Animal Crossing: City Folk

Animal Crossing: City Folk

Publisher: Nintendo
Developer: Nintendo
Players: 1-4
ESRB Rating: E

Animal Crossing: City Folk (AC:CF for short) is the third and latest game in the Animal Crossing series. This is the right game for any Nintendo gamer who just wants a relaxing, casual game. You can hang out with your friends on Wifi, go fishing for extra money, you can even try designing your own clothes and also celebrate holidays as the days pass. Not everything is perfect, however. Animal Crossing: City Folk still has some flaws.

Something notable in every Animal Crossing game so far, is the fact that it has no real storyline. At the start of the game, you have to work for Nook and get a few simple jobs done. The main point of doing this is for a small introduction to the game as well as a tutorial for beginners. Nintendo have used this introduction to their advantage, making it a more interesting start. However, for veterans to the Animal Crossing series this can get slightly boring as you know exactly how to play the game. After Nook’s work, you’re on your own. If Animal Crossing had a proper storyline, I doubt that it would be as popular as it is today. It just isn’t the type of game that would suit a storyline.

The fish exhibit in the museum

Over to the gameplay. It mostly involves you having to pay off your mortgage from Nook. To do this, you can earn money by selling fruit, spare furniture, fish and bugs. While earning money, you can work on completing you local museum, run by an Owl called ‘Blathers’ and his sister ‘Celeste’. You can donate fish, bugs and even fossils to their respective exhibits.
The controls are simple; you use your Wii Nunchuck analog stick to move around, or if your prefer it you can point the Wii Remote at the screen and press A to go to that location. A new feature in Animal Crossing: City Folk takes use of the Wii’s motion control. You can now simply make an action while holding the Wii Remote and it allows you to use a tool in the game. This is a pretty good feature in my opinion, and I use it often.
The Town Hall is run by a Pelican, and you can send messages to people in your village or even your friends via Wifi. The last main building in your town is Able Sisters. Here, you can create your own designs to wear. One thing that I thought could have been improved was using the Wii’s motion control to make designs. It just makes it harder to get the designs to be just right and it can get frustrating. AC:CF is pretty similar to its predecessors, as there aren’t many new major changes apart from some new festivals and the city. For some, this is a good thing, especially with the nostalgia from Animal Crossing GC. For others, it’s just the same thing all over again.

A quick trip to the city

The city. That brings me onto a new topic. In my opinion, the city pretty much sucks. It was really disappointing, and I got bored after my second visit. There’s not much to do, and soon it just gets boring. There’s no real point for daily trips to the city, and I rarely take the bus there. On average, I’d say that I only go to the city once a week just to do a couple of things. The idea was good, but the outcome was bad. The city doesn’t even have Wifi, which was another big let down. With a bit more work, it could possibly be a lot better. Personally, I don’t think the city has been completely revealed yet. I’m sure that there are many hidden secrets waiting to be discovered but for now, the city is disappointing.

Another big factor, the visuals. The graphics in City Folk are very similar to the graphics Animal Crossing: Wild World and Animal Crossing GC. All 3 games have the same cartoonish styled graphics, and you can’t notice a big change with AC:CF. For some people, the first impressions of these graphics suggests that it’s a childish game. Apart from that, the cartoon feel is what makes Animal Crossing what it is. AC has its own unique style, however it was slightly disappointing that there weren’t many big changes. The only thing I can say is that when I play Wild World, the graphics seem very pixelated compared to Animal Crossing: City Folk.

Mine!

From my experience, Animal Crossing: Wild World got old and boring after around a year. Personally, I think that Animal Crossing will always get boring after a while. Soon your town will be infested with weeds, and it’ll take forever to destroy every single weed. I don’t think it’ll be as bad as Wild World though. AC:CF has many new festivals and holidays year round, while Wild World didn’t have as many. Once you finish everything there is to possibly do, you will probably hardly even look at the game again. Wifi makes it last slightly longer, however. This is mainly because you can just hang out with a group of friends and relax.

Moving on, another thing that was disappointing was the music. It was great to see the AC:WW music returning, although I would have preferred the Animal Crossing: Gamecube music or even a new soundtrack all together. One thing I liked is that the music changes every hour. Specific days and festivals have their own music which is a nice change. Those who aren’t new to Animal Crossing will recognize the music playing in Nook’s store, the Able Sisters and various other important buildings in your town. Once last point that I’d like to mention is that KK Slider returns in Animal Crossing: City Folk, with a few new songs too. Every Saturday night you’ll find him in The Roost ready to perform. It’s pretty entertaining to watch KK Slider with a few friends over via Wifi. You can even get an aircheck from him to play in your virtual house.

KK Slider performing in The Roost

Overall, Animal Crossing: City Folk is worth it, especially if you’re a big fan of the series. Apart from the fact that there aren’t many major changes, I’d recommend it to someone who wants a laid-back game. After all, Animal Crossing is and has always been a game more appealing to casual gamers. The city isn’t anything special, so don’t get your hopes up. There’s plenty to do, and the game will last for quite a while if you’re planning on completing everything.