So...here I am! With a game review just like I promised in my last blog! ^ω^
I think I've played enough of this game to review it now-- well, I know I have since I've completed the buildings you're required to do :3
..you'll see what I mean later in the blog :,)
So with that said, let's begin! n.n
--SPOILER WARNING--
Not really though since there isn't any major plot to this game, I just thought I'd put this out there in case you don't want to read about what you can do but find out for yourself instead.
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Animal Crossing: Happy Home Designer!
This game is a spin-off from the main series for the 3DS and 2DS systems.
Now I will say that if you haven't played one of the original Animal Crossing games before and was thinking about buying this, I suggest you don't :,)
When I say this is a spin-off, it really IS a spin-off!
In Animal Crossing games, you have your town with your own home and you can go fishing, dig for fossils etc. etc. With Happy Home Designer, I was expecting the "home designing" aspect to just be another feature of the game while still being able to do all of those other things.
But nope!
EVERYTHING is gone. The town you place the animals homes in is just an illusion and you can't walk around it fishing, bug catching, fossil digging and tree shaking like you usually can. You don't even have your own home. When you come back to Nook's Homes (which is the Home Design Office) after designing a home or public building, you're told to "write a report" which is basically saving your game, so once you've done that, you have the option to Quit or Continue the game and if you continue, the next day starts so you don't even need a home to go to ;A;
You're practically homeless!! (T3T)
So the reason why I'm saying buy an original Animal Crossing game before this one is because it lacks almost everything that Animal Crossing is about and this game could easily put you off the main series because, in all honesty, it really isn't that great. But I'll get to that later :,)
Overview~
You start this game by arriving at Nook's Homes after choosing what your character looks like (which consists of eye shape, eye colour, hair style and hair colour). After that, you're straight away launched into the exciting ( . . . ) world of home designing! You meet animals outside the Office and select them to start designing their dream house.
Seriously.
They just lurk around waiting for you to choose them with a little ( . . . ) over their heads which means they want a home designing. But the next day, there will sometimes be different animals, so if you see an animal you want, snap them up before they disappear :,)
Once you've selected which animal you want, you then get to choose a plot of land, which season you want that land to be in (Summer, Autumn, Winter, Spring), what the house will look like and then you're taken to the spot where it'll be.
You then get to design the landscape of the garden and then the interior of the house. Because the animal already has an idea of what they want their home to look like, you don't have to buy or earn different items of furniture which is pretty convenient! You just choose the furniture that'll suit the theme of their house and place it however you want. You also get to choose the carpet, wallpaper, wall hangings etc.
So for example, if an animal has the idea of a Picnic in the Park theme, just design their home with furniture, wallpaper and carpeting that'll match that theme and they'll be happy! :3
As well as designing the homes of animals, you get to expand the main plaza area which consists of a hospital, school, café, shop, theatre, department store, office building, a second shop, a restaurant and a hotel :)
Within this game, your favourite characters will appear wanting homes designed over time, but if they don't, you can buy amiibo cards which are sold separately, scan them with the NFC Reader/Writer and you have your favourite animals/characters wanting a request for a home!
[ RANDOM WORD FROM SERAH ]
You can only use the amiibo cards and NFC Reader/Writer when you have unlocked the amiibo phone within the game which is only available after a certain point.
If you feel like you've done a suuuuper awesome job on one of the animals homes or plaza buildings, you can share them on Miiverse which is a social network within the game that allows people from around the world to see your projects and for you to see theirs :3
Gameplay~
Now let's go into a bit more detail regarding the main feature of the game; Designing!
Basics~
As I previously mentioned, you are part of Nook's Homes which is a team made up of different designers (of course, realistically, you're the only one who actually does any work ;p).
These designers are...
Tom Nook;
Who we all know from previous installments of the game :,)
It kinda goes without saying that this time round, he owns Nook's Homes. He also isn't around a lot which...makes sense since it's his business.. > <"
Lottie;
Lottie is...kind of like a mentor to the main character. She shows you what do to and how to do it and helps you out from time to time :3
Lyle;
Lyle doesn't really do much...he's only around during the day (sometimes) and when he is, he sort of just stands around waiting for you to use the amiibo phone.
He's kinda useless :,)
Digby;
Digby doesn't really do much either :,)
Once you've reached the point in the game where you can re-do buildings within the plaza area, he's the one you talk to. So until you reach that point, you don't really have much to do with him :,)
Isabelle;
We all know the cute little Isabelle :3
She appears after a while and she's the one you go to when you want to start work on buildings in the plaza :) she says she works at the Town Hall, but I've never seen her anywhere other than at Nook's Homes, so...what is Isabelle really, hmm?
A mystery.. THAT'S what.
Once you've gotten past the introductions and everything is all A-OKAY, you can start your work! :) You just walk outside Nook's Homes and find animals wanting homes designed by YOU! ..you're kind of a legend already since the first home you designed is Lottie's and she's building you up to everyone! >. >
All the animals have different ideas about what they consider a perfect home and it's your job to decide which items suit that idea and where they go.
We'll use the animal Goldie as an example since she is your first client (after Lottie, that is) who wants a home designing :3
So she comes in with the theme of being surrounded by books so once you've decided where her home will go, you're then able to start designing! *v*
Automatically, your catalogue gets filled with different items that Goldie would like. You have Library wallpaper, stacks of books, a magazine rack, bookshelves etc. Some animals will have a few items they specifically request and that can be checked on the clipboard which is displayed at the bottom of the touch screen, but usually with items they request, they're already in the room you just have to unpack them by selecting the box they are in.
Placing the items is EASY! n.n
You just select the piece of furniture you want from the catalogue and it'll appear in the room as easy as that :3 you can then, using your stylus, move the piece of furniture to where you want it by holding down and dragging it. You can also rotate the item you have selected by, once again using your stylus and clicking until it's facing the direction you want :)
If you want another piece of furniture the same as the one you have out, instead of going back into the catalogue, you can simply hold down on the piece of furniture with the stylus and press L or R and another piece exactly the same will appear :3
Another thing that's very useful and also gives you more things to choose from when designing homes in the Handbook. If you go to Nook's Homes and sit down at your desk (after a certain amount of time) there will be a handbook there and you can read different lessons (in exchange for play coins) and you can gain things like fossils, bugs, fish and paintings to place in your animals home :3 new items will even become available from studying the handbook like lights to hang from the ceiling and rugs to place on the floor! So the possibilities for designing really are endless :)
With every home you complete, you'll get more furniture added to your catalogue so you can make future homes even better than the last :3
You'll also start to build up a list of emotions! :,)
Like in Animal Crossing: Let's Go To The City and Animal Crossing: New Leaf, you'll be able to learn different emotions :3 ..not that there is really any huge point to them :,)
But they're still cute :3
I think there are 48 emotions in total that you can learn, so...complete those houses to get those super cute, yet totally pointless emotions :,)
After playing for a while, Isabelle will show up making it possible to now add buildings to the plaza area :) these buildings require more work to decorate since they're a lot bigger, but I find them more fun since there is waaaay more you can do :3
Facilities like a school and hospital become available to work on! ^v^
School
Hospital
These new buildings will attract more animals to the plaza area which means more homes to design and more facilities to be made.
For example, the development of a larger school will lead to the development of a hotel or theatre which are the final two facilities you can build :)
Hotel
Theatre
So you definitely have a few things to work on in-between designing homes for animals, too :)
Exterior Design~
When you're working on the home of an animal, you're given a map of the area and you can decide where to place their homes.
You can place homes on a cliff, a private island, in the desert, a spot that has a bridge, on the beach and as well as that, choose the seasons. So they could live on a warm private island or live in the desert in winter...whatever you want!
You then come to the main task of designing the home.
While what the inside of the house looks like is important, it's also important you give the exterior a good feel to it :3
You can change the style of the house to a castle or a Japanese style home and you can even change the size of the front doors. You can then rework the surrounding area, so change the rope to a hedge or to a fence and add different items like trees, flowers, bushes and even go more creative than that to placing items such as benches or bicycles or lamp posts...basically if it's in your catalogue, use it!
(image found on Google; not owned by me)
Interior Design;
Once you're happy with the outside of the house, it's time to start the inside. Now it's time to really be creative and use your personal ideas (while keeping to the theme of what the animal desires) :3
You do sometimes get some animals who want the same requests, but that doesn't mean their home has to look exactly like how the home of the other animal looks; you can still make them different while in keeping with the theme :)
If you're a bit stumped at what the animal may like in their home, you can look at items they've already brought with them to give you more inspiration :3
[ RANDOM TIP WITH SERAH ]
I recommend you don't get rid of items the animals bring with them otherwise that'll make them upset and you also can't complete homes (or public facilities, for that matter) if there are pieces of furniture missing. Make sure you check your clipboard so you don't miss anything that is required of you.
Once you know what items of furniture you plan to use and the general theme of the room, it's then important you choose the right wallpaper and flooring to match! The house will look even better when the walls and floor match the furniture! :3
(image found on Google; not owned by me)
As well as adding furniture and other items to the room, you can also add different accessories like clothes, shoes, hats etc. The animal that owns this house will even wear them if it's what they like. You can hang the clothes on the wall or you can have them on a stand instead. There are also lots of new items to hang on walls! You have things like an air conditioner, an exit sign, flowers and wreaths and even new designs from older editions like clocks and lights.
A new aspect to this game that you haven't had previously is being able to change the shape and colour of windows, adding curtains, blinds or drapes (all with a different design) and also adding doors to another room; a single door, double doors, sliding door or even dividers.
When you start out, you only have the option to design one room, but as the game progresses, you'll be able to change that one room into town rooms and then two rooms into three rooms! This gives you the opportunity to add in even more furniture the animal would like and make their homes even better than before :3
To re-do a house you've already completed, visit the animal whose house to want to change and speak to them and the option to talk, offer a new house, offer a deluxe remodel will appear and you can choose whichever option you want :3
A couple of home examples;
Goldie's Room
(image found on Google; not owned by me)
Digby's Room
(image found on Google; not owned by me)
Amiibo~
I'll talk a bit more about the NFC Reader/Writer and Amiibo Cards now since that's a new feature added for Happy Home Designer.
Using Amiibo;
The Amiibo system is a way for you to invite different animals over for you to interact with.
Regarding the facilities you've built in the plaza, you can invite over animals through Amiibo and set up photo opportunities so you can upload them along with your room on the social network so people will see the photo and want to visit your room, or for you to just keep the photos for yourself!
You can even give the animals roles when you invite them over.
For example, if you want to take a photo off a classroom in your school, you can assign one animal to be the teacher and assign a few others to be the pupils and have them sit at desks :)
When animals come over, they can also remember different furniture items they see.
So if you use an amiibo card of an animal that's been used by other players, you can gain the items they've remembered if you haven't yet obtained them :3
Amiibo Cards;
You need to buy Amiibo cards separately and there are three cards to a pack (one special and two regulars) :3
Special characters are those like K.K., Harriet, Luna etc.
And normal characters are just animals who would move into your town like Nana, Shep, Pekoe etc. :3
The NFC Reader/Writer and the Isabelle Amiibo Card
Sharing~
Another good feature that Happy Home Designer has is being able to share your home and facility designs on their special social network, Happy Home Network.
You can upload your creations as well as look at other peoples and even get ideas and inspiration to use yourself :3
As well as posting your homes and viewing other peoples, you can also rate their creations and take part in different design competitions. (I haven't done that yet, though.. I just read that you could do that).
[ RANDOM TIP WITH SERAH ]
The Happy Home Network is only accessible with a free download, but don't worry! That comes up when you start the game :)
Miiverse (which I'm sure most of you are aware of) is incorporated into this game as well :3
As well as sharing your creations on the Happy Home Network, you can also share them on Miiverse for a wider audience to see what you've done on Happy Home Designer :)
More info. on Miiverse here!
You can also share your creations on Twitter and Facebook.. (surprise, surprise) x,D
My Thoughts~
After watching trailers for this game, I was suuuuper excited for it's release! *ω*
..but then hearing a lot of negative reviews about the game put me off a bit ;<
I actually decided against buying this game a few days before it's release. It just happened that the fact I pre-ordered it on Amazon slipped my mind :,) and I remembered when I got an email saying it had been dispatched.
..Oh well!
I have to say though...I'm not overly impressed with this game.
It was okay the first few times I played it, but designing the homes of animals became really boring really fast. I've only played so much of it because designing the facilities in the plaza was more fun because there was more to work with. But now I've finished all of those, there really isn't much left for me.
If I'm bored, I may visit the game again...but I'll probably never think something like..
"OMG YEA!! I feel like playing Animal Crossing: Happy Home Designer today!!!"
It's a shame that this game was such a disappointment because Animal Crossing games are usually really good and easy to play :3 there's no real challenge and while that may sound boring to some people, I like it because you can just do want you want and do that at your own pace.
I think instead of focusing on spin-off games, Nintendo should make another main edition to the series and think of ways to improve that instead of making spin-offs that will barely keep anyone interested for longer than a week of playing it.
My Overall Score~
I mean, it's still an Animal Crossing game after all, so I can't completely slate it :,)
If I was to give it a score out of 10, I'd give it..
4/10
Designing rooms only stays interesting for so long, after that, there really is nothing left to do. So to give it anything higher than a four seems ridiculous to me :,)
All of the aspects that make Animal Crossing Animal Crossing are gone leaving behind something that is only enjoyable if you're very bored :,)
If you're contemplating buying this game, I would personally say don't bother wasting your money. Unless you're determined to play this game...it really won't keep you interested for very long. And if you're new to Animal Crossing games and are thinking about buying this game, like I said before, definitely don't because if you do, you'll never want to play another Animal Crossing game again.
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So that was my review on Animal Crossing: Happy Home Designer for the 2DS and 3DS :)
I hope you found it informative enough and enjoyed reading it. If I left anything out, feel free to leave a comment and I'll try to answer as best as I can :3
Thank you for reading my review and have a great day! n.n
BYESIES~! :3
xoxo~
