Animal Crossing: Happy Home Designer Bundle for Nintendo 3DS - Home Design Game with Furniture & Decor Items - Perfect for Fans & Collectors

I have been a big fan of the Animal Crossing franchise since Wild World on the DS. I have played hundreds of hours of Wild World and New Leaf (3DS). I enjoyed home design in both games and figured Happy Home Designer (from now on, I'll call it HHD) would be right up my alley. Was it? Well, sort of...PROS:-No real time clock. The days change based on completion of jobs (designing or redesigning houses or civic buildings). If you're a busy adult or student, it can be hard to get in and do things in your village every day. In the main series AC games, there are penalties for not checking in everyday - Weeds grow, you miss items in the stores, beloved villagers move away, etc. In HHD you can play at your own pace, completing several days in a row if you choose.-Tons of decorating options. There are more furniture items than ever before. HHD introduces Ceiling items like streamers and ceiling fans which add greater design possibilities. You can also decorate the exterior of homes for the first time in the series.-No shopping for items. Once a set is unlocked, it's yours to use. No more being missing that one Modern item you need to complete a set.-Nice DLC. So far in the US we've gotten Louie, who brings Nintendo items and Filly, who brings unbranded convenience store items. Soon we'll get Felyne who will bring Monster Hunter themed items.-Avatar Customization. In the past, if you didn't want to play a fair-skinned character, you had to leave your DS on and let your character "tan" over several days. This "tan" would fade within as many days. Now you can make a brown;skinned character from the get-go. I hope that Nintendo will keep this option in the next Animal Crossing game.CONS-Repetitive. This game is nothing but home and building design. If home decorating was not your favorite or second favorite thing to do in the previous AC games, you probably will not like this game. There's no shopping, no growing; nothing besides designing houses for villagers and a handful of civic buildings like schools and hospitals in the town center.-Shallower dialog. Villages have a lot less to say in this game. You can't make friends with them as you have in previous games. If social interaction with villagers is a huge deal to you, this game may not be as interesting to you.-No real time clock. I know I mentioned this as a pro, but it can also be a con. Because the time of day is not tied to a real world clock, the world of this game doesn't feel as immersive. Because time doesn't progress as it does in the real world, there are no seasonal changes. It's always summer in the town center, and the season at each villager's home depends on one that you choose when picking the plot for their home. As in the real world, there's a certain beauty to watching the season change in this game and that is missed in this installment.-Special Character visits locked behind Amiibo Cards. Imagine New Leaf, now imagine wanting to see K.K. Slider., now imagine having to have a hard-to-find, randomly packed card to see him. That's how HHD works. If you want to design for and talk to favorites like K.K., Isabelle, Tom Nook, or Blathers, you need their Amiibo Card. Regular villagers will eventually show up in the town square, but these specials will NEVER appear unless you have their Amiibo Card.-Amiibo Card. In general, these cards aren't needed, but I fear HHD is a test bed for the future of Animal Crossing which will be filled with content locked behind expensive and hard to find blind-packed cards.-Avatar Customization. While you have more options to decide what your character looks like, your dress options are more limited than ever. As an Employee of Nooks Homes, you have to wear the Nook's Homes cherry red blazer all of the time. You can change your glasses, shoes, socks and head gear, but you can never change your shirt.If I had to purchase this game all over again, would I? Right now, I'd lean toward "no". It's clear that there's a lot of the usual Nintendo love put into this game, but it just does't have the potential hundreds of hours of gameplay that the main AC games do, unless you REALLY love interior design.