Animal Crossing – Review

Quirky Quaint and quite frankly fantastic. Welcome to Animal Crossing you lonely little soul. No home, no job.. but fear not Mr Tom Nook will rescue you, give you a shack.. err. I mean a house to live in and a job to work at whilst you pay him back the mortgage. Meet the animals in the town, dig for fossils, plant trees, go fishing, run errands. Sounds dull? Trust me, its anything but. This game will easily suck hours of your life away as you continue to amass as much money as you can to buy, build and grow. You’ve had a long time to wait for this title on this side of the Atlantic, even our Antipodean cousins got to taste the animal crossing cookie over a year before us. Has time ruined this a-grade title? Well some may respond with a resounding yes but I feel a great title is always a great title but clearly the overwhelming hype and the previous wondrous reviews are going to take the shine off the UK and European release. Don’t let this ruin it for you in anyway. I seriously urge you to get out there and buy this title. Let me tell you why.

When you first load up Animal Crossing you might be a little underwhelmed by the look of the game. Sure its cute but in a world of flashy lighting, amazing sound and subtle yet effective graphics, Animal Crossing seems to be just another cute looking yet graphically flat game. Your character is either male or female, a nice touch, and you can name them and for the rest of the game this is what they’ll be known as by their prospective friends. You can even name your own town and although these little things seem small, they really add to the overall personal feeling of the game. You’ll enter Animal Crossing and be greeted by Tom Nook, local entrepreneur and willing helper. He’ll get you to do some errands for him and reward you accordingly. You’ll get to see your lovely little shack and this is where it all begins. The surroundings in Animal Crossing are bright and cheery and they make you want to succeed. There are trees, rocks, a river, post office, tom nooks shop, museum and more.

The entire premise of Animal Crossing is to meet other inhabitants, make a great town, build your home until its exactly as you want it and eventually if you do all this well enough you’ll be rewarded with a great little token which I’m not going to spoil for you all by telling you what it is here. The thing that makes Animal Crossing so different however is the subtleties contained within it. You can spend hours fishing and catching various fish to sell to Tom Nook or donate to the museum. It never becomes boring. You want to see your little inhabitant succeed. It becomes the ultimate goal to run as many errands as possible for the other town inhabitants.

Animal Crossing is fairly unique in that it appears to be a game which appeals to a really diverse age group. I’ve known grown men, young kids and all the other possibilities be completely addicted to this game. Perhaps it’s the fact that its played in real time that adds to its authenticity. You can literally spend your entire day in-sync with your characters and the clock keeps perfect time. Because of this, you’re privy to all the usual holidays and occasions throughout the year. You’ll get snow and Christmas decorations at Christmas, Halloween outfits for trick and treating, summer solstice, autumn leaves and so much more. You’ll even get presents sent to you and letters from other inhabitants when its your birthday. This is what makes this game great. The ability to catch different bugs in the summer from those you can catch in winter makes such a huge impact on the longevity of the game. The nice addition of a nasty mole popping up should you try and restart your game or change the clock to get better items is a brilliant little touch. He’ll basically reprimand you and wont at all be happy at the fact you’re cheating. This can infact ruin your entire game up to that point so I don’t recommend it to ANYone. The game comes with its own memory card which is a great extra and trust me when you start building your character and their life, you wont want to go messing around with what you’ve saved by trying to cheat.

Overall its far too difficult to neatly condense all the nuances of this game into a review. Its such a well designed and thought out game that its impossible not to love it. The original additions which are stamped all over this game make it memorable. You can collect game machines for your character and then actually play them. These games are classic Nintendo games such as Donkey Kong etc and it’s a fun distraction for a while. You can also go and visit friends towns if they bring their memory cards over and this has tons of benefits. You can plunder their fruits and take them back to your town where they will grow and because they’re foreign fruits you’ll get more money for them. The prettier your town is the more people will want to move into it and this adds to the overall happiness of your little character. You have the option of linking a GBA and going to visit a tropical island where you can find original and unusual fruits, items and animals. Even the trip to the island is beautifully animated and interesting as you are treated to a song by the local boatman.

Animal Crossing is one of the best games Nintendo have ever released in my opinion. It really is that good. You will find yourself worrying about your town and wondering what new things will be waiting for you when you switch it on next. You may even find yourself imitating Animal Crossing sounds whilst out with your friends. Trust me, you’ll say woo hoo woo hoo at least once away from the game after playing it. The great news is that its going to be arriving soon on the DS so you’ll be able to play this game on the move. Waiting in lines will never be the same again. Go. Buy. Now.

Review by Tracy

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