Animal Crossing: Wild World Updated Hands-On

Animal Crossing: Wild World is probably one of the most anticipated Wi-Fi games for Nintendo's DS system. The popular series, which began on the Nintendo 64 in Japan, quickly caught on with US audiences when it was released on the GameCube in 2002. Despite the game's popularity on the GameCube--to date it has sold more than a million copies--a sequel has yet to appear, which has left a void for fans. Although not a traditional sequel, Animal Crossing: Wild World seems poised to offer fans an Animal Crossing experience that actually surpasses the original game. Besides offering fans more of the same awesome non-player-character interaction, character customization, and item collection found in the original game, Wild World will offer the one feature fans have clamored for since the first game: online play via Nintendo's upcoming Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection. Nintendo reps demoed the promising new entry in the series at the recent gamers' summit in Seattle, and they let us tear in to the most recent work in progress.

The demo offered a top-level overview of the game's highlights. Up to four players can have characters inhabiting the same cartridge's "town." You'll all be portrayed as roommates sharing the same digs. Obviously, only one of the house's occupants can be out and about at a given time, so your roomies will simply appear to be sleeping as you head in to town to conduct your business. If you're a fan of the Animal Crossing series, then you should be right at home with just what that business is. You'll be foraging for goods to keep the local museum rolling in paintings, fossils, fish, and insects. Unfortunately, the loot you collect won't include classic NES games. The blow from that loss is cushioned some by the promise of more events in the game that are tied to holidays. However, since Nintendo is aiming to make Animal Crossing: Wild World a global product, the events are tied less to real-world holidays and more to special days in the game's universe.

Animal Crossing's museum has undergone some expansion since the GC game and now features a basement café run by a pigeon named Brewster. While the mellow locale serves as a the perfect setting for some people watching, as locals will typically all come chill for a bit with some java, it jumps on Saturday thanks to the unique song stylings of the incomparable guitar-playing pooch, K.K. Slider. In addition, a second-floor observatory run by curator Blathers' sister Celeste, another quirky owl, will actually let you design constellations for the sky in your game that you can trade with friends. Another locale in town that has undergone some upgrades is the town hall itself, which houses the post office and helps facilitate permanently moving characters from one town to another, ensuring that you can take your alter ego from a shared game to your own digs on a shiny new cartridge.

As with the previous Animal Crossing, the town will feature all manner of eccentric locals. Some you'll recognize from Animal Crossing on the GameCube, while others will be all new. The residents will sport a good deal more personality, as evidenced by more-complex daily routines meant to reflect their lives. The locals will now have friends and enemies in town. In some cases, you'll stumble onto trouble brewing, as locals start feuding within earshot of you. In fact, Nintendo reps mentioned that in some cases you might even get sucked in to verbal disagreements, as a pair of feuding residents may seek your opinion if you happen to be close enough for them to flag down. As before, animal speak will come in a few different variations. Fans of the GC game's clothing-designing action will be pleased to discover a wealth of wardrobe-customization possibilities.

Now, although there is a plethora of similarities between the GC and DS games, the DS version sports a number of exclusive elements that benefit from the portable system's unique features. First off, the game is completely controllable via the touch screen. You'll be able to get around by simply pointing or tapping your way around the world. The assorted menus you'll navigate can be accessed by tapping an onscreen icon in the upper right of the screen to call up a listing of icons that represent all the menus available to you. You'll simply tap the corresponding icon to call up your map, or whatever else you need to access. For those frightened of the touch screen or stylus control, you'll be able to use the DS's D pad and buttons to get around as well.

The most significant DS-specific feature in Animal Crossing, though, is the game's Wi-Fi support, which lets you play locally with friends or globally over Nintendo's Wi-Fi Connection service. You'll access the functionality within the game by visiting a new part of town--a large gate in the north--and then speaking to the guards there. In asking them to open the gate, you'll choose to open it to receive visitors, or you'll venture out of your stomping grounds. If you're receiving guests, the game will let up to four people into your town to socialize. Though the game is geared more toward only letting friends into your town, it is possible to scope around to check out new towns. Of course, as anyone who has let a so-called "friend" visit his or her town in the GC game only to discover a certain degree of calamity--in the form of catastrophic levels of deforestation, waste-management issues, and copious amounts of profanity, for instance--we can tell you that sometimes you have to intervene to preserve the sanctity of your community.

As a result, the game will let you add friends. But more importantly, it will also let you kick them out in case they're getting a little too destructive. The game will feature enhanced content sharing that will do more than simply transplant a single resident from your hood to your guest's: It will also come to include other elements from the game. Taking your character online and looking for a homestead globally is an interesting new feature that you'll find at the gate. This time out, you'll choose whether you want to visit a local town or--if you're near a Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection hot spot--a global town. Another DS-specific feature is the ability to save anywhere, which makes the experience perfect for gaming on the go.

Following the demo of the game, we had a chance to try out a work-in-progress version of it to get a feel for the experience. Starting a new game will find you in a car driven by the amphibian Kapp'n, who is your taxi driver when you arrive to town. The brief ride runs you through a series of questions from the good Kapp'n, which lets you set your character's name and gender. Once in town, you have roughly five to 10 minutes of pleasurable exploring before the reappearance of the dreaded Tom Nook, who slaps the debt shackles on you. From then on out, you're essentially his indentured servant until you pay off the mortgage to your house.

We didn't get too much beyond this opening. As always, the insane raccoon is charging you prices equal to several body parts, in addition to his standard "arm and a leg" rates, so we were too in debt to get out from under his thumb in our play time. Still, based on what we played and saw demoed, Animal Crossing: Wild World has all the makings of virtual crack for the DS that fans of the series will want posthaste. The game looks to be a fun extension of the promising series and will be a must-have for the DS when it ships this December. The game's draw comes from its clever use of the hardware and its smart showcase of the Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection. Animal Crossing: Wild World is slated to ship this December for the Nintendo DS. Look for more on the game soon.