Animal Crossing: Wild World
Released: 2006
Game system: Nintendo DS
Quickrate: 9/10 - for a long term, gentle game
Story: Animal Crossing: Wild World is a generally open-ended village setting where you participate in village life and generally try to pay off your mortgage so you can get a bigger house. In a way, there is no story at all, and your ‘story’ revolves around the little conversations, gossip and dispute of the villagers, or how you build up the museum collection or move towards a personal goal (like collecting all pink furniture etc). However, don’t let the absence of any real ‘plot’ fool you - like Sims, this is a thoroughly absorbing game...
Gameplay:3D open-ended/ ‘sims style’ game.
Gameplay basically consists of you - the player- joining a new town and gradually settling in. You soon find that the local shopkeeper and jack-of-all-trades Tom Nook (a sleepy-eyed Racoon) has secured a new house for you in the village, and as a result you have to work and collect items to sell back to him to raise the ‘bells’ to pay off your mortgage. You meet villagers and as your house expands, as you buy more from Tom, and just generally as the villagers move in and out, your game expands and changes. Each day is a new bit of excitement as you wonder what the new items in the lost&found are, if there’s peaches regrown on the trees, what fish are in the rivers and if you’ll be able to find any fossils or even floating gifts! You do errands, you design constellations, you collect, and you just generally have a relaxing and good time. The gameplay changes as the seasons do too, making new bugs and fish available, and even bringing their own national holidays.
None of this seems particularly remarkable when you read it, and indeed you do have to ‘get into it’ a little before you judge the game. But, like the fish you reel in by the river, you -the gamer- will be taken in hook, line and sinker in no time. It’s like crack - seriously.
The main addictive quality is that, even if it is a somewhat sleepily peaceful and gentle game, the experience changes every day, the villagers seem genuinely interested in you, and the game is always evolving. You log on every day with a little smile of anticipation, wondering what’s new and what’s changed. When you relax into the game and take it for what it is, it’s immensely enjoyable.
Like many games on the DS, it’s a long term game you enjoy in small doses over months at a time. In a way, this seems to be what the DS is designed for, and animal crossing is a great realisation of the console’s audience and capibilities.
How you play the game is dependant on you. It’s surprising: for example I always look for fish and fossils to put in the museum, and seeing the dinosaur skeletons being gradually assembled and the exhibits going up makes me happy and satisfied. In fact, most of my game revolves around this collecting aspect. But my sister has no desire whatsoever for that sort fo stuff -haha
Also a cool feature is that you can have upto 4 players, and they all share one house. When you ‘wake up’ to play, your roommates are sleeping in their respective beds beside you...gaaawww :3
Characters:
The characters are always changing, especially since the villagers move in and out, but here are a few regulars ...
Tom Nook ~ A sleepy eyed Racoon and shopowner, Nook’s always keeping you on your toes by upgrading your house so you have a new mortgage to pay -haha
Blathers The Museum Owl ~ My favourite character, mainly because I spend most of my time in the village stocking up the museum. He sleeps in the day and talks too much, but he’s a sweetheart and a well of information
Redd ~ the local conman who visits the village every now and again. You can get in his shop if you have a password, but don’t trust this wily fox...
‘guitar Dog’ ~ (yup forgot his name). Every saturaday he’ll come to the cafe and play his guitar for you :3
Music: The music is repetitive, but quite sweet. How the characters talk can be taken as cute or annoying. I go with cute, and is dependant on the animal they are :3
Rate: 9/10
