Exploration confined to a town and without any action.
User Rating: 8.2 | Animal Crossing: Wild World DS
Animal Crossing was released along with such innovative intensive games like nintendogs and elite beat agents to show that while the psp was a graphics behemoth and a memory/gadget flashy whore, the nintendo ds was far ahead in conceptual brainstorming. Animal Crossing caters to handheld gamers who want something more than the typical action game. Life in the town of animal crossing is a credible simulation because it is depicted within a 3D world with convincing personalities and avatars. There are things people do "in real life" the most monotonous yet addictive things that reflects the repetitious nature in real life. This comes off as both boring and insightful. The world in Animal Crossing is very compact and condensed into a little town where a variety of things to do and events make your stay in animal crossing enjoyable. I was amused by the fact that most events corresponded to the system clock and calender and that every once in a while there would be a visitor or something unpredictable. This is a niche game in that it won't appeal to the casual action oriented gamer. While there may be chore minigames such as picking apples and fishing and digging for things and purchasing for home improvement, the game finds little in the way of action. violence is absent and the game has a very subdued, "chill" tone to it. Animal Crossing should have been fully functional as an online feature, however one has to consider how the game would have functioned given the memory to handle the amount of avatars visited and jumping from one town to the next. pros:
-virtual life made convincing by variety of animal personalities
-chores serve as minigames
-unpredictable events
cons:
-no plot, no action to sustain interest
-meant to be played in moderation
-online feature is very limited
