Decided that I will be purchasing this game on Sunday :-) thank you guys for the tips.

Tom Nook is a mobster who blackmails you into working for him. It's up to you to pay him off, while concealing your true nature from the populace. No one must know why there are so many traps everywhere.

Or, at least, that's how I played it.

Never played one in my life.

I still remember when Animal Crossing was first released on the Gamecube and I was going to play it but then didn't look appealing to me and I would try it but still got other games to play before settling down and relax.

Good question, I've always wondered about those games myself! :D

Some of you have really never experienced Animal Crossing? Then you haven't experienced true blissful, innocent fun (the only thing that isn't innocent about it is Tom Nook, who is one of the most notoriously evil characters in all of gaming). It just barely didn't make it to my top 10 games of all-time list (#11).

AS far as I can see it's like Sim Farmville. It's not my cup of tea but it has had a strong fanbase for a while and I get the impression that this most recent one is a good one.

GS gave it a 8.0, which is pretty good.  We can explain Animal Crossing in the best way possible, but the only way to really understand the charm of the game is to take the plunge and play it!

Let's put it this way:

It's a light, breezy, cartoonish economic/social sim.  With fishing.  And collecting.  And a house to decorate.  And lots of little quirks to discover.

It is addicting.

I even set up a game save for my video game-hating wife ( I created a character and ran errands for various characters and Tom Nook to accrue credits (bells) and earn early-game rent money -- dirty work she'd never do).

I showed her the basics and bought her her first fishing rod (fish are a money maker -- fruit trees are a good start, but fish = real money).

The next day after work, as I entered the house, there was my video game-hating wife, sitting on the arm of the couch, transfixed, controller in hand.  The very next instant, she pulled a barred knifejaw worth 5000 bells from the surf and gasped "Ohmygod!!  I've been trying three hours to catch one of these!"

Every video game aficionado should try it, even if only for a day or two.