Animal Crossing – GC – Review

These are just some of the many things people can do in Animal Crossing, a virtual world that draws in players and keeps them there for hours….

Animal Crossing is a port of Animal Forest for the N64, and was also released in Japan as Animal Forest for the Gamecube. Renamed Animal Crossing, this game is best described as a mix between Harvest Moon and The Sims. Combining virtual world simulations such as fishing, letter writing, and conversations with errand running and retro Nintendo games, Animal Crossing is guaranteed to be an addictive experience unlike most on the market, and one that children and adults can enjoy equally. In fact, it’s the family interactivity that is part of what makes this game so much fun!

Beginning play revolves around arriving at the village, setting up house and doing odd jobs for Tom Nook, the holder of the player’s mortgage. In exchange for “bells”, the local currency, players must collect and deliver items, meet all the current village inhabitants and compose letters and bulletin board messages. This is in fact a tutorial, but one that is artfully done so as not to draw attention to this. After players carry out several requests for Tom, he releases them from working for him (although the mortgage still has to be paid off) and they’re free to roam at will.

Once set free, players will want to begin earning their own pocket money, in order to buy cool gadgets for their houses and useful objects such as fishing poles, shovels and nets. Catching fish, hunting for sea shells, gathering fruit, catching bees are all ways of garnering extra cash. Shovels can be used to search for buried treasure, too. Friends always need jobs done, so players can run errands back and forth in order to gain more objects in the form of gifts.

Letter writing is an important aspect, and the one that really draws in family members. Up to four players can play the game, although not at the same time, and visit each others’ houses and read notes and messages from each other. For instance, my daughter kindly sent me a net the other day to help in catching bee hives, as she was tired of seeing my swollen, bee-stung face after various unpleasant bee encounters. Personal “away” messages can also be left for visitors to read. Humor is definitely a plus in enjoying these! Players can also “teach” the animals certain words, which can be dangerous if siblings are playing the game together.

Another important detail is the real-time clock, which ties in seasons, times and events to their real-time counterparts. Depending on the time of day or the season, special events take place, which leads to much exploration, as players never know what they may find at any given time.

Classic Nintendo games can be earned and collected in various ways by running errands, buying from characters like Tom Nook or others who visit the village from time to time, visiting the tropical island via the Game
Boy Advance, or by special promotions from Nintendo and others. There are also two included on the special memory card offered in the game. Special trading cards with fun items can also be collected with the e-Reader.

Many reviews have commented on the mediocre quality of the graphics, but we haven’t had any complaints, we like the way everything is drawn. The only fuzziness we’ve noticed is when a character close-up, as in when saving a game. The animals and are all cute, and the backgrounds are colorful and nicely drawn.

The music is mostly low-key and in the background, but the tunes are really well done! They can be saved for players’ collections to be played on their stereos. The village’s music can be composed by players, as well.

Much of the enjoyment of this game lies in the totally cool stuff that can be collected. The more players shop at Tom Nooks, the more his store will expand and enlarge, offering more and more stuff to buy. Players can upgrade their houses, too, which is needed to store all that stuff they’ve just bought. Designs can be drawn for clothes, doors, floors and other items, which is a lot of fun. Designing an attractive house is important, as the houses are judged periodically and affect not only the village’s rating, but also affect the way the animals perceive you: if they’re unhappy with the village, they may move away to a friend’s!

The interface is very simple and easy to master, the only problem is the awkward letter writing which can become a pain due to the control pad, which is just the nature of the system. The icons are cute that are included, but more “smiley face” ones would have been better, and if they had been in color.

This is just an incredible game for the family, I’ve seldom seen a game that transcends generations as well as this one does. The huge amount of things to be uncovered is indescribable; we’ve only been playing for a couple of weeks, and have just barely scratched the surface. The communication aspect is what really makes this game so enjoyable for families, it’s fun to leave messages for your kids to read! The excitement of never knowing what may be available will also keep drawing people back every day just to be sure not to miss something. My daughter and I are having so much enjoyment playing this game and are looking forward to what we may discover next. However, while this game is an awesome game, it’s not for everyone. The slow pace and sometimes long wait times until something new happens will bore people who want lots of fast-paced action and enemy stomping mayhem. My husband and other daughter are bored by the whole idea of this game, and have refused to even try playing. But, they don’t like games like Caesar or Zeus, either, which my daughter and I both love. As in most games, it boils down to the particular taste of the gamer.

Currently, my daughter’s favorite pastime is catching exotic fish and displaying them in her aquariums; mine is to explore and earn gifts to see if I can get any NES games. And, of course, to leave each other smart-aleck letters to read. This game is the most fun when played with other people who can interact with your village; if family members and friends are hard to find who have this game, then the second best thing is the Internet, which offers lots of fan-based sites which allows trading of items that use special codes to implement into the games, as well as the official Animal Crossing site at
http://www.animal-crossing.com.