Tomodachi Life: Living the Dream Nintendo Switch REVIEW

Tomodachi Life: Living the Dream (Nintendo Switch) REVIEW 

Review written by Omar Solanji

We interrupt to bring you some breaking news: Omar's verdict for Tomodachi Life: Living the Dream is in.

Fans of the 3DS game are champing at the bit to lose their lives to this long-dreamt-for sequel. Many have waited since 2014 to create more freakishly terrifying Miis and test the limits of humanity and absurdity.

We asked the residents for their reaction. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.” said Ethan, an advocate for the previous game.

I’m Omar, and you’re up-to-date.

If you've been on the internet for the past month or so, you've definitely seen a clip or two of someone playing Tomodachi Life: Living the Dream, the sequel to the 2014 hit Nintendo 3DS game Tomodachi Life.  This game is a very Nintendo-esque take on games such as The Sims, as opposed to a normal life-sim or even a game like Animal Crossing.

You are the master of your own island, which you populate with Miis of all kinds: yourself, real-life family members, friends, celebrities, or characters from TV shows and media you love (or hate). Add more Miis to your island and you unlock more stores and buildings, plus your island will gradually get bigger, allowing you to place more decorations and continue creating the most chaotic set of island residents imaginable. This is all about creating Miis and letting them live their lives. Oh, and what silly lives they live.

Living the Dream started off as one of the funniest video games I’ve ever played. The laughter starts at minute one, when I’m creating my own Mii and messing around with the voice filters. The Mii creator is absurdly detailed with hundreds of options and the ability to draw on your character’s face (more on that later).

But the voices, once you start giving your character tones that make them sound like everything is a question, or they speak so high-pitched you can’t understand a word they’re saying - that’s when the fun begins.

As I began to populate my island, I got to witness some of the most absurdly funny interactions. I was on the floor laughing too many times at the bizarre dreams my Miis were having. Seances with rabbits, coral, or shells, spring rides through safari parks, an avalanche of red velvet cakes (terribly made by yours truly).

One time, some of my Miis gathered in a restaurant and spoke in a sitcom-esque manner, like watching an episode of Cheers but the cast is your best friend, sibling, Kazuma Kiryu from the Yakuza game series and professional wrestler CM Punk.  

And that’s the thing: Living the Dream is much more interactive than the original Tomodachi Life was on 3DS. Miis will actually walk around the island now and talk to other Miis themselves; you can pick them up and take them to any place of your choosing, have them stare at trees or use vending machines, or sit at tables on their own. You can pet them on the head or give them food or new clothes to make them happy.

Raising happiness is the one thing you really want to do in Living the Dream, as doing so gives you wishes, which you can spend at the Wishing Fountain. The best way to do this is to figure out what kind of clothes, gifts, or foods each Mii likes — which is basically trial-and-error — or to solve their Troubles by talking to them when they have a little bubble above their heads.

There’s a rhythm to Living the Dream, a kind of short-session game where I’ll load up my island, see what new food items the shop has, how much money I’ll spend on clothes, and go around and fix Miis' problems by feeding them what they want or getting them to make friends with another resident. Sometimes I'll play a minigame with a few of them, like bowling, or What's Missing?

Or I can just muck about: I can drag my Mii to hang out with Sol Badguy from the Guilty Gear fighting games and talk about the concept of larping, as long as I’ve introduced the word ‘larping’ to the in-game dictionary. Or Leon from Resident Evil can talk to Hatsune Miku about “a sealed copy of MVC2 on Dreamcast”. Romances, marriages, and relationships can flourish or fizzle out with a little encouragement. I can even draw an approximation of things like album covers & real world items as a Treasure to give to another resident.

In fact, the creativity is incredible across the board. Not only can you draw your Mii's face, but you can actually design structures — I designed a roller coaster to put in my theme park/boardwalk area of my island — create interiors and exteriors for your Mii's houses, design your own food, books, and video games, and even create custom pathways.

You can use the touchscreen for all of these things, and for a few other moments in-game, like petting your Miis and using the in-game keyboard. But the touchscreen functionality is weirdly limited. I can’t use it to pick up my Miis or decorate my island in Build Mode. I can’t even use it in most menus. It’s a bizarre choice that honestly sometimes makes the customization a bit too tedious. 

Back to Build Mode, this was one of my favorite parts of the game, but as I unlocked more and more decorations, the variety felt a little limited. I still redecorate and rearrange my island frequently thanks to how simple it is, but it’s here where I start to see my issues with the game.

Because, without the customization options, Living the Dream is basically an elaborate game of watching goldfish and imagining personalities for them. And that’s been a struggle for me. As funny as the game can be (and very much is thanks to how customizable a lot of things are), the novelty of the bizarre hijinks starts to wear off and the game can tend to get grindy, even for a game that's supposed to be at your own pace.

I’m over 30 hours into the game, and I’ve seen at least five different Miis ride a spring bear in front of a realistic photo of a lion. I’ve watched multiple residents get stuck in a hiccup rut. I might get a new cutscene every so often if I drag John Cena over to Yukari Takeba from Persona 3, but they also might just walk off and chat together.

Even as I unlocked new buildings, new items, got a few new cutscenes and interactions, or got Miis to move in together, I felt like I was falling into the same rhythms all the time. Poke and prod Miis, drag them around, feed them, create a new Mii, get them integrated, and so on. The loop can get really repeditive, which the short play sessions helped with, but playing the game and trying new things sometimes felt meaningless.

Trying to get certain Miis to fall in love, especially the more Miis you have, sometimes felt a little hit-and-miss. I put my CM Punk Mii with his real life partner, fellow professional wrestler AJ Lee's Mii many times and, for a while, there was the threat of my best friend Jordan taking her away from him. It did make the eventual joining together and marriage all the sweeter, at least.

Or sometimes Miis who are labeled as "Ultra Friends" get into fights and start throwing things at each other because Dickerson finds it annoying how Rafa is suspicious about any food they eat.  Thankfully, just like real life, dumb little squabbles are able to be repaired, however some Miis just straight up become enemies.

In fact, relationships are another area where Living the Dream has made big strides forward. The game has no restrictions on gender or relationships, to the point where you essentially have aromantic Miis who just want to be friends and live together. That, plus the addition of a non-binary gender option, choice of pronouns, and lack of clothing restrictions means inclusivity is next level.

Creating a plethora of Miis has been a bit of a tonic for me over the past few weeks, and is the most surprising thing I love about Living the Dream. But once that creative process is over, despite all of the improvements the game makes over the original Tomodachi Life, I feel myself slipping back into that rhythm that has worn me out a little.

For as many times as I’ve laughed, I’ve sat blank-faced, trying to figure out whether Goro Majima likes fried spring rolls or milkshake. I wish it's an experience I could share with others a little easier, too, but with the online restrictions — including restricting sharing Miis, which I do understand — it feels a lot more solitary than it should. Unlocking new things brings a little spark to it, too, but I’d say I’ve been Living the Nice Life rather than the Dream, and that’s alright.

Conclusion

Tomodachi Life: Living the Dream is the strangest thing you’ll play from Nintendo, bringing with it laughs and creativity in abundance. But even with improvements over the 3DS game, it follows a familiar structure that isn’t always enthralling or hilarious.

Long time Tomodachi fans will certainly be living the dream with this new entry, but I’m not desperate to keep coming back to my island. A little more variety would’ve been welcome, but the customization, and the thought of Japanese pro-wrestling legend Kenta Kobashi becoming best friends with Terry Bogard from Fatal Fury, will have me peep in every so often for a little pick-me-up.

We here at Gamestellation give Tomodachi Life: Living the Dream for Nintendo Switch:

7/10

Pros:

-Hilarious much of the time

-Much more interactive than the 3DS game

-Inclusivity is a big step forward, especially for Nintendo

-Customization & island building is very expansive

Cons:

-Game can feel repetitive even with all the extra interactivity

-Weirdly limited touch-screen implementation

-Some aspects need a bit more variety

Worth it?

-Yes, especially if you're a fan of games like The Sims