After discovering the Animal Crossing series back in 2006, I have fallen in love with the light-hearted and colourful world. It had been a while since we had heard from the Animal Crossing games series and a new instalment would be welcomed with open arms, especially since this instalment would be design oriented.
Animal Crossing – Happy Home Designer takes the Animal Crossing experience and adds a heavier focus on building and aesthetics. The player works as an employee of Nook’s Homes. You take contracts from Isabelle for places the townsfolk want and to create the exterior and interior look while achieving the contractor’s requirements. There are a range of places to design from houses, shops and restaurants.
When you receive a contract, Isabelle will take you to the empty lot where the building will be constructed and will let you choose an exterior design. When creating a restaurant during the demo at EGX, I was given 8 exterior styles to chose from. I feel they could have added more or allowed the player to create the outside of their buildings as it is a design focused game. Once you have created the outside of the building, you will be led inside. The restaurant had two rooms to be completed, the main dining area and the kitchen. Each room has a checklist the player can view to complete the necessities. The dining area had to have two tables, four chairs and a cash register. These items are the minimum a room can have and the player can add more objects as they please.
Isabelle is ready to put you to work. This town isn’t going to build itself!
The level of customization the player can create with the interior of buildings is amazing. There are hundreds of items to chose from such as lights, wall hangings, rugs, decorations and furniture. There are just as many choices for the walls and floors of the rooms.
One of the greatest additions is the new way to move objects around a room. Compared to the old method of dropping an object in a room and pushing it around to position it, the touch screen is a top down map of the room which allows the player to place an object, rotate it and move it around the room with the stylus. After you are happy you have finished the building, Isabelle will show you the building brought to life. Once you have been shown your building brought to life, you will be given feedback by the contractor and the cycle continues.
From the demo I got to play at EGX, the game has huge promise. Although it is a different Animal Crossing experience, it is still going to be worth the purchase if building your home and the village was your favourite part of the previous games or if you enjoy the series as a whole.
Article Written By: Melissa Prosser
Animal Crossing: Happy Home Designer is currently available in all major regions.
Have you played Animal Crossing: HHD? Tell us your thoughts in the comments below!