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Animal Crossing New Leaf: time sink extraordinaire

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I played Animal Crossing on the GameCube a bit - I bought a US version while over there on holiday, a long time before it came out in Europe, and the need for faffing with Freeloader tempered my enthusiasm somewhat.

I played Animal Crossing Wild World on the DS.  I played it almost daily for eight months, collecting loads of fish, bugs, even a load of paintings.  I grew flowers.  I occasionally visited after my farewell, but had no compulsion to complete anything.

I bought Animal Crossing Let's Go to the City on the Wii.  I've never played it.

I now have the 3DS game, and have so far put in 31 hours.  It's already my most played 3DS game, beating Professor Layton and the Miracle Mask by four hours. The game is a natural evolution of everything that's gone before, moving turnip sales to a shop that never closes for refurbishment, having the museum and various shops on a separate street, allowing the player to have more control over the town.  I am the mayor.

I've paid off two mortgages.  I've seen off Leonardo, a hateful leopard.  I've collected lots of fish and bugs and even some seaweed.  I've been to the island.  I've gained over a million bells.  I have a blue pansy.  I have no time to write about any of it, since I am busy playing it.  I  have posted a few screenshots to Twitter, though.

Animal Crossing: New Leaf (3DS)

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It is The End Times. Again.

Remember Animal Crossing on the Gamecube? I played it daily for months. Remember Animal Crossing on the DS? I played it daily for over a year. Remember Animal Crossing on the Wii? I played it daily for three months until my Wii died and I lost my saved game.

I now have the 3DS version.

In the first week of owning it, I’d played it for 34 hours. It became my most played 3DS game in 5 days – despite having owned a 3DS for more than two years. Not bad considering “it’s not a game”, “it’s boring” and “there’s nothing to do in it”.

All these things there isn’t to do that I’ve done include getting my house, expanding it several times, becoming Mayor, getting a new bridge built, planting all the fruits, winning the first Bug Off, getting lots of Nintendo-themed prizes in fortune cookies, having mysterious people from other towns visit my town and leave me messages and presents, planting more fruits, visiting other people’s towns and giving them fruit and leaving them messages, making not much money on the Stalk Market, taking a boat ride with Kapp’n (who is a bit creepy) to an island and playing “island games”, and digging lots of holes. And planting fruit. All the fruit.

Since this new Animal Crossing game lets you share screenshots on t’tinternets, I even braved Tumblr to create this masterpiece of storytelling: http://plantallthefruit.tumblr.com/

Am I loving the game? Yes. Yes I am. Even Nook’s evil moneygrabbingness. It’s all awesome.

Castlevania: Lords of Shadow: Mirror of Fate (3DS)

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A game with a sub-subtitle? Amazing.

First things first. This is not quite like the Metroidvania Castlevanias that I love so much (like Dawn of Sorrow or Symphony of the Night). It’s also not quite like the “original”, more linear Castlevanias like those on the NES and SNES. And it’s not even quite like the new “reimagined” Lords of Shadow game for the Xbox 360, despite the title and the fact it follows on from that game’s story.

It is, instead, a mashup of all three types of game. It’s pretty linear, like the originals, but it does have some map colouring and exploration (and the “new items unlock new areas” thing) from Metroidvanias. Finally, it has an approximation of the combat from the 360 game, with combos and air attacks and all sorts, plus that version’s art style.

I thought I’d hate it. I actually love it. The graphical style of the 360 title translates to beautiful 3D backdrops, but the game plays out on a 2D game – which is great as I’ve hated every 3D Castlevania I’ve ever played. The combat and levelling up system is a joy, and the game is suitably hard with seemingly impossible bosses that suddenly become walkovers once you learn their patterns and weaknesses – just like all the best Castlevanias.

Without wishing to impart spoilers, I’ve played Gabriel’s intro, then Simon’s bit, and now I’m into Alucard’s bit. Although I think I’m pretty close to the end of that.

Super Mario 3D Land: Completed!

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At least, I've seen the end credits, completing all the levels in Worlds 1-8.  I've rescued Peach, and Bowser has been consumed by lava.  And then the game reveals that it's actually twice the size, with 'Special Worlds' (some of which are very similar to existing levels with time limits reduced or different enemies) and Luigi's been captured.  Completing Special World 1 rescues Luigi, and you can then use him instead of Mario, making some of the jumps easier but landing on small platforms harder.

I've completed up to the end of Special World 3, but I don't have a huge desire to continue.  It's odd; this is actually a really good game and is much more of a 3D conversion of the 2D Mario games than 64, Sunshine or Galaxy.  There's no stars to collect or multiple goals in a level - just a clear run to the defined finish line.  Maybe I've overdosed a bit on Mario lately, with NSMB2, NSMBW and NSMBU; I can always come back to this.

But for now, it's done and my 3DS is all ready for something else all-consuming ...

Super Mario 3D Land: depth perception

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I'm up to world 5 now, so over half-way through the standard list of eight (though I suspect, given other Mario titles, that there may be more hidden).  It has got better, but I'm still not finding it amazing to play - it just feels a bit awkward to control at times and I'm finding it tricky to see which plane Mario's actually standing on when it comes to some of the side-scrolling sections.  Even with the 3D effect on maximum, some of the platforms blend too much into the background, especially on the cloud sections.

Still, I've collected lots of star coins, have around 50 lives to spare, and have no intention of dropping this game half-way through.  It helps that I've got a nine-hour flight on Friday ...