Want just a quick summary? Head to the Final Verdict for that and my rating!

Tomodachi Life

Platform: Nintendo 3DS

Genre: Life simulation...kinda

Publisher/Developer: Nintendo

ESRB: E

Sometimes, in life, we just want to indulge in a simulation of life, in the form of a video game. Sometimes, we go for Animal Crossing or The Sims or maybe even a simulator game. Then, there are times where we want something that takes all 3 and makes them...weird, but surprisingly really...good. The result is Tomodachi Life for the 3DS, a game that might surprise you.

Tomodachi Life is a strange title to describe as a whole but the premise is pretty simple. You are the runner of an island that you name and on this island, you will populate it with Mii's (Starting with a look-a-like of yourself if you prefer) and these Mii's live in an apartment complex. They live their lives here, talking with each other, having problems to be solved, developing relationships, playing games, and sooooo much more. Seriously, there is a lot of stuff to do here. There are tons of things to collect, see, and overtime, do, but it does take some time. You can create new Mii's, import them from your Mii Maker, or even use QR codes to import Mii's made by others so there are plenty of options for Mii making.

Yup.

Your Mii's have a happiness rating that increases as you do many things for your Mii's and as their happiness goes up, you earn money to buy clothes, apartment interiors, food, and more all for your Mii's. You also get random items from your Mii's that can be used to entertain them, further increasing their happiness. That is one of the larger aspects to the game, making your Mii's happy as they live out their lives, but there is so much more as well, even if at first it is hard to see.

The rap battles are so insanely cheesy yet hilarious. There is a lot of that here.

The game starts out very slowly, much like an Animal Crossing title. It uses real time via the 3DS clock and calendar and each day, new events happen, new items are in stock in the stores, and many new things happen, giving you more and more incentive to check in each day. This is a game where the more you play it, the better it gets. At least, it did for me. The more you play, the more events that unfold, the more items are found and collected, and more relationships develop. Your Mii's can even get married and have a baby! As Mii's develop relationships, there can even be love triangles that happen and of course, you can help dictate these things, so it is not all out of your control. There is just so much to do and see and it is fun to see everything unfold and develop. The game is like making memories constantly and you can even take screenshots of either screen to save photos, as well as special photos you can make. For me, looking back on all that has happened in the past is part of the fun.

This game definitely is very strange a lot of the time. There are tons of conversations, dreams, news flashes, things that are very random and odd, but that adds to the game's charm. The game oozes in Nintendo charm, with delightful music, sound effects, and a simplistic visual flair, though the graphics are obviously nothing special here at all, but I suppose they don't have to be. There are some small moments where the weirdness does not quite hit it off like it should, but there are many times where this game has had me laughing, which is wonderful for a game that is more relaxing in nature. If you grow to like the game's weirdness like I have, you may find yourself laughing many times like I have.

One of the many really....odd dream sequences in the game.

The one major flaw that I have noticed, are the mini games. One of the other great aspects to this game are the collectibles, there are so many things to add to your treasury and it is a blast building up this collection over time. The way you earn these is through random mini games that your islanders might want to play at times. The problem is that most of these mini games are...kinda terrible. They are very simplistic but that is not why they are bad, most of them rely on luck and are very annoying. It is nice to have even more variety in the game, but I do think that they could have done better with the games given how well the rest of the game is made. The only other real thing that bothered me was how Nintendo did not allow any kind of same gender relationship other than friendships. Honestly, there was not much of a point to not allow this since you can dictate where relationships go. That might be a controversial topic to some, but not to me in the slightest and it would have been nice if Nintendo was a bit more progressive.

As a side note, the voice software in this game is hilariously great.

Final Verdict:

Thank you for reading this week's Turbo Review! This game was a huge surprise for me and I love it. If you have the game, feel free to add my 3DS friend code, which is located on my profile.

Until next time,

Turbo out!