Nintendo was never very good at explaining this game prior to its release and I still don't quite know what it is.

As an aside, I want the Isabelle and Digby amiibo that come with the game. I really hope they are released separately sometime down the line.

@Hero_Of_Hyrule
Geez! Thanks for the big ol' write-up, very thorough and informative.

I have to say that you didn't raise my confidence in the game. In particular, the act of scanning your amiibo every single turn sounds like a bizarre, pointless idea that reeks of strained implementation of amiibo. If the goal of the game is to have a pleasant, relaxing time, having to hang onto a figure and physically scan it 30 times in an hour doesn't sound like the most comfortable method of input. The amiibo usage just sounds really crummy from what you've said, almost like a cynical cash-grab.

It sounds like Nintendo's writing and playfulness help out, but it's odd that this game otherwise seems to be an even-more-casual/random Mario Party (how does that happen??). As someone who has no real desire to collect all the amiibo (and is already kinda tired of Isabelle's ubiquity), I think I'll avoid this one.

Hero_Of_Hyrule said:

Tom Nook was bummed out because nobody read his latest blog post and lost some happiness points.

I HEAR YA, TOM. I FEEL YA, BUDDY!

@Hero_Of_Hyrule
Good impressions. You should fashion them into a review. You're 85% of the way there!

TriforceBun said:

In particular, the act of scanning your amiibo every single turn sounds like a bizarre, pointless idea that reeks of strained implementation of amiibo. If the goal of the game is to have a pleasant, relaxing time, having to hang onto a figure and physically scan it 30 times in an hour doesn't sound like the most comfortable method of input. The amiibo usage just sounds really crummy from what you've said, almost like a cynical cash-grab.

Scanning it to roll is actually great. It's much closer to truly rolling the die than it is to press a button. Imagine playing an actual board game but just tapping a button on the table in order to roll the die. It'd be more boring. So while it does have a genuine purpose and I think it feels better than having a simple button press, that doesn't take away the fact that you're rolling with little actual strategy. I've played this game a bit as I do own it. However so far that board game mode hasn't been my favorite. I wish there were more mini-games but I haven't tried them all yet. The use of the amiibo cards is interesting and I'm glad I have more than the three it comes with.

The Desert Island game is pretty fun and requires more skill than the rest. Still heavily luck based but more elaborate. Plus you see the personalities of the different villagers come out and that's great.

All in all, this game makes me want a real Animal Crossing even more but it really should have been free with two amiibos.

I dig it, mostly because it's easy enough for my three year old to play with me. So...yep. Not great, but I enjoy it for that reason alone.

My thoughts are the same as ludist, my wife likes it and I'm trying to teach my 2 yr old to tap the figure to play, so if it means an excuse to hang out for some family time, then I'm happy.

@Hero_Of_Hyrule

Of course not. Go for it.