"After consistently playing this game for four months, I think it's finally time for me to write a review."

Animal Crossing: Wild World, released in December 2005 for the Nintendo DS, is somewhat of a sequel to it's original version, Animal Crossing, released in September 2001 for the Nintendo Gamecube. It, however, has many radical changes that make it far superior over its original.

Even on the Gamecube, Animal Crossing was not known for it's graphics. This game is not different. The graphics are not terrible, but they are sometimes too grainy to see the details. For example, one feature of this game is that you can design your own patterns to be used on clothes, umbrellas, shirts, hats, and more. Sadly, you can't make the patterns too detailed, or else you can't see it well enough on your clothing.

Many items also suffer from this pattern. One of the most notable ones is the Samurai Suit. This was one of the coolest and most coveted items in the original Animal Crossing. Now, the details are hard to make out, and the item is no longer as attractive.

Even though the graphics are not too horrible, they are styled well for this type of game. The animals are, for the most part, creatively designed, as are the items and clothing. The graphics could be better, but the style is good.

Some frame rate problems found in this game. For example, if you have about ten or so trees on the screen, and an animal walks by there is definitely some noticeable slowing down. It is a bit disappointing, and can sometime get annoying.

The sound and the graphics of this game are alike. They go together well, and like the graphics, they are bright and cheery and what you would expect from this game. A different song plays every hour of the day. You will find slower, quieter songs in the early morning, and more cheery songs at noon. They all fit well, despite getting a bit boring sometimes.

Every Saturday night, a singing dog comes to your town. You can listen to him sing, and after, you may receive a bootleg of the song that you can play in your house. These songs are exploding with variety. There is everything from the slow K.K. Lullaby, to the fast paced Go K.K. Rider! to the exotic K.K. Safari. Most of these songs are good, and they can all provide good background music for some themed room.

The sound effects in this game are typical sound effects. The water sounds realistic. There are little noises when you drop an item. You can hear a door opening or closing.

One thing that has bothered some people, though, is the animal's voices. Depending on their gender and personality, they either speak in a high, squeaky voice, or a similar voice, but lower. I never found it to be annoying, but if you do, you can change the default previously described way of them speaking, known as “Animalese” to either “Bebebese”, a quiet tapping sound, or to just silence.

Animal Crossing: Wild World has excellent gameplay. You basically arrive in a town full of animals and move into a house. You then get a small job from the local store owner. It may seem like a stupid idea, and it kind of is, but the game is fun. Hundreds of different things can be collected. You can decorate your house with pretty much every different item.

One unique thing about the game is that it plays in real time. When you first start, you set the time in the game to the actual time that it is. The game then plays out each twenty-four hour day in each month. With the clock changing, seasons change. It is snowy in the winter, with few bugs to be found, but it can be sunny or rainy in the summer where bugs frolic freely. The bugs and fish in each season are all different. This makes you play longer to collect them all and receive a rare prize when you do.

There are events based on the in game clock. These events often have rare prizes, which makes it important to play on them. The events in Wild World, however, are much duller than the original. There are many fishing tourneys, bug offs, and a single flower fest throughout the year. Other holidays, such as La Di Day, a day when animals sing to you, and Yay Day, a day where you compliment the animals, all seem somewhat dull and uninspired.

Making up for the dull events are the visitors that come randomly. There is Gracie, the fashion loving giraffe, Wendell, the hungry walrus, Dr. Shrunk, the emotional salamander, Sahara, the carpet peddling camel, and some others. You never know when they will come, which makes it important to play daily.

Socializing with your villagers is also important. At first, talking with them can be a fun and rewarding experience, especially when they say something funny or give you a free item. However, after a while, you know everything that the villagers will say. This can make the conversations boring. You can also send them letters

The amount of customization in this game is truly amazing. Your house can be completely changed from a tiny shack to a huge mansion, with hundreds of items to decorate it, ranging from an outer space theme to an old fashioned classic theme. Your clothing can be changed, and as stated above, you can use self made patterns on clothing, floors, walls, paintings, the ground outside, umbrellas, and hats. You can decorate the outdoors in your town with flowers, which can be bred to make new, rare colors, and trees with a variety of different fruits, if any, or you can place patterns on the ground to

Speaking of clothing, this game features hundreds of new hats and accessories to wear. You can now even not wear a hat to show your hair, which can be cut into sixteen different styles and eight different colors.

In the original Animal Crossing, multiplayer was basically putting a memory card in each Gamecube slot, and visiting your friend's town, with him or her not playing at the same time. One of the most notable improvements of Animal Crossing: Wild World is it's multiplayer modes. You can play simultaneously with up to three friends using the DS's wireless functions or the Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection. The wi-fi is what keeps me coming back to this game. In multiplayer, you can either visit your friend's town or allow them to visit your own town. If you meet good, active people, multiplayer can be the biggest reason to play this game. When you are with your friends, you can talk using a keyboard on the lower screen, with what is going on on the upper screen. The wi-fi abilities have created a thriving community on many sites. There you can buy and sell items, take part in giveaways, make friends, and much more.

Overall, the gameplay is wonderful. It is unlike any other game I have played, excluding the original.

This game can, in theory, be played forever. However, after a month or two, it just gets a bit boring, unless you can play multiplayer. It can take years to hunt down every last item. I myself have been regularly playing this for four months, and I do not see myself quitting any time soon.

If you have not already bought Animal Crossing: Wild World, you definitely should consider it. It is an excellent game that will last you for a very long time.

Graphics: 6.5/10
Sound: 7/10
Gameplay: 10/10
Replay Value: 10/10
Overall: 9/10

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 04/14/06