There are next to no restrictions on when you can do things. You can go fishing, collect clams, dig up fossils, go shopping for clothes and furniture, chat with your neighbors and write them letters, participate in town events, and tons more whenever you feel like it. The only major thing is that the game runs according to the real world clock, so for example, there are some villagers that only show up at night, and you won't be able to interact with them during the day. But this is natural enough that it's not too much of a bother; you can always go off and do other activities until the right time comes up for your target goals.

Animal Crossing: New Leaf puts you in the shoes of a mayor of a village of talking animals, where you get to manage the village's events and generally make decisions to make your neighbors happy. While you can make plenty of bureaucratic decisions like when and where to host village get-togethers and events, you also get to manage your own home, your character, and your finances. It gets more in-depth than what you may expect, providing some pretty addictive fun in getting everything just right.

Finding the best ways to decorate your house with furniture you bought or received as gifts from your friendly neighbors, collecting new clothes to customize your character, and somehow earning enough money to pay off your home mortgage loan are all part of your daily life in Animal Crossing. You can easily get hooked from all the ways you can pick and choose from so many different activities.

The game opens up a lot with the multiplayer activities with your StreetPass friends through the Nintendo 3DS. You and a group can all join up in one of your friends' towns to hang out together at town events, play mini-games, or just generally get up to all kinds of trouble by terrorizing the villagers if you really wanted to. Anything you do here doesn't affect the host's actual town, so you can make the neighbors angry, cut down all the trees, or whatever else without worrying about your friend losing out on their own progress in single-player.