"ACWW = Fun!"

It is very difficult to explain why this game is so much fun and so hard to put down. In fact, I almost didn't buy it because I didn't understand the premise.
But in the end, I did buy it, and now I can't think of much more to say than "You can fish! You can catch bugs!" It is fun, charming, relatively easy even if you're not good at games, yet there's enough depth to keep you coming back. I'm terrible at most games but I've found a lot to enjoy in this. I find it very hard to put down!

Animal Crossing was always a sleeper hit on the gamecube. I hope you at least know about it, but the premise is simple: you're moving into a new town inhabited by animals. You have no money, and get a new place with a hefty mortgage. Now that you have shelter, you have to live life by exploring your town.

How you do that is up to you. You can run errands for your animal friends, communicate with them by way of post, fish, catch bugs, shop for furniture, spend hours creating your own outfits or wallpapers, find/buy them, meet the random guests who show up in your town, work on landscaping, collect fossils and other pieces for a museum, it just never seems to end.

Does this sound boring to you? Well, then, maybe this game isn't for you. It is slower than most games, and meant to be played maybe half an hour a day once you get in the groove of things. There's no action, just a lot of talking and exploring the ins and outs of this complex little game from nintendo. So consider yourself forewarned, but also know that this is a fan-favorite for a reason. If you approach with an open mind, you could easily be just as hooked as the massive fan base.

Wild World, the DS update of the Gamecube original, takes this premise and expands upon it to create a similar but richer experience. The town is basically the same, but the animals have been revamped to be smarter, more complex, and new types are available in your town. The items are changed to include a larger number, with some similar ones and some completely new ones. Storage in your house has increased, and you can make your house much bigger than the original.

In addition, you can now have hats and accessories to alter your character beyond the simple clothing. There's even a barber shop at Nooks (the town store) that you can eventually unlock.

In terms of multiplayer, now if more than one person lives in the town, they will share the same house with separate beds, and each will split the mortgage on the house. The increased storage space per character (up to 96 items of storage) helps keep this from causing too much clutter, and it increases the cooperation aspect. Cooperation and communication have always been the main point of Animal Crossing, and now with Wild World, it becomes even more important.

With the stylus, typing messages is much easier and faster than selecting letters by moving the cursor with the analog stick in the gamecube version. Designing fabrics is now just a matter of drawing them, easier and more intuitive than in the original. In fact, the whole game can be controlled easily with the stylus, making for a more fluid and intuitive experience.

One of the biggest additions is the online aspect. Yes that is right, Wild World is online via NIntendo's WiFi connection, just like Mario Kart. Animal Crossing is a bit more limited in that you need to have friend codes to go online, but it isn't hard to find these on any video game board (nintendo runs their own forums that do this, though I'd suggest GameFAQs.com or one of the many specialty Animal Crossing sites). This allows you to go to their town, and you go to theirs, and even interact together on the same screen. It's much bigger and more ambitious, especially if you know plenty of people with the game. While the idea of friend codes might be limiting, it keeps you from having random malicious gamers run in and ruin your town, helping you control the flow of visitors into your town in a respectful way.

The complaints that the previous reviews seem to have are about the holidays being changed. I don't see why this is an issue? This has become a worldwide game, and it would be impossible to include all the major world holidays, and so instead of making the game based on Japanese holidays (which might be expected) or American ones (which would have no point) Nintendo decided to give the world a universal set of unique holidays that would make sense to people in Australia or Korea or Russia or Germany just as much as it would the people here. It's a pretty narrow view to think that the whole world would enjoy a Christmas or Thanksgiving themed day and items when they might not even fully grasp the concept of the holiday. This is a more mature, wider-reaching game, and requires those changes to make it accessable to the world-wide audience.

Simply-put, Animal Crossing Wild World is a vast improvement on the first game, if only because of the stylus control. But with all the new features, it's the kind of game that will encourage you to play it every day for a year or more, growing more and more involved with it. It's worth a look at, to see if it's for you. If it is, you won't be disappointed.
There is so much you can do, that there's some skill involved but not so much that I get lost or frustrated. I like that it's laid back; you can't die or get stuck on one level forever (as I tend to do on many other games!). Now that I'm addicted to it, I even like it's unexplainability. It's sort of funny to try and explain to my brother that I want to catch some rarer bugs so I can sell them to the raccoon in order to pay off my mortgage. He looks at me like I'm nutso and maybe he's right! But I'm having a lot of fun with this game!

10/10
In its core it's a simple game: move to a new town, get a house, pay your mortgage, buy furniture and decorate your place, buy new clothes, meet some friends. How you so that is basically up to you, since you can get a job at the local shop, make favors to nieghboors, catch insects, fish, find buried treasures, grow fruits... it really sounds like boring, but the game is quite addicting, since you get involved with each person in the town, you can talk to them, send'em letters, do them favors, give/receive gifts.
The game is played in real time to expect different things to do/meet/see/buy in each time of the day, which keeps you coming back for more just to see what's up.
Graphics are not wonderful but get the job done, they're catchy and easy on the eyes, really cute. Sound is basic (no voices, only mumbling) but the songs are memorable, specially KK's tunes (you'll see what I mean).

Once you buy the game, do not try to hack it. It takes out the fun and sometimes wrecks the game. If you have wi-fi, then this is a definite for you. If you do not, who cares, still buy it.
Each day you can play for five minutes or even one hour. There is no end to this game unless you want sudden thrills. Animal Crossing Wild Worlds for the DS will keep you entertained for many years to come.

Reviewer's Score: 10/10, Originally Posted: 08/14/06