Not challenging in any way, Animal Crossing is another great way to live a virtual life.
You start out on a train. This weird cat, Rover, asks you what your name is. He then asks you where you are going. Whatever you enter there is what the town name will be. You get to the town, and get off the train after Rover has a talk with someone. You enter town and find that someone to be Tom Nook. He basically gives you a house, and when it is time to collect the money, you find you only have 1,000 bells, which bells are the form of currency. The house was 19,500 so how will you pay the rest off? Why work it off of course!
Ok, so now you are working for Tom Nook, for a while. You only work a little, and then Tom Nook doesn't need anymore help. You are free to go! But you still have to pay the rest off. He tells you to do it on your own. You can earn these bells by shaking a tree and hoping 100 fall out, you can sell stuff, or you can do work for people and they might give you bells.
How else is this like the Sims? Well you can decorate your house using items. There isn't a huge variety, but it should be good enough to satisfy. There are a variety of items, most of which are theme-based. There is also something called the HRA, the Happy Room Academy. What they will do is score your home based on themes in different rooms and there are also some items that give you extra points. They are annoying at times because you have to join and they won't let you live your style good enough.
In the game, there are other villagers, also animals. If you talk to them, you can do a job for them or just talk. There is quite some interaction. One of the things that you can do is send mail to other villagers and they WILL reply. Send them an item and they will send another one right back. You can also make them upset or mad if you push them or hit them with a net. Also if you don't do what they want you to do, they will be mad. Each person has their own personality, so they like different stuff. Their personality effects whether they get upset or mad.
The game has fossils in it which you can sell to Tom Nook, after you send it somewhere. You have to send it to this place that examines fossils by mail. They will send it back a day later and then you can either give it to Blathers for his museum, or sell it to Tom Nook for some high prices. You can also sell fish, some of which sell for large prices, up to 25,000 bells.
Ok, so what happens after you pay off your debt? Hey, Tom Nook says you can upgrade your house. Lets say you don't want it. Too bad! Tom Nook MAKES you upgrade until you just can't upgrade anymore. That is why Tom Nook is considered not only a penny pinching cheapskate, but a crook.
Anything that should be mentioned? Well there is feature where if you have a town, one on each two memory cards, you can put another memory card in Slot B and go visit that town. It's a very neat idea, but is the only thing that runs very slow. It also isn't as neat as it should be as you are still doing the same things you could do in your town. Also what should be mentioned is the gameplay. All you really do is talk to animals and pay off a debt, and after you pay off every dept, the only thing more you can really do is stare at your statue (if you have one). So the story doesn't get points here but it does deserve credit to the fact that the game doesn't just end.
Overall, Animal Crossing is a great game. I've always wanted to talk to animals but I didn't want Tom Nook's recession crisis. It is a great game for those who may like animals but especially for those who enjoy virtual lives.