Animal Crossing: Amiibo Festival

Genre: Party Game / Board Game

Players: 2-4 Competitive (Local)

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Review:

Animal Crossing: Amiibo Festival is a Party Game released on Wii U in 2015. Coming packed-in with a pair of Amiibo, Animal Crossing: Amiibo Festival presents itself as an Animal Crossing themed alternative to Mario Party that will perhaps make creative use of your Amiibo figurines. Unfortunately, the truth is a bit different than that.

Okay, I won’t bury the lead any further – this game is a rip-off. If you somehow manage to track down a used copy of the game without its Amiibo figurines, it is literally unplayable. What’s more, this game only works with Animal Crossing Amiibo figurines. You know, those figurines that aren’t useful for any other videogame (aside from the Villager and Isabel figurines, which can at least be used in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate). And more than that, each player is required to use a different Amiibo figurine, meaning that even new in the box, this game is only a two-player game – those wanting to play with additional players need to seek out extra Amiibo figurines, specifically Animal Crossing series Amiibo figurines (apparently the Animal Crossing card Amiibos don’t count, nor do Amiibo figures from other game franchises).

Okay, but let’s say that doesn’t bother you. You bought the game new and only want to play it in 2-player mode using the Amiibo figures out of the box, or you’re an Amiibo fanatic who’s collected multiple Animal Crossing series Amiibo figures to play with. Surely this will be a fun game then, right? Animal Crossing-themed Mario Party sounds great!

Well, that’s almost the case. See, this is Animal Crossing-themed Mario Party… without the minigames. Let me say that again, this game plays like Mario Party, but without the minigames… you know, the main reason anyone plays Mario Party. Instead, players simply move around a game board after rolling a random die, and what little choice they have in the game simply comes down to which path to take when the road forks, whether to use single-use items, and whether or not to make a purchase when the opportunity comes. In other words, this boils down to being a Board Game that’s actually worse than Monopoly.

As if that wasn’t enough, the game even forces players to tap their Amiibo figures on the Wii U gamepad every. single. turn. Seriously, it’s like they were trying to make you hate this game.

If there’s one redeeming feature here, it’s the presentation, which makes use of Animal Crossing’s lovely aesthetic, its cute little characters and their babble-speak, and even throws in some flavor by having them describe different mundane events in their lives as you go around the board. This is actually a really nice touch, and it’s a shame that it’s wasted on such a garbage game.

Do not buy Animal Crossing: Amiibo Festival. Not if you’re an Amiibo fan, not if you’re an Animal Crossing fan, not if you’re a Mario Party fan. This game disappoints on every front. Don’t waste your money on this shameless cash grab. Even Tom Nook would be ashamed to be associated with something like this.

tl;dr – Animal Crossing: Amiibo Festival is what happens if you take Mario Party, add an Animal Crossing theme… then remove the minigames, force players to buy extra Animal Crossing-themed Amiibos just to play multiplayer, and then force them to repeatedly tap those Amiibos every single turn, just because the game hates you and wants you to know it hates you. The presentation here is so nice and lovely, but everything else about this game is a HARD NO.

Grade: F

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