Such an amazing game that it can't keep up with itself.
In Magician's Quest, your main goal is to solve the 52 mysteries that become available weekly in the game and to form relationships with your town members. You're free to decorate rooms, fish, catch bugs, dig up treasure, and look at the night sky...typical AC fare, right? But the reason this game can stand on its own is because of all the little annoyances in AC which Konami fleshed out this time around.
The premise of the game is cute and sweet. You play as a wizard, attend magic school, learn 100+ spells, and go around town collecting mushrooms to sell for profit. Now you know you have some sort of goal, versus the mindless "paying off the rent" in AC. The stores are much less tedious to shop in because the shop keepers understand what "personal space" means. The slew of characters offered in this game is filled with variety as well. Few are animals--in fact, a good number of them are zombies, cute robots, strawberries, pixies, and even cellphones! They all have their own personality and ideas…but what's more is the ability for you to go on "play-dates" with them. You can bring them with you wherever you like and engage in fun activities together. Hungry? Why not grab a bowl of steaming ramen at Charlie's Noodle Stand? Bored? Go for a spin in the local Juice Bar! And here's the kicker-if you get cozy enough with your buddy, you guys can form a romantic relationship. (No same sex ones, unfortunately.)
You also get a visual orgasm when you enter "Mystery Time"-a special quest day, per se, where your wizarding world takes on a completely new atmosphere and you get to solve one of the 52 mysteries afterwards.
Other little goodies that Konami packed into this game include:
-Forming an impromptu band with your classmates. Only requirement is an instrument, which you can play outside your dormitory.
-Amazing graphics which span both screens, making the world a marvel to look at.
-Visit caves, islands, woods, and fungi forests.
-Eventually own a treehouse.
-11 characters in town with you at once.
-"Real" class setting for learning your wizard skills.
-Other town residents aren't as snobby/annoying
-Awesome shopping galleria with 6 shops. Shop owners are respectful and polite.
-Huge variety of music, I wish Konami packed a CD with this one.
The world in Magician's Quest is far more expansive than that of Animal Crossing's. Sadly, they're not randomly generated so visiting other people's towns won't be as "different" or "exciting." There's also a couple of load screens which can prove to be an annoyance after a while. One last thing I'd like to point out-and this can hardly be a fault-is that the game is SO content-packed that it seems to overwork itself at times, and almost freezes up. But how many of you have owned a game that can't be contained by its own cartridge?