NESpresso: Game Reviews \ GCN \ Animal Crossing

If there ever was a game that was different & addictive, this is it! Animal Crossing is game where you try to live your life as you see fit, for better or worse. There's no enemies, no bosses, nothing that you must do to accomplish the game! Just live your life however you feel like it. Just be forewarned that once you start, it's pretty hard to stop.

Animal Crossing was better known as "Animal Forest" (translated name) when it was developed for the N64 in Japan. The game was updated & re-released in Japan on the Gamecube (as "Animal Forest +") before the game was translated for the US market. The game has some links to the old version, but the added technology (Gamecube, Game Boy Advance, e-Reader) has made the game a lot more interactive than before.

If you didn't know anything about Animal Crossing, you might have think the graphics could have been better. You probably would be right, however, if you played the N64 version, you would have liked them. The graphics have been brushed up from it's humble beginnings, but it's the customization of certain aspects of the game that really makes things interesting.

There's at least 5 parts of the game that you can actually customize to your tastes almost immediately. The trick is how to actually do it. You can use either the pre-made articles that are available within the game or design your own patterns & be totally original! If you have the time (& the Bells) to waste, you could design some masterpieces. The one downside with the patterns is that you are limited to 16 colors within 16 color pallets, it can make some patterns a challenge when you can't use the color that you really want.

This game does require basic reading skills & you'll be reading a lot, wether it's reading a letter or talking to a neighbor. There's are some times where you have to write a letter to others, so you will need to know how to spell as well because your neighbors will catch it.

The sound & music in the game is probably the weakest part of the game. There's not a lot of customization in this part & it could become the most annoying part as well. There's only 3 parts that you can customize: the animal speaking ("Animalese", "Bebelese", or nothing), the town tune & the music inside your house. The outdoor music is pretty light & cheery without feeling repetitive. The music usually changes every hour with the town tune chiming in each hour, but you can't control what's played. The only part where you can control the music is inside your house, where you can have up around 55 songs you can choose to play on each floor of your house. The town tune is another customizable piece as it serves as the hourly chime & the "greeting tune" with your neighbors. It's possibly the tune that you'll get sick of the most.

The best part of the sound is the music that you get from K.K. Slider. Not only you get to hear the accoustical version of the song, but you also get the complete instrumental version to hear at home. The only downside is that K.K. only shows up saturday nights from 8:00 PM to Midnight, if you can't stay up that late, you might miss it.

The controls of the game are actually surprisingly simple. The main controls just use A,B & start with the control stick. You may have to use the X button to check your map as needed, but once you get to know your town, you'll rarely use it within your town. When you write or work on a pattern, you'll have to use the other buttons (L, R, Y & sometimes X). Otherwise, there's not much to remember which makes it a lot easier for anyone to pick up the game & play. Even the NES games that you can play in Animal Crossing are pretty easy to pick up & you don't have to worry about the other buttons until you want to stop playing!

As for gameplay, being an open-ended game may confuse some. The game is only enjoyable as you want it to be. If you don't do anything, you will get quickly bored with the game. If you like doing stuff for others or doing something you like in the game, you'll keep playing. There is a manditory tutorial that all new players have to run through, but it orients them to the town that they'll be living in as well as shows them how to do some things you'll need to know. For all new players, expect to spend your first 30 minutes running through the tutorial.

After the tutorial, you can do practically anything you want. You can fish, catch bugs, dig holes & shake trees to name a few activities, but the most rewarding part of the game is helping out your neighbors. The game runs on the karmic system, where by helping others is helping yourself. When you complete an errand for a neighbor, they'll reward you with something. Quick tasks usually score you some stationary while longer tasks will earn you some clothing or even houseware items, including furniture. Some tasks (like getting fruit, planting flowers or finding a ball) are optional, but completing them will also score you some neighborly praise. Other tasks (like delivering or retrieving items) usually have a time limit of 3 days from the last neighbor you talk to before the asking neighbor gets impaitent & completes it themself.

The one unique thing about this game is that it runs completely in real time. If it's 6:00 PM in real life, it's 6:00 PM in the game. You can, however, set the clock on your Gamecube & within the game, but the game is more enjoyable if you don't tamper with the clock. Neighbors wake & sleep at different times, certain visitors come on different days & even your town celebrates certain holidays! With an ever-evolving town, there's usually something to do at all hours.

Without any blood or violence in the game, those who are trigger-happy may not like this game. However, parents can allow their kids play this game all they want without worrying about the contents of the game. This game can be very addictive, so you might want to be careful on letting others play. You can have up to 4 characters living in a town & up to 15 different neighbors. If that's not enough, you can travel to other towns & see how their town looks. There's always something different than your town, so you'll find something unique.

Don't have a friend's town to visit, you can visit your own island! Just hook up your Game Boy Advance to your Gamecube & head down to the docks. That's not the only thing you can do with your GBA! You can also pick up the pattern tools from the Able Sisters or download a NES game onto your GBA. There's also e-Reader cards that you can pick up & use with the game to score extra goodies.

There's some items that you may not be able to find by yourself, so you can actually trade with others without do any traveling. You can find some websites that you can visit which have patterns you can use in your town & trading with others.