Animal Crossing: Won't you be my neighbor?

It’s a wonderful day in my town. I dug up three fossils and two gyroids, then made friends with a rhinoceros and penguin who gave me a haz-mat barrel and classic wallpaper, respectively. What does this all mean? I’ve been playing this game way too long. If I had no responsibilities whatsoever, I’d be sucked into Animal Crossing 24/7. Eating and sleeping probably wouldn’t enter the equation until my life threatened to expire.

This is a low to no stress game. It doesn’t have lofty, time limited goals that, if you fail to achieve them, your character dies. Actually, if there’s a game that plays exactly opposite of the TV show "24", this is it. That’s why I love it and evidently I’m not the only one. Until lately, our local EB Games and Gamestop were always sold out. Even Wal-mart couldn’t keep up with demand. I can see why. Now, onto why this game is so engrossing…

In Animal Crossing, you move into a very small house with a mortgage that you’re obligated to pay. Sound too much like real life? It won’t in a minute. You pay your mortgage in “Bells” so that you can add on to your house. You can gather Bells by shaking trees (see, I told you this wouldn’t mimic real life), picking fruit from trees, digging for fossils, capturing bugs, or fishing in the river and ocean. You sell the fruit, fossils, bugs & fish to a raccoon named Tom Nook.

Number 1 Great Thing about the game: You can opt for using the DS stylus OR use the directional cross pad to navigate this game. For those of us just grateful for opposable thumbs, it’s extra nice…

Without further ado, here’s a rundown on Animal Crossing:

* There are more than 140 neighbors so if you don’t like your neighborhood, wait a few days and different neighbors will move in. The neighbors have a range of personalities from Normal, Jock, Lazy, Snooty, Peppy to Cranky. There are also a wide variety of animal neighbors: dogs, cats, chickens, penguins, horses, anteaters (yes, anteaters), squirrels, frogs, bears (teddy & koala), mice, ducks, cows, rabbits, foxes and more.

* Write letters to your neighbors with the touch screen QWERTY keyboard. You can also include a present to impress the locals. Careful what you write! If you and your brother connect via DS to DS (and I can only assume this happens with wireless too), the neighbors who have moved out of your town WILL take their letters with them and read them to their new villagers, i.e. Brother Dearest.

* Run errands for the neighbors and you’ll be rewarded with money or items.

* There are five different fruits year round plus acorns to gather in Fall. All year you can have either oranges, pears, apples, cherries or peaches. The game starts you off with one type of “native” fruit. To get the others you have to visit someone else’s town, make off with one or more of their “native” fruits.

* Go to the observatory inside the museum and create your own constellations and name them.

* Plant flowers to beautify your town. Who knows, if you plant certain ones together, you might create a hybrid flower.

* Use your slingshot to shoot down presents floating across the sky. It might turn out to be that coveted piece of furniture you’ve been searching for!

* Celebrate holidays with your Animal Crossing neighbors. These include New Year’s, Bright Nights, Flower Fest, Fireworks Show, Acorn Festival, Yay Day, The Bug Off, Fishing Tournaments, Flea Market, and La-Di-Day.

* Your Animal Crossing house holds up to 4 roommates so if you want to play as another character you can (it will be in the same town though). Or if you don’t mind your little brother or sister playing your game, this is a great way to let them.

* Expand your house. There are six expansions you can work toward.

* The Happy Room Academy is watching… If you sign up for this early in the game, the HRA rates your house every week on neatness, rare items, item sets and furniture set (Hint: the more of the same set, the better).

* There are 14 styles of furniture. Each series has 10 pieces to each set. Choose from Exotic, Robo, Snowman, Lovely, Classic, Ranch, Cabana, Green, Cabin, Blue, Modern, Regal, Kiddie, and Mushroom.

* If you don’t need a table, chair or wardrobe or just want to be different, try furniture themes. There are 8 themes to choose from: Western (don’t you want a saddle in your living room?), Nursery, Space (yes, there’s a UFO), Boxing, Mossy Garden, Construction, Mad Scientist, and Pirate.

* Other furniture sets are available if you bore easily (which I do). There are over 130 items overall, from a chess set, teddy bear set, hospital set, cafe set and more. Hey, don’t you want a set of lava lamps? Groovy, man…

* There are 20 paintings to collect (or donate) to the museum. Buy them from Redd the traveling, somewhat devious salesman.

* Look for over 180 miscellaneous items such as TVs, stereos, sports items, holiday items and world items. That Tower of Pisa makes an attractive conversation piece.

* Wallpaper and Flooring patterns. Need ‘em? They got ‘em. Over 60 of ‘em.

* Feel like your threads are out of date? Well, step into a new you with over 250 clothing patterns. Be an 8 ball, be a Brady kid with the Bubble Gum polka dot shirt or claw your way to the top with the tiger print.

* You don’t want to be a wet rat if it’s raining so grab an umbrella! There are over 30 patterns to color coordinate with your stylish new outfit. And if you feel possessed, shop for hats and ribbons and glasses to accessorize with.

* Who uses plain white paper to write friends anymore? Not you! Choose from over 60 note patterns to express your true, inner self.

* There are fish coming out our ears in Animal Crossing. Over 50 different fish to angle for, from the clownfish, angelfish to rainbow trout and football fish. There’s even the elusive Coelacanth.

* Slap your net over plenty of insects in this world. There’s over 50 to search for like the Hercules Beetle, flea, and all sorts of butterflies. Oh, and bring your shovel too. Some of those critters bury up in the ground.

* Locate and dig up over 50 fossils. You can sell them, donate them or keep them for your own private museum.

* Dingaloids, Oombaloids, Clankoids, Plinkoids, and more. There are 127 of these “Dancing Gyroids”. Cash them in for Bells or keep them in your house. They will dance to the music on your stereo or just by themselves.

*Special guests – there are over 12 that will visit during the week (though not every week). They include:

K.K. Slider – a little dog who talks like a beatnik and gives you bootlegs of his songs. His song collection runs over 60 songs. You can load them into your stereo and play them.

Redd – a conniving fox who sets up a tent and sells paintings (sometimes forgeries) and furniture at blackmail prices.

Lyle – the insurance man. Stung by a bee? Fall down? Get paid.

Sahara – a carpet and wallpaper toting camel who asks for your assistance then rewards you for your help.

Gracie – the fashion diva giraffe. Answer her fashion questions and nag her a while and you may receive a special clothes pattern. (I tried this the other day and she slapped a pair of bunny ears on me so the prudence of nagging her is still in question.)

Cornimer – a fella who visits during the October Acorn Festival. Collect acorns and give them to Cornimer. He will give you a nice surprise.

Pascal – a philosophizing beaver-looking critter who visits, lectures then leaves you with a gift.

Wendell – the traveling walrus. He’s hungry. Feed him. Get a new pattern to play with.

Joan – the turnip lady. She visits on Sundays to sell her red and white turnips. You can plant the red one for big bells later (with Tom Nook) or buy white ones and play the Animal Crossing Stock Market. Is the market bullish or bearish this week? Only way to know is to try…

Dr. Shrunk – he will help you express yourself with new emotions.

Katrina – a fortune telling cat. She can tell you whether your day will be a good one… or not. Maybe.

Lost Kitten – for this to occur, you must visit another town. Kaitlen is looking for her lost daughter Katie. You’ll have to visit that same town again to find her. If you do then Kaitlen will give you a gift.

Gulliver – a dude flying a spaceship in your airspace. Don’t like it? Shoot him down with your slingshot. He’ll crash and ask you to find all his missing spaceship parts. Do that and he’ll give you a nice reward.

Snowman – yes, a snowman. The catch is you have to build him. Do a good job and you’ll find a gift in your next mail delivery.

Other characters in the game include Kapp’n (the cab driver who delivers you to your new town), Blanca (appears when you activate wireless download capability), Rover (chat with him in the Roost when he’s there), and Resetti (a mean little gopher who tells you off when you don’t save the game before turning the power off. He is a hateful little troll when I accidentally whack off the power. But I’m remembering to SAVE before turning it off. Personally, I pray you never meet him.)

*Places to go:

Nook’s Cranny (later Nookway & Nookington’s) – a shop to buy furniture, wallpaper, carpet, flowers & saplings, stationery, medicine (for neighbors when they’re sick or for your bee stings). You begin the game with Nook’s Cranny. After you spend so much money with Nook, he’ll close for a day and open the next as Nookway. Same goes for Nookington’s. With every upgrade to his store, it gets bigger and sells more.
NOTE: Nook’s is where you sell your fish, bugs, and fossils too. He also allows you to order from his catalog that includes furniture, clothes, wallpaper, carpet and more.

Barber Shop – Having a bad hair day? Once Nookington’s opens, so does Harriet’s barber shop Shampoodle. Pay a price, answer some questions, and she socks a supersonic hairdo thingee on your head and away you go to Hairstyle Heaven.

Able Sisters – a shop to buy clothes or hats. You can even purchase a mustache or Mohawk. The best part of this store is you can design your own clothes and sell them. The downside is, you get no commission for the sales. People in town may buy your design and wear it so it kinda gives your ego a boost, nonetheless. Designing something isn’t that difficult because there are several palates of colors to choose from.

Town Hall – A bank, post office and civic center all rolled into one. From here you can pay on your mortgage, deposit or withdraw bells, mail a letter, save a letter, make donations, check the environment, change the town tune or move. To move you need another game card and DS though. Don’t forget to check out the recycle bin for goodies!

The Main Gate – visit with Booker and you’ll find out if there’s anyone special in town (See Special Guests above), search the Lost & Found, or you can change the town flag. Visit with Copper to leave your town, invite someone in, or use a Friend Code (for Wireless).

Museum, The Roost & Observatory – have your freshly dug fossils evaluated by Blathers the owl, or donate fish, bugs, paintings or those evaluated fossils to boost your town’s exhibits. You won’t get paid but it’ll give you a warm, fuzzy feeling when you see your name associated with the donation. Once you’ve donated, go see what it looks like. The museum displays everything so you can watch the fish swim by or watch the dung beetle roll a big ball of, well, you know. The Roost is located inside the museum and K.K. Slider visits on Saturday nights. You can also grab a java if you’re ailing from all that work you’ve done. Also located in the museum is the observatory. Make your own constellations!

**One more interesting thing: The game relies on the DS time and date. When it’s Spring outside your own front door, it’s Spring in Animal Crossing too. When it’s April, 2, 2006 in your world, it’s also that date in Animal Crossing.

Controls
These are pretty simple to learn.
Control Pad – Walk. Run by pressing and holding B or L or R and a direction on the control pad. Move the “pointing” cursor with the control pad.
A – Talk to someone when facing them. Go inside a building when facing the door. Shake a tree when in front of it. Read the bulletin board. Use item you’re holding.
B – Pick up an item or furniture. You also pick flowers with this button. It’s also the cancel button.
X – Opens and closes town map screen.
Y – Opens and closes item screen. (the item screen is basically what you’re currently carrying. Kinda like a backpack.)
L & R buttons – Cycle through screens on the item screen.
Start – Save the game from here or go to the phone in your upstairs bedroom to save.
Select – Opens and closes keyboard window.
Some of this can be done via the stylus however I use the control pad more than the stylus.

DS to DS Connection: My mother and I (yes, I said my mother), connect via DS to DS and trade furniture to create that perfect ensemble. Nothing like finally ditching the cabin chair for the watermelon chair you’ve coveted for over two months. We visit each other’s towns to shop and trade objects (can’t trade fish, found that out). I’m sure there’s more that people can do but we keep it simple. I regularly go to Tom Nook’s and buy a “Note in a Bottle”. I write something silly like “Help buy Filbert a bus ticket out of town” then I throw it in the ocean and wait. Mom and I will connect and a day or two later, she receives the note in a bottle (it transfers DS to DS and I presume WiFi as well) so there’s another great way to spice up the game.

Wireless Connection (WiFi): Wireless play is an area I’ll let other reviewers cover since I don’t have wireless internet. I do think the creators could have helped people like me out and had an alternative to wireless – perhaps a built-in town or two (in the game’s background) for wireless folk to visit. Like the player could visit Copper and select “Visit Furville” or something. Oh well, maybe the next game will have that.

Overall – 9
I played the GameCube version and loved it but it got old. This one is portable and has more in it than the GameCube version. Only thing missing (to me) is a built-in town or two so people without wireless connection (or no one else to connect to via DS to DS) could visit a different town.

Gameplay – 10
The controls are easy to learn and allows players to use either stylus or control buttons to play the game. There’s so much to do, it’ll keep players busy a long time – unless they enjoy fast-paced shooting or action games. Then they may get bored kinda quick.

Graphics – 9
Graphics pretty much compare to the GameCube version in my opinion. It’s probably not as 3-D as the Cube but it’s still highly improved over the GameBoy Advance graphics. My only complaint is planting flowers and digging holes. Sometimes the flowers go in a different spot than you plan. Sometimes you dig next to where you aim. Ain’t no big deal for the fun of playing this gem.

Sound – 9
OK, no one hit me for giving it a nine. I like the sound. Set the game to Surround Sound, go to the ocean and listen. For the capabilities of the DS, it sounds really good. You could use this thing as a sound machine to nap with because the ocean sounds flow so smoothly. Even when the villagers are singing you can hear the tune move from right to left (or vice versa) in a realistic way. The only irritating aspect of the sound is the background music. At times it wears on you to the point of exhaustion. Oh great Animal Crossing Creators, please put an on/off switch on the “Springtime in France” melody next time!

Lasting Appeal – 10
Remember way back when people thought the Russians would invade us and take over? Well, we’ve been invaded, alright. But they have names like Bluebear, Biskit, Pompom and Pango and speak Animalese. Russians? Pah. I’m more worried if Rhonda the Rhino will pack and leave my town! You won’t want to put this down when you get it. It’s the truth. If you enjoy a laid back game then this is the game you’ll keep for a long time. And if you don’t play it every day, your conscience will eat at you because you haven’t dug up your daily fossils.

I know I haven’t covered everything in this game – it’s just too vast. Hopefully, though, I’ve covered most of it.

Warning: This game is highly addictive to any age group. To give you an idea, as a kid I remember when Morgan Freeman and Bill Cosby starred on Electric Company and I recall pouting when the Watergate hearings preempted Sesame Street. As I stated earlier, even my mother plays this game. No doubt my son, if he was old enough, would fish for rainbow trout and catch a few butterflies!

The price ranges from $27.99 – 39.99 but I’ve found it for $34.99 at places like Gamestop and EB Games.

An informative website to visit is: http://www.animal-crossing.com/wildworld

Thanks for reading my review! It’s most appreciated!