We’ve all wanted to play God at some point in our lives. How nice would it be to be able to dictate the lives of others and maneuver what others do like life was a Monopoly board? We are fortunate enough that game studios have created life simulation games to do just that.
“Tomodachi Life: Living The Dream” is an example of a life simulation game. Developed in-house by Nintendo, it is the successor to the first Tomodachi Life, that originally released for the Nintendo 3DS back in 2013.
As a game that seems to be aimed at people between the ages of seven and 27, this game offers nothing but chaotic energy and infinite charm. It allows you to run your personal island, making the decisions and changes you see fit. You can even create the people who live in it!
The game begins with a text box asking you to name your island. You would assume that it would have limitations as a Nintendo game, but the game allows you to name it whatever you want. Right off the bat, you’re given the agency to do what you like, and the theme really shows throughout the game.
The character creator is where the brilliance of the game starts to show. You have a vast character creator with infinite potential, where you can build characters called Mii’s.
The game can be as easy as making yourself and your friends, or you can be more on the outlandish side and create all the made-up characters or celebrities you want.
One of the most charming parts of the game is the robotic voices that characters are given. The voices are customizable through images and sliders on the screen. With images like humans, robots and animals, you can use the sliders to try and get your character’s voice as accurate as you want.
The funniest part about the game is the AI-like, robotic tones of the Miis’ voices. These robotic voices add to the charm in moments when a Mii is interacting with another or when it’s reacting to something happening.
Like most lifestyle simulation games, “Tomodachi Life” is no stranger to a calming soundtrack. The soundtrack almost feels like it’s meant to relax you, using drawn-out synthesizers and melodic percussion to really help the mood.
The music puts you into this headspace that really helps you feel like you’re living in this small paradise with your Mii’s.
The gameplay itself is also a major improvement in the game compared to the last one. Interactions feel much more fleshed out in this iteration. In the old game, interactions were much more limited and planned out — but here, it feels as if you can have your Mii’s interact with anything at any given point. You can force Mii’s into places with others, putting a shoehorn into what other Mii’s are doing.
Possibly the only criticism of the game is being able to share your creations with other people. This is something that was in the first game, and it really bummed me out to not see the feature transition to this new edition.
Although, to look at the bright side, it forces people to be more creative and really pushes them to spend more time in the creation aspect of the game.
“Tomodachi Life: Living the Dream” is the perfect example of the saying “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” It brings what the last game had to offer and improves upon it.
Without hardware limitations this time around, they were able to grab what made the first title so great and add onto it, which aids in making a game for everyone and anyone looking to scratch that creative itch.
It is by no means a perfect game, but I think that is what makes it so special. With a performance patch for the Nintendo Switch 2 hopefully on its way, you have another Nintendo banger! Go pick up your copy at your local store or online today!
