There are plenty of spin-offs in gaming, but just like film and television, not all are instant hits. For every “Daxter,†there’s an “Animal Crossing: Happy Home Designer.â€
Although it does a solid job of recreating the cute and charming world of the original series, the gameplay is lather, rinse, repeat and does nothing to pull the gamer in and invest the real time needed in order to bring out the game’s finer qualities. Simply put, although there’s a bevy of creative tools at your disposal, it takes far too long and access them and as a result, you’ll find yourself giving up well before you get access to them.
The game’s strength is the interaction between characters. A new hire at Tom Nook’s interior and exterior home design company, you’re thrust into work from the get-go, working with a variety of customers, all with special needs and desires for their homes. Over time, you begin to build the town, creating, cafes, schools and hospitals, turning the small, cozy place into a much more vibrant community. While the investment has its moments (thanks especially to the fact that you can create custom designs) and it’s always cool to check out your finished product, there are several huge problems with the gameplay mechanics, making the game something much more childish than you’d expect.
While gamers can rate the designs of others using Nintendo’s Miiverse, there’s no real way your creations are graded in the single-player mode. All you really have to do is use the content given to you by the character at the start of every new level and you could call it a day. It makes all the time and energy fine-crafting each home a waste of time and eliminates any real reward.
Continue Reading This Artticle From Review Fix Editor-In-Chief Patrick Hickey Jr. at Examiner.com
Patrick Hickey Jr. is a full-time Assistant Professor of Communication & Performing Arts and Director of the Journalism program at Kingsborough Community College and is the chairman of the City University of New York Journalism Council. He is the Founder and Editor-In-Chief of ReviewFix.com. He's also a former News Editor at NBC Local Integrated Media and National Video Games Writer at Examiner.com where his work was mentioned in National Ad campaigns by Disney, Nintendo and EA Sports.
Hickey was also the Editor-In-Chief of two College Newspapers before he received his BA in Journalism from Brooklyn College. Hickey's work has been published in The New York Daily News, The New York Times, Complex, The Hockey Writers, Yahoo!, Broadway World, Examiner, NYSportScene Magazine, ProHockeyNews.com, GothamBaseball.com, The Syracuse Post-Standard, Scout.com and the official sites of the Brooklyn Aces and New York Islanders.
His first book, The Minds Behind the Games: Interviews With Cult And Classic Video Game Developers was released in April 2018 and is chock full of interviews with legendary developers. His second book in the series, The Minds Behind Adventures Games, was released in December 2019. His third book, The Minds Behind Sports Games, was released in September 2020. His fourth book, The Minds Behind Shooter Games, was released in March 2021. The Minds Behind Sega Genesis Games and The Minds Behind PlayStation Games were released in 2022 and The Minds Behind PlayStation 2 was published in January 2023.
Hickey is also a contracted comic book writer, currently penning his original series, "Condrey," as well as "The Job," "Brooklyn Bleeds" "Dem Gulls" and "KROOM" for Legacy Comix, where he serves as founder, owner and Editor-in-Chief.
Hickey Jr. is also a voice actor, having starred in the 2018 indie hit and 2019 Switch, PS4 and Xbox One release, The Padre (also serving as English language Story Editor), from Shotgun With Glitters. The sequel, The Padre: One Shell Straight to Hell was released in February 2021- Hickey also served as a Story Editor and Lead Voiceover performer. He has also done narration and trailers for several other titles including The Kaiju Offensive, Relentless Rex and Roniu’s Tale.
Hickey is also the lead voiceover performer on Mega Cat Studios’ upcoming title WrestleQuest, responsible for nearly 90 characters in the game, as well as Skybound's Renfield: Bring Your Own Blood, where he voices both Dracula and Renfield, as well as several other characters. He also stars in Ziggurat Interactive’s World Championship Boxing Manager 2, where he performs the VO of nearly every male character in the game. He also worked on the Atari VCS’s BPM Boy.
There are plenty of spin-offs in gaming, but just like film and television, not all are instant hits. For every “Daxter,†there’s an “Animal Crossing: Happy Home Designer.â€
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