Nintendo Animal Crossing (Nintendo DS)

Animal Crossing for the DS is what I'd like to call a social game. It’s like living a virtual life in a little animal town. To compare this game to any other game would be unfair. It isn’t objective oriented like "The Sims" or "Harvest Moon", it’s just living in a virtual world.

I was expecting something along the lines of the aforementioned games but I was wrong. This game doesn’t hold the same single player experience; it's a unique experience.

Game Plan

You get to know the neighbors and you make little chit chat with them. Animals come and go; time goes on. Day by day you spend your time the way you see fit. If you don’t want to do anything but fish all day, you can. You can go dig holes for treasure or go around catching various insects. You can go spend money at the store to buy some new threads or the featured items of the day. There really is a wide array of stuff you can do.

Excitement Missing

With that said, this game is very bland. There isn’t much to it. There are no levels and no great upgrades (besides your house). I know this isn’t that type of game but I thought they needed more incentives in this game.

I did play this game for a good while and got most of my house upgraded which is cool, but that was the only thing that I looked forward to doing in the game. Everything else is just collecting and selling items to make money.

The Store

The other enjoyable element in this game is buying stuff. Tom Nook, the furry monopolizer, as I’d like to call him, owns the main store in town, and your house in the beginning of the game. If you buy enough stuff from his store, he’ll eventually upgrade his store. Checking his store for cool new items, and items to complete your collections is a daily thing to look forward to.

A Social Game

The key component to this game is the online play. Without it, I wouldn’t have played for as long as I did. Human interaction is key, that's why I labeled this a social game. Talking to computer animals just doesn’t cut it, when they only have 1-2 phrases a day. The ability to have fellow Wi-Fi'ers visit your town, or you go visit theirs, is a cool experience. You get to see what they have collected in their virtual home and how they decided to decorate it. You can trade items or give gifts. You build relationships and talk about your day. Meet new friends and so on. That's the best part of this game.

Wi-Fi on this game was executed nicely, although waiting to enter other towns or getting kicked off because others have slow routers, sucks.

Overall

The Graphics are very chunky, resembling games of the 90's rather than the current high definition games we are used to.

It's an enjoyable game to just kick back with and to chill out with. It picks up as you get more money and items, but it's basically more of the same.

If you make good friends online, or have friends that play this, it's a great experience. Most of the people I used to play with stopped going online so I also stopped. Collecting stuff and customizing your town isn't the same when no one comes to visit and comment on your hard work.