Dracula is busy shouting at the sea, Buffy the Vampire Slayer is fighting with her roommate Lara Croft, and Frodo Baggins just confessed his feelings to Sonic the Hedgehog. This is a typical day on my island in Nintendo's Tomodachi Life: Living the Dream, which, to my delight, is becoming more unhinged with every new highly customized Mii I create. That's the joy of Tomodachi Life, though. It's a wacky vehicle of creativity, where admittedly you don't do much. But, despite the lack of traditional goals, being a virtual overseer has its appeal and, in my case, I'm already hooked on all the drama unfolding in my highly curated, cartoony amalgamation of pop culture characters.
There really is no franchise like this Nintendo gem, as many fans of the last entry, Tomodachi Life for the 3DS, will tell you. The games are an odd life simulation that centers around Nintendo's customizable avatars known as "Miis". Players create new Miis (complete with their own delightfully weird robotic voices), play surreal mini-games with them, and assist them with any personal dramas they may be having with other Miis on the island. This unique feeling, but still barebones gameplay formula, is back in Tomodachi Life: Living the Dream, and to someone who hasn't experienced it before, it can seem like a hard sell. However, the best way I can explain its addictive appeal is by using reality TV as an example.
