Animal Crossing: City Folk

"From a long time Animal Crossing Fan"

Animal Crossing City Folk (Wii), and just like its past titles, Animal Crossing Wild World (DS), and Animal Crossing (GC), it is a good game that keeps you into it. Just as well as the others, it takes patience, it takes time to get the things you want. Let me say this first. If you cannot invest hours of game play into this, if you do not have patience, and if you just don't like cartoonish type games, then I ask of you to just step away, and not waste my time, your time, and anyone else's time concerning with this game.

Game play is simple not hard to learn, controls are easy, and comfortable, would of been nice if it was classic controller compatible. Sure the music is pretty much recycled from Wild World, but that doesn't mean it's bad. There is no "real" story-line. It is all just you living in a town filled with different animals, just paying off your house debts while in the mean time making some extra bells (money used in the game) to buy nice looking furniture, clothes, accessories, and such. True the developers could of done a lot better, they could of added many more things into this game, but in the end the same thought could be placed into any other game out there.

Okay time to talk about graphics, some of you may say its no different from the previous ones, and others may say it's completely different, well I say does it really matter? I personally think it could of been nicer, but honestly speaking, it is nice the way it is, its colorful, which is what the game is. It looks nice, sure it looks childish because I feel that's what was wanted, for people to just enjoy the game, sit down and have fun without worries or hassles. You don't need high end graphics ,costing hundreds of hours and dollars, just to make the game more fun.

Now as of to what you can actually do in this game? Well that's for you to decide, you can either go fishing. Toss yer line into the river or the sea when you see the shadow of a fish. Let it's little head notice your line and quickly when you see the floater get pulled underwater pull your line in before the fish swims away. As for bug catching, its as simple as fishing, sneak up on the little critter then slam your net down on him. However there are some fish and bugs that appear within certain seasons and times. Some at night, some during the day. Winter, Spring, Summer, Autumn. Each of these determines what is available.

You can also go to the city, which you can learn some emotions, get your fortune told, check out the auction house, buy some expensive, yet really beautiful furniture or clothes from the store there. Another fine thing you can do is design your own clothes. Front, back, and each sleeve individually, unlike it's past titles where it was all the same thing.

You can also play this game online with your friends. Receive your friend's required information, place it in, save them, and you can visit their town or have them come to yours. Up to 4 friends can play together, and with the nearly featured Wii-Speak, you can now talk with your own voice, no longer having to type out what to say. Don't worry, those who don't have Wii-speak, or who's parents aren't permitting them to, can just type out what to use using the game's built in keyboard, or by connecting a USB keyboard into one of the Wii's USB slots.

As for it's playtime and replayability, at best I can say that you can play this game for hours on end. Not just for days, but for weeks, spanning to months, and even years to those who are really into it. Since certain furniture, accessories, and other items from this game are available within certain seasons and times, you can say that this game takes a big part of your life, more so if you want it all.

Now you want to know if you should really get this game, rent it, borrow it from a friend. Well first of all, borrowing from a friend is kind of pointless, since if you get your own copy you can either visit their or let them visit your town. If you were to rent it, then no, because a week alone will do no justice into enjoying every aspect of this game. So, if you're looking for a game with long hours of place, clean simple graphics, colorful, and filled with talking animals, then I do recommend this game to you.

My final words are, this is a simple game, there aren't complex puzzles, or a world filled with dungeons and monsters, this isn't one of those easy auto-targeting game, or blood filled first-person shooter. It is like a cartoonish virtual life. Enjoy yourself have fun with your friends, and just be happy.

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 11/20/08

Game Release: Animal Crossing: City Folk (US, 11/16/08)