The most refined and enjoyable Animal Crossing yet
As in previous titles in the series LGTTC has you playing as a human who has just moved to a town completely inhabited by animals. The game has no real objective and you are left to live your life in the town as you wish. The freedom this gives you is the real beauty of Animal Crossing because there's always plenty to do such as fishing, bug catching, shopping and helping out your fellow residents. The concept may seem thin and as if it will lack real lasting value but I constantly find myself coming back day after day to check up on the most recent goings on in my town.
The main draw of Animal Crossing that enables it to be so effective is the characters that live in your town. All the animals are charming and genuinely interesting to chat to. Up to 10 can live in your town at once and there's also a town hall, shop, tailors and museum for you to visit. It would have been nice to see some more places added to the town to make it more different from previous titles but this gripe is sorted out to a certain extent by the games one main addition, the city.
You can travel to the city by bus every day and once there you'll find a lot to do. This includes a salon, up market clothes store and much more, It's also a great place to meet animals who don't live in your town. Adding the city does increase the variety of the game however a lot of the shops were in the older games in the form of visitors to your town. Having the city in the game means that you get fewer visitors to your town but you still get the odd travelling carpet seller ot artist to mix up the game a little.
It would have been nice to see some improvements made to the graphics and sound of the game because both seem to be lifted from the DS title just with a little extra sheen for the Wii. These aren't crucial to the enjoyment of the game though and the graphical style is still the perfect fit.
Animal Crossing is also one of the few Wii games to incorporate Wii Speak communication. When visiting a friends town or vice-versa over Nintendo Wi-Fi connection you can chat to each other in real time which is a big improvement over the DS games text based chat. If you don't have Wii Speak then text communication is still available though. Visiting each others towns is just as enjoyable as it was on DS and is a great way to see how other people have decorated their houses and to meet even more characters. Sadly you can't visit the city together which isn't a major issue but would have been nice.
The game uses the clock and calender from your Wii which gives it the unique feature of having a full 365 day year with specific events happening on certain days such as Christmas and Easter and certain species of fish and bug only available during particular seasons. This gives the game real life span because you really do have to play the game for a full year to see everything it has to offer.
If you've already played an Animal Crossing game then you'll know what expect here and your enjoyment of that game will be enough to let you know if you want a slightly refined and improved but largely the same experience on the Wii. However for newcomers to the franchise it's the perfect place to start, whether you want to shop, collect or just chat to the locals there's always lots to see and do but beware, because it may just take over your life.