10/10
copyright gaming haven 2003
Animal Crossing, formerly known as Animal Forest, is Nintendo's (the idea for the game was from Takashi Tezuk's, who is one of the top students of Miyamoto and his right hand man) newest gem to hit a Nintendo system near you. When the project first began, it was set to debut on the N64, which it soon did in Japan, later on it was ported to Gamecube. Many thought that the games quirky feel and gameplay would keep it from releasing here in the states, but those speculators have been proven wrong. This isn’t a bad thing but a GREAT thing. Consider the fact that this game is one of the most innovative titles to make it out on the video game market.
Gameplay
The best description of this game’s particular genre is that it is a real-time/life sim, but it is so unique it is difficult to fit it into a particular category or genre. What is your final goal that you must achieve in this game? There is no goal! The game will last as long as you can take on the challenge of the game’s open ended gameplay without an ending or ultimate task that must be completed. It is up to you and only you, to decide your future in this game, whether it is good or bad.
When you begin you start out on a train, and from there you speak to a VERY irritating blue cat (you will meet him again during your journeys between towns, which will be explained in more detail later on). This irritant asks you the name of the town you are going to, which you must input on the onscreen keyboard and confirm. From there he asks your name, and what gender you are. After some more mindless banter, you are free to leave the train, which takes you to Nook the raccoon, the local salesperson, who lets you choose which house you wish to stay in from the four on the screen. To avoid unnecessary conversation just pick which color roof you want instead of going into each house since they are all alike except for the latter.
After choosing your local dump, oops I mean house, he requests payment, which you cannot afford. All is not lost though, since Nook allows you to pay back the rest when you get the money to make a payment. Just to let you know, I strongly urge you pay it back as fast as possible, you will be awarded. Pay off all your debts, for there are awards for your troubles. Before he let’s you go on your own though, he requires that you work for him for awhile, making deliveries and ordering you to meet everyone in your town. Once all this is completed you are FREE! Now this is where the real fun begins.
In the beginning there is very little you can do, which mainly involves, collecting fruit and talking to your animal neighbors getting jobs to do (which involve things such as fetching things or deliveries, but for doing these tasks you get everything from furniture to new clothes, it is definitely worth the effort in the beginning). You will be able to sell the items you get to Nook for profit, which will be your central way of receiving money the first couple of days.
This game uses the Gamecube’s internal clock, so when it is dark where you live it will be dark in the game, along with various seasons relying on your internal calendar. Nook’s inventory changes each day, and I suggest you check it out because you will be able to buy a shovel, fishing pole along with other cool items, which will increase your income dramatically with there uses.
As I stated previously, your house is pretty much a dump with nothing in it when you start, but as you play you will find a variety of wall paper, flooring and items to use in your house to make it look like a decent place to live (spend money sparingly though in these areas until you pay off your debt). Later on your house and organizational skills of furniture will be judged in a contest, which may help get your town notoriety along with overall rating or chase people away, so be careful. Do not just throw stuff around, and hope to get a good rating, a garbage dump for a house is not a good way to get a positive rating.
All this talk about fixing up your house sounds all fine and dandy, but what can you do besides that? Well with the shovel you can look for fossils which you can be put in your local museum, or if that is too tedious you can catch fish with your fishing pole, which is easy to do but never seems to get boring. With the fish you catch, you can sell them to Nook (some of the fish get 15,000 bells, bells are the currency of the game), or if you are feeling generous donate them to the museum like you did with the fossils. In addition to fossils and fish, you can donate paintings along with bugs. Trust me you won’t do this all overnight either, since each category, especially bugs and fish, have numerous varieties you need to catch, since the coordinator (an Owl) will only accept one of each kind, these can equal close to 50 different kinds for each category! Let’s just say that there is so much to do, that you will not get bored, but be warned you may have to play this game in short intervals at certain times, since each day you get different things and new tasks to do.
Not only can you do physical activities such as the above, you can also write letters to your animal friends, and even attach presents if you are feeling nice. Better make them long enough, but easy to read or they may get a little angered when they write back. You will also receive messages from outside sources, and trust me when you see your mail box flashing with mail, you get a really good feeling inside, and just wondering what is in there for you to read.
If you have a friend that has a town saved, you can visit his town via the train, but this can get tedious do to the previously mentioned blue cat talking to you most of the time (town maps are randomly generated, and certain items can only be found in certain towns, such as the fruit unless you get it as a gift, in addition your local residents are randomly generated but will move away, along with new ones moving in). In his town you can do everything from write on his local billboard, to mailing letters, to steali…oops I mean “borrowing” his unique fruits. Then you can return to your village and sell them for added profit, or you can plant the fruit and have a tree of your own with it. If you're feeling the goodness of your heart gushing out, you can send a friend a present, who may live across the world (I am talking about real people here). This works by giving Nook an item and telling him the name and town of that person, with that Nook gives you a password. You give that password to your friend whether it be over the net or whatnot, he tells Nook, and BAMMO he gets your item. Don’t try to reason how Nintendo did this, just enjoy it!
One task you must do if you wish to have a good town is to keep it looking nice, that means planting flowers, pulling weeds, and even cutting down unnecessary growth of trees. A nice museum with lots to look at helps too. With these things along with keeping neighbors happy without making enemy’s, you should be able to keep people in your town with alot more ease and attract additional residents.
Enough with the details, if I say any more you won’t get to discover the other goodies the game has to offer without them being spoiled, such as certain dates of the month being special (can you say special holiday celebrations people?). No the real-time clock isn’t just a gimmick that changes seasons and day along with night, it is an integral part of the game.
So what flaws does the gameplay have? Well not much to be honest, though there still are some. One area that I would have liked implemented is more interaction with your household objects, because a majority of them are just for looks. In addition, some of the character’s dialogue can get repetitious and you will be clicking through there dialogue as fast as possible, though this isn’t a huge problem. I experienced this with the Blue Cat and the owl, who tends to ramble on, repeating the same thing when you donate him particular things. Bug catching can also be VERY difficult to do at times, but it is a minor complaint and can be fixed with practice. Overall though this game is a lot of fun to play, and these short comings shouldn’t bother you much.
Graphics
The graphics are very adequate for this game, they aren’t really detailed but they work. You have a slick framerate, and the graphics will not hurt your eyes. They are very crisp, though they are simple, but not overly simple. Really I cannot imagine much more they could have done, since they work very well for this type of game, and they look much better then the pictures you may have seen of the game. Shock will not hit you when you play the game and see its graphical flare, but you will be satisfied. Some of the textures used are nifty to look at such as flooring and wall paper, which is a good addition to this already great game.
Sound
Not much in the way of sound, the music is fine, but other then that there isn’t any sound besides the “animal talk” which is similar to Banjo and Kazooie’s. Just don’t expect much from sound, it doesn’t detract nor does it add much to the game.
Overall
Brilliant is just one word to describe this game. There are THOUSANDS upon thousands of things to do and get, including some “wandering” characters that you should keep an eye out for, that only come around on certain days. Oh for you retro gaming freaks out there, this game has some very playable goodies that can be found, that may cause you to have uncontrollable drooling, just don’t get it into the controller, or you may have trouble continuing your game. Yes the game has cutesy graphics, but the core gameplay is what shines, and for you real gaming fans out there that is all that should matter. Go buy this masterpiece as soon as it is available, and maybe someday we will get a sequel. Besides that, how can you beat a game that can last for months, or even years, with new stuff popping up all the time? And don't run up the internal clock, that will severely hamper or even ruin the exploration and anticipation aspect of the game. Nintendo has struck gold again, so don’t be afraid to cross this animal’s path because you will be lead to the gaming promise land!
Graphics (7) Simple yet effective graphics, though they can be cute but that is minor. Smooth framerate
Gameplay (10)Ingenious design and creativity with little if any learning curve. A game that can literally keep you playing for months. Flaws are insignificant in comparison to the overall gameplay. Brilliant trading engine, that allows you to trade with people all over the world.
Sound (3) Not much here, just background music and animal talk. But it doesn't detract from the game
Overall (10) Why a 10? Well this game is brilliant in its creativity and really makes you part of the game, an experience that cannot be missed, best sim I've played. That includes The Sims, Sim City and others. So for its genre it is the best in there, and it is amazingly addictive.