Features
- 1 Player
- Streetpass Enabled
- Import Miis from “Mii Maker”
- Playable in 2D or 3D
- Available in both physical and digital formats
I really like games like Animal Crossing and The Sims. It’s very fun creating characters, making homes and interacting with the other residents in the town. Now imagine if you could do that with your Nintendo Miis! I’ve been playing a very strange but funny game on my 3DS called Tomodachi Life, which puts Miis together on an island with very hilarious results, and it’s been one of the most entertaining 3DS games I’ve played in awhile.
You start out by creating Mii characters, which is probably one of the more fun things in the game. You can use a Mii you already have created and saved on your 3DS or you can make new ones of your friends or celebrities. I made many like my mom and her boyfriend, lots of friends in my class, and Harry Potter and Hermione. It’s funny to see them interacting with each other! I didn’t have a chance to try, but Miis can also be imported to your game via Street Pass, which allows Miis that your friends have made to visit your island.
There is a lot of customizing with the Mii’s personality, with a variety of different traits to choose from, and lots of sub personalities to pick from. For example, I made my Mii outgoing and had the option to pick if she was a trendsetter, leader, charmer, etc. All the Miis can talk and you can customize their voices. It’s pretty awesome….they don’t sound like they are speaking gibberish like in The Sims or Animal Crossing; you can actually understand what they are saying, but it sounds really funny as it’s not very natural. They especially sound funny when they are singing! It is really neat though because you can customize the pitch and tone to make it sort of sound like your real life friends.
You start the game on an island. If you only have one Mii it gets lonely and part of the point of the game is to create more Miis to make sure they don’t get lonely or bored. At first, there are only a few buildings, like an apartment. As you create/import more Mii’s or achieve certain goals, the island gets more buildings and different things unlock.
The way the Miis interact with each other is so funny! I laughed so much. You really never know what to expect. You see Miis doing some unusual things such as randomly rolling on the floor or running around with their arms in the air. Sometimes Miis go to the cafe but only stand outside looking in the window. You can dress your Miis in different costumes like a hamster suit.
The Miis rely on you to keep them happy. Really, other than a few mini games they ask you to play when they get bored, that is really all there is to the gameplay. Relationships play a very large role in the game and it is your job to help them make friends. If two Miis fall in love one might decide to propose. It will be your task to tell them when the other Mii is thinking about them to pop the question at the right time. You also get to choose where they propose and what they will wear. If the Mii is successful the other one will say yes. If the two Miis are adults they will get married but if they are kids (under 18) they will ask you to use an “Age-o-matic” which turns them into adults. It is all up to you to choose whether they grow up or not.
When Miis are married they move to the ‘Mii Homes” but don’t worry, they still go back to the apartments too. The Miis will live life (hopefully peaceful) and do all the things married people do. If they are together long enough they will have a baby. You get to choose if it looks more like the mom, the dad, or both, and you get to choose if it has the moms personality, the dads personality or a new one and you get to choose whether it will be a boy or a girl.
Once the baby is born you will get the option to babysit. When it is really young you can rock it back and forth. When it gets a bit older you can tickle it and play peek-a-boo. When it is even older you can hold it and spin. Soon enough it will be old enough to move out and you get to choose if it will move into an apartment or travel the world. When it leaves you see a picture album of all the good times it had on the island. Just an idea of how many things you can do on the island!
Miis can also get very depressed. For example, my mom’s boyfriends Mii and Hermione were dating in the game. Things didn’t work out, she broke up with him, and he became very sad. While you can do things to make them happy, and help them do things, you really don’t have that much control over them. They ultimately make their own decisions; have their own hates and likes.
It’s very cool and unusual game, something very different from all those shooters and platformers. It’s also very addictive. I’ve put at least 20 hours into the game as of writing this review and I have created many Miis for all my school friends. With so much to do in game, many cool clothes to buy, neat places to visit, and watching the hilarious situations your Miis put themselves in, I think I’ll be playing this just as much as I play my favourite game, Pokemon X. I think it’s more for older kids and teenagers like myself though. I don’t know if younger kids will appreciate having to make people fall in love, but they will like the silly things the Miis do. It’s an awesome game, and if you like games like The Sims and Animal Crossing, you will most likely love Tomodachi Life just like me.
Kid Rating: PRETTY AWESOME
About the Kid Reviewer
Growing up in a gaming household with her mom and COG writer, Jen Dingle, Hannah has been playing video games since before she knew how to talk. One of the biggest Legend of Zelda fans out there, she aspires to be a Pokemon Master, and can be found glued to her Nintendo 3DS at all times. She loves internet memes, Harry Potter and trolling her mom, and can be found tweeting about her favourite games and space cats on her twitter account, @NyanHannah