Animal Crossing (GCN)
Publisher: Nintendo Developer: Nintendo
Animal Crossing could best be described as a game about nothing. There's not really much going on in the world of Animal Crossing, but that's the mystery of the game. Once you sit down to play, you seem to be unable to stop for quite some time. It's definitely something everyone young and old should play.
Before I continue further, I must note here, that some of you may have noticed that Animal Crossing uses an entire Memory Card 59. Worry not however, as it comes with a free memory card. That's a $15 value, so this really increases the worth of the game. They even include a few free gifts on the card! Hooray!
AC is simply a game dealing with the everyday life of your character. The game goes by the clock in your GameCube, so if it's 6:30pm on November 12 in real life, it's 6:30pm on November 12 in Animal Crossing. When it gets late, the town store closes, and some of the villagers go to sleep. When morning comes again, things pick up in the game. It's the closest thing that any game has ever come to simulating real time in a game. It's very cool to play! (Of course, many people "cheat" by changing the clock on their GameCube to change times and days, but that REALLY takes the fun out of the game, so I highly discourage it.) In any case, Animal Crossing is simply a unique and interesting game, so in order to experience what the game has to offer, you really need to play everyday for an entire year. I did it, and I can honestly say that I've never gotten more hours of gameplay from a single game than I did from AC.
Gameplay: 10
OK, this is where the game shines. The game doesn't have flashy graphics or great music, but it sure is fun to play. The game starts with your character riding on a train. An annoying little dog asks you where you're going. This is actually choosing the name of your town, so choose carefully. When Rover asked me where I was going, I told him "Hell" so my town was named Hell. Whatever you pick, you've got to stick with unless you want to delete everything and start over. In any case, it turned out to be a pretty fun name... After choosing your town name (and character name) you'll be arriving at the train station where you're greeted by Tom Nook. He'll sell you one the four small houses near the station, and he'll expect a hefty amount of money for it. Unfortunately, you've only got 1,000 Bells to start, so you'll have to get a part time job to work off the rest of the mortgage.
While working for Nook, you'll begin to meet other villagers. Some of them are nice to you, and some are cranky. There are over 200 different villagers in the game, and you only have 5-15 in your town at any given time. Everyone has their own personality, and their own house. There are a few different personality types, but you'll always have a nice mix in town.
Once you've met a few neighbors, they'll begin to ask favors of you. Doing favors for other people is how you will obtain most of the furniture for your house. Once someone gives you something, you can take it back to your house, and drop it on the floor to furnish your rooms. There are literally hundreds of different furnishings so you can decorate your place until your head explodes. Many pieces of furniture are interactive, like being able to sit on chairs, listen to music, or even playing classic NES games. (There about 19 NES games that can be acquired through various means.) You can also get stuff by writing letters to villagers, shopping at Tom Nook's store, or through special holiday events.
Special holiday events come up at various times throughout the calendar year. You can check the message board or the diary in your house to see when these events occur. Make sure you participate in as many events as possible, as most of them won't occur again for another year, and you won't be able to get the special item from it.
Once Nook lays you off, you're still in debt up to your eyeballs. You can make money various ways through fishing, bug catching, favors, selling things you no longer need, etc. There are lots of ways to make cash, and believe me, you'll need plenty of it. Some of the house upgrades are quite expensive, and unless you've got unlimited time to play, it might take a while to pay everything off.
The game also has Game Boy Advance connectivity in a few ways, one of which is Animal Island. When the GBA is plugged into the system, a sea turtle will take you to your island, where you have a summer house, and an additional villager to bother. There are some fun little things to do on the island as well.
Graphics: 6.5
The graphics on Animal Crossing aren't bad by any means, but they're just not GameCube quality. This is really an upgraded N64 game, and it looks as such. This isn't a bad things however, as load times are absolutely ZERO, and you never have to wait on anything. It's kind of nice.
Some people might complain that the graphics are "kiddy" looking, but it's really all in the eyes of the beholder. I thought the game looked crummy when I looked at the box, but after playing it for 5 minutes, I was hooked.
Sound & Music: 7.5
The music isn't bad in Animal Crossing. There's not much of it. The background changes based on the hour, and it doesn't really ever get annoying or old. One nice feature, however, is the ability to collect songs and play them in your house. There are over 50 songs available in the game, and you can play them if you have a radio in your house. It's kind of fun to change the song playing in your house if you've changed your theme.
Story: N/A
There's not really much of a story in this game. You're basically just going through a "second life" without a purpose. That doesn't make the game less fun, but it's not really a story either.
Replay Value: 10
This is where the meat of the game is. If you play right, you'll probably spend 15 minutes to an hour a day playing this game. You'll have to play EVERY SINGLE DAY, however if you want to see it all. There are always special visitors, events, and the inventory in Nook's shop changes daily. You'll want to play it whenever you can, and you'll find yourself playing more than you should. You've been warned. :-)
To buy or to rent?BUY BUY BUY! Animal Crossing is a terrible rental. You MUST buy this game to fully experience it. If you rent it, you won't get the memory card that comes with it, and you also won't be able to play much of the game. I definitely recommend buying this one.
Overall: 10
Overall, Animal Crossing will keep you (and your family) entertained for many hours, days, weeks and months. While the game loses it's replay value after one calendar year, I've never had another game I've played as much. I probably played almost every single day from September 2002 until September 2003. I still play the game now, only not as often. It gave SO much game play over those 365 days, that I would gladly have paid twice or even three times the price for a game with that much to it. I don't know what the hook of this game is, but odds are you'll have lots of fun.
Additional Information:
Genre: Simulation
Players: 1-4, Alternating
Memory Required: 57-61 Blocks
Rating: E (for Everyone)
Extras: Memory Card Included, GBA Connectivity
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