Animal Crossing is a unique and egaging title that really has no peer. It's combination of various small aspects, and generally laid back pacing give it a totally different feel. It isn't deep, nor does it contain a compelling story, but in its own quiet way, the game is fun and funny. The premise is this. You are leaving home to live in a small town inhabited with animals. You feed the computer information via a conversation on the train. When you get off, you meet Tom Nook, who will give you a lovely start up house, although you are short. The only goal you have is to get the funds to pay off Tom Nook, but after that, you are pretty much free to do whatever you wish. There are quite a few things to do in Animal Crossing, which is where much of the appeal come from. You can pattern your clothes, bury and dig up stuff, reformat the land, search for fossils, decorate your home, run errands and generally, you can find something to do. Some of these activities opt for collectability rather than depth, such as bug and fish catching. The more creative based activies such as decoration and pattern design may capture the interest of players for more hours, but ultimately, Animal Crossing is about having a lot of things to do, rather than a few in depth things to do. Three other major components include character interaction, time events and the multiplayer aspect. Character interaction usually boils down to you talking with the characters, and getting various responses out of them. There is no social fabric, if you upset them, it won't affect your relationship with them for more than five minutes, and pleasing them won't do much either. More or less, your relationship with them is disappointingly always flatlined, but the character interaction remains compelling, for the sheer amount of text in the game. There are a lot of characters, but they all come from a few general personality archetypes. All of these types have hundreds of monologues, meaning you could spend a lot of time just reading what they have to say. This is where a lot of the game's humour comes from. Time based events help give the game variety, too. Based on the Gamecube's internal clock, the game acts in a somewhat real-time manner. Nook's shop has specific hours of operation, animals go to bed at certain times, and a few special events only occur at night. More importantly, there are events based on your calender, some of which are based on real holidays, others are just Animal Crossing specific. These really help add a bit of punch to the game, keeping it from becoming routine. There is a multiplayer aspect to the game, but calling it that can be kind of decieving. Up to four players can live in town, but only one player can be in the town at one time. Still, Animal Crossing is a very sociable game. You get plenty of opportunities to help each other out, double cross one another, write letters, and basically try and figure out what you want done with the town. It is very easy to sucker another person into Animal Crossing. As a bonus, Animal Crossing includes several NES games. Some of these choices aren't that thrilling, such as Donkey Kong Junior Math and Golf, but there are some genuinely good games that make it a nice bonus. The fact that you can get a whole game out of an inventory item is excellent, if space consuming. Visually, the game just doesn't do much. It is colourful and attractive, but not much else. It is an N64 game in origin, and it shows. Blocky, but pleasant looking. The sound fares a little better, though it shows some age too. Bright, cheerful and upbeat to a fault, all of the tunes could potentially get stuck in your head, and drive you crazy as a result. The ability to gain tunes, and play them in your house is a nice touch, and there is a little town theme composure mini-game, so there is a touch of interactivity with the sound. There is no voice acting, which would have been pretty much impossible without compromising the game drastically, but each Animal has its own tone, which gives them a bit of personality. Sound effects are merely passable, and you will hardly noitce. Overall, it looks and sounds pleasing, if not well done from a technical standpoint. Animal Crossing is a neat game with neat ideas. You won't find a real in depth experience, but in many ways, it feels like the ultimate time waster. There's enough to see and do to keep you busy for literally hundreds of hours, with a minimum feeling of retreading old content. For its addictive qualities, odd gameplay, and pure charm, Animal Crossing comes highly recommended.
A friend of mine recently found Animal Crossing buried in his bedroom, and he gave it to me because I had bought my GameCube off of him a few years back. I always wanted to try this interesting looking game, and let m... Read Full Review
(Please read the whole review before rating. Thanks ) GAMEPLAY: This game really doesn't have a story and really doesn't need one. It's a very cute sim. But here is the way it starts anyway. Your on a train and a cat... Read Full Review
