achievements that can be done over and over, in contrast with past entries where at a certain point you simply turn off the game because you didn't have more things to do for that day, these miles can be exchanged for several things like furniture, clothes or unique DIY recipes, this new mechanic in form of DIY is easily one of the most enjoyable things in NH, they come as gifts from villagers, message bottles, rewards, etc, the fun part is that you need certain items to make them, so a lot of your time will be invested in acquiring items to make your recipes, pure joy.
By far, the best thing that NH has to offer is terraforming, although it has its limitations, it's easily the most entertaining addition: do you want to make your island like a crater? maybe a fortress? or how about a city? the limit is your determination and creativity (and maybe at times money), but it surely is the thing that a lot of veterans were waiting, think of it as a Minecraft ripoff, but with Animal Crossing makeover.
As for the negatives, there are a lot of issues that can be resumed into 4 main problems, at least to me, they weren't a problem at first but everything went a little downhill once you notice them. First and the most common issue for everyone is the one island per switch, when the official trailer launched and stated that this game will be multiplayer with a common island I was really into, I and my partner were daydreaming about the things and possibilities of playing co-op, turns out that the local multiplayer is more a gimmick and the second player is basically a background PC, although the biggest issue is that the only the 1st resident can advance through the "main quest" so good luck if your 1st resident is not as active as you.
The second issue is its online mode, if you're playing with one friend is just serviceable, but if you're going to play with two or more persons (friends or internet people) you'll notice that every single time a person arrives or leaves your island, every player that is in the island have to watch an unskippable (quite long) cutscene, not only that, for some unthinkable reason, you can't navigate through menus or inventory in that particular moment, otherwise, the cutscene will be delayed. this is a serious problem particularly if you're planning to play this with several friends or if you're into the stalk market, prepare to loose 15-20 min per arrival.
My third issue is more a quality of life issue, you see, Animal Crossing have ever being a game about of time, you have to wait a lot in order to have the best of it, but, at this point, selling, buying and navigating through menus is quite a burden, not only that, there are too many nitpicks to list in here, but, certainly it seems more like the game is keeping you away from having fun, is not like there aren't a lot of things to do, so it feels more like cheap padding than anything.
The last issue and the one that I hate the most and it seems that no one is talking about, is its "free updates", when the first official trailer launched with its terraforming promises, it also mentioned something that bothered me a lot, the fact its main events will arrive as free updates as if they need to be charged or something, in past entries these seasonal events wherein the main game, so it feels way too worrisome that now they're extra, if this game was a MMO or online specific, I wouldn't mind but, it's more like I paid full price for a game that is not finished, so if you're like me and want to play this game in some years, good luck finding those "free updates".
If you took your time to read this whole thing, I appreciate it a lot, even if you agree or not, I like this game a lot and have played 100 hours to this point but, is important to address its issues.
I'm not a fan of review bombing, but I'm surely counting negative aspects that a lot of people are complaining about, if not for them, this review will be easily a 9 or so, but as it is, I believe a 7 is a fair score, without further ado my thoughts are as follows:
Starting with the positive things, NH is as ever an incredible time if you're up to the task of giving your heart to it, long gone are those days when you could only customize your house, now the full island has customization, and almost every furniture or item is placeable wherever you want, and it gives a lot of freedom and customization. As it was in New Leaf where you could make public structures, like arches or statues, now they're just items like it should have from a long time ago. Another good addition is its new point system called 'Nook Miles' in which you have to meet certain requirements like achievements and you'll be rewarded with miles, this system comes as unique achievements and a daily wheel of minor achievements that can be done over and over, in contrast with past entries where at a certain point you simply turn off the game because you didn't have more things to do for that day, these miles can be exchanged for several things like furniture, clothes or unique DIY recipes, this new mechanic in form of DIY is easily one of the most enjoyable things in NH, they come as gifts from villagers, message bottles, rewards, etc, the fun part is that you need certain items to make them, so a lot of your time will be invested in acquiring items to make your recipes, pure joy.
By far, the best thing that NH has to offer is terraforming, although it has its limitations, it's easily the most entertaining addition: do you want to make your island like a crater? maybe a fortress? or how about a city? the limit is your determination and creativity (and maybe at times money), but it surely is the thing that a lot of veterans were waiting, think of it as a Minecraft ripoff, but with Animal Crossing makeover.
As for the negatives, there are a lot of issues that can be resumed into 4 main problems, at least to me, they weren't a problem at first but everything went a little downhill once you notice them. First and the most common issue for everyone is the one island per switch, when the official trailer launched and stated that this game will be multiplayer with a common island I was really into, I and my partner were daydreaming about the things and possibilities of playing co-op, turns out that the local multiplayer is more a gimmick and the second player is basically a background PC, although the biggest issue is that the only the 1st resident can advance through the "main quest" so good luck if your 1st resident is not as active as you.
The second issue is its online mode, if you're playing with one friend is just serviceable, but if you're going to play with two or more persons (friends or internet people) you'll notice that every single time a person arrives or leaves your island, every player that is in the island have to watch an unskippable (quite long) cutscene, not only that, for some unthinkable reason, you can't navigate through menus or inventory in that particular moment, otherwise, the cutscene will be delayed. this is a serious problem particularly if you're planning to play this with several friends or if you're into the stalk market, prepare to loose 15-20 min per arrival.
My third issue is more a quality of life issue, you see, Animal Crossing have ever being a game about of time, you have to wait a lot in order to have the best of it, but, at this point, selling, buying and navigating through menus is quite a burden, not only that, there are too many nitpicks to list in here, but, certainly it seems more like the game is keeping you away from having fun, is not like there aren't a lot of things to do, so it feels more like cheap padding than anything.
The last issue and the one that I hate the most and it seems that no one is talking about, is its "free updates", when the first official trailer launched with its terraforming promises, it also mentioned something that bothered me a lot, the fact its main events will arrive as free updates as if they need to be charged or something, in past entries these seasonal events wherein the main game, so it feels way too worrisome that now they're extra, if this game was a MMO or online specific, I wouldn't mind but, it's more like I paid full price for a game that is not finished, so if you're like me and want to play this game in some years, good luck finding those "free updates".
If you took your time to read this whole thing, I appreciate it a lot, even if you agree or not, I like this game a lot and have played 100 hours to this point but, is important to address its issues.
«Can’t stop playing»
«Sit back and relax»
«OST on repeat»
1
Other reviews21
As a long time fan of the AC series, this game improved on many aspects of the past iterations - namely graphics, multiplayer, and customization. But it's definitely lacking in a few things. Villager dialogues become really dull after a few days, there's SO much text to scroll through, nobody insults you anymore, everything is grind grind grind. I miss the spontaneity of the original game, the sassiness of my villagers, the terrifying gyroids, the sense of discovery, and when the achievement of paying off Nook actually felt like a huge accomplishment. However, if you like a cute DIY experience this game is perfect for you!
With a little too much hand-holding, Animal Crossing: New Horizons is a pleasant, serene game that gives hours of fun. It’s a DIY experience, however, since there are so many ways to play. This game offers a brief relief from the stresses of modern life, and the long wait for its release was well worth it.
https://www.gamingonline.info/animal-crossing-new-horizons-review-2021/
https://www.gamingonline.info/animal-crossing-new-horizons-review-2021/
Its so hard to divorce the experience of playing this game from the feeling of early quarantine, back in March and April 2020. It was an escape outside, to visit friends, host parties, share and communicate and decorate and shop and travel. Has a game ever released at just the right moment in a more universal way before? Did Nintendo start the pandemic to make it so? Yes.
I love the implementation here, allowing me more flexibility in designing the island and some of the new additions. Despite me liking it a lot for a few months, I found myself wishing it was more engaging. After a certain point I found I was logging in just to say hi to villagers that would repeat the same lines. There's just not enough variability to the villagers dialogue, nor is there a way to engage with them in the game other than giving them gifts or the occasional errand. Also, did they ever fix the first villagers house issues? Your first few villagers will always have a bland house so it's not beneficial to keep them even if you love them.
It's a good game, and I can't complain about many months I got out of it, but it leaves a lot to be desired. Maybe I'll check it out soon just to see what's going on.
It's a good game, and I can't complain about many months I got out of it, but it leaves a lot to be desired. Maybe I'll check it out soon just to see what's going on.
«OST on repeat»
I played this every single day during lockdown, enough said. It makes past versions seem a bit lacking due to the ability to decorate outside but New Horizons is also taking its sweet time with releasing all the NPCs.
«Can’t stop playing»
«Sit back and relax»
As much as I enjoyed the first handful of hours, this game made me extremely frustrated throughout the island resort grind. The big draw to New Horizons is the progression. On this deserted island, it's very easy to see the progress you're making and gives a sense of pride to your new home. About half way through, the grind begins. The game is no longer about progressing your island, but about grinding for turnips, buying and selling, and going through tedious chores. What makes me the most angry is the blatant lack of quality of life. Giving fossils/bugs/fish/art to Blathers is so incredibly slow and if you already have all the fossils, you're still forced to go through lengthy dialogue to get worth out of those fossils. I also had my roommates play on my Switch and they were frustrated because they didn't have as much power on the island as I did. Going to a friend's island feels like it would be shorter to just drive to their house to see it. Again, really enjoyed the beginning, but because of the purposefully slow gameplay and poor multiplayer, this is a game that I left as soon as I reached my goal.