Animal Crossing: Wild World
ESRB rating: E
Wifi Compatible?: Yes
Multiplayer Two to four players local, two to four players wifi
Looking Back: In its Gamecube version, Animal Crossing was a truly unique game. Think about it; living in a virtual town inhabited entirely by animals, picking virtual weeds, running virtual errands, and fishing virtual fish. To an outsider, that would seem boring and repetitive. But, it's actually nothing even close to that. When I first rented Animal Crossing (GCN), I had my doubts. But I was proven wrong! Living and doing chores in my virtual town eventually became a daily ritual for me. Out of all my Gamecube games, I have spent the most time playing Animal Crossing. So, I
had to try out the second installment in the series, Animal Crossing: Wild World For Nintendo
DS.
Overview: Animal Crossing: Wild World (ACWW) again puts you in a virtual town inhabited by animals, just like the gamecube version. When your character, who can be male or female and have up to six unique looks for each gender, enters the town for the first time, they are greeted by the friendly (and greedy) shopkeeper Tom Nook. Nook proceeds to rent you a house. There's just one problem, though. You don't have nearly enough money! So, your "quest" begins. The main goal of ACWW is to pay off the mortgage on your house, as well as fill it with furniture. There are, however, literally thousands in which you may participate. You can plant trees, catch bugs, furnish your house, run errands for the animals to make money, or invite some friends over
DS to
DS communication (or wifi) and hang out. In fact, there are so many things to do that it would be impossible for me to explain them all on one page.
Graphics: 4/5: As with the Gamecube version, which got criticized for its graphics, ACWW's graphics really arent anything special. They are colorful, but slightly pixilated. (even for
DS)
Sound: 3/5: The best way I'd be able to describe the music is this: piano and whistling. Although joyful to listen to at first, it gets a bit repetitive. Although the music changes every hour, you'll always hear the same song again sometime soon. When you visit K.K. Slider, the guitar playing dog, you'll get a random song (out of about forty possible) to play in a radio at your house. Sound effects? Pretty good. Basic bang when your net hits the ground, splash when your fishing pole hits the water ect.
Gameplay: 5/5
Gameplay is seperated into 2 catagories, single player and multiplayer
Single player: Basically run around trying to make money to pay for and furnish your virtual house with. When it comes to control, you have two options. Option one is to use touch screen control. Similar to Super Mario 64
DS, you move your stylus or thumb strap around on the touch screen in the direction you want to move. Pretty neat, but difficult to use for some people (like me). Option two is using the control pad, which in my opinion is far easier and more accurate. I loved playing it. Single player gets a 5/5.
Multiplayer: In the Gamecube version of Animal Crossing, multiplayer was limited. Only one person could be in a town at a time. That changes in ACWW. In local
DS wireless play, simply open your town gate and people will be able to visit you, or the other way around. It's the same with wifi, except you have to add each others' friendcodes in order to travel. ACWW's true strongpoint is multiplayer mode. Players can exchange items, go fishing, play games, or just hang out and chat with the in game stylus keyboard on the touch screen. Multiplayer was really fun as well. It gets a 5/5
Replay Value: 5/5: If possible, replay value would get a 9 out of five. It's just that good! The game focuses on a yearly calander, during which there are weekly, monthly, and yearly events. Some examples are visiting Joan the turnip saleswoman every Sunday morning as well as Katrina the fortune telling cat coming every few weeks. There are Holidays as well. This game has even more replay value that its predecessor, and possibly the most in video game history!
Conclusion: Overall excellent game, bordering on classic. The replay value and multiplayer are ACWW's strong points, while graphics and sound bought it down slightly. AC's gamecube version was an experiment. Seeing how successful ACWW is, I'd say that experiment was a success!
This review was written by Snowdog4691 on November 25th, 2006, and may not be used or quoted without citing this source
Linear Mode
