Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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457 of 469 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Crazily and stupidly addictive, December 29, 2002
Thank god I got this as a Christmas present. If I hadn't, I'd be bouncing off the walls all through the school day waiting to play this dumb game.
Why a dumb game? Well, the concept is amazingly simple. You live in a little town (mine was christined Jamaica by my little sister in honor of our upcoming trip to the actual island) in a little house. You can fish, dig for treasure, hunt bugs, and do favors for neighbors (all of which are cute little animals that vary depending on which type of town you ended up with). You have to pay off the mortgage for your house. You can chat it up with residents, visit the local museum, or go shopping. If that gets boring, you can always decorate your house with the seemingly unlimited amounts of rugs, wallpapers, and furniture. Sounds kinda redundant, huh? It's not.
What really makes this game fun? Three things. First of all, the detail in this game is amazing. The towns residents don't just interact with you, they interact with eachother. Several times a day I'll walk into an area to see one character whisper something to another, resulting in either one or both of them getting extremely angry (you can't talk to them while they're like this!) They'll also give eachother presents, and gossip behind eachother's backs. Also, if you share the town with another player (I share with my sister) the town's residents will tend to favor one of you over the other (e.g., a hippo named Lulu loves bragging to me about my sister, showing me her letters, and gushing about favors she did). Secondly, the town is bursting with surprises. You may start a conversation with a character only to have them suddenly give you a gift. New characters may appear, to move in or just visit. My favorite is a disgruntled mole that shows up and spazzes every time I restart the game. Because how would you feel if someone just started your whole world over again? Finally, the real time aspect of the game is great. On Sundays a warthog comes through the town selling turnips. On Saturday nights a guitar playing dog cranks out tunes. On holidays, there are celebrations (for example, I recently got a notice about a New Year's bash at the wishing well). Want to visit a resident? If it's past their bedtime, you're out of luck.
So it sounds like a kid's game? No way. It appeals to little ones (Preschoolers will adore the simple things, like shaking trees, collecting seashells, and moving furniture), grade-schoolers (the museum curator spews interesting facts, and it's always fun to interact with town residents), and teenagers and adults (there's a surprising amount of strategy involved!). What's also great is that you can never "beat" this game. Like The Sims, you basically play until you get sick of it.
I strongly reccomend this game to ANYONE of ANY AGE. Very addictive and endlessly fun, this game is worth your money!
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241 of 247 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Innovative, exciting, wonderful, and addictive, December 24, 2002
The only reason I bought this game was because I heard I could play a whole bunch of classic NES games and even transfer them to my Gameboy Advance. I was a bit annoyed by the first hour or so of play as I was required to name and create a town and character. After that, however, I became interested in the variety of activities I could participate in (besides just playing old NES games). By the time Halloween came and all the characters dressed-up as Jack O'Lanterns and asked me for candy, I was amazed at the amount of fun I was having simply living in this world, which I called Europa.That's when my 3 year-old decided she needed to start playing. Within a day or two, she had mastered the (mostly icon-based) interface. It was fascinating watching how she enjoyed playing the game - not by any means I would've thought. The first week she loved shaking trees looking for treats. The 2nd week, collecting shells and selling them to Tom Nook was her favorite. After that she went into phases of planting flowers everywhere to chopping down pear trees (they're not as pretty as cherries). She was playing in Europa alongside my character. What she did impacted my game experience and we loved sending letters (with presents attached) back and forth to each other. Then, my wife decided she was interested enough to look at it (for once, she actually looked at a videogame). Soon, the three of us played the game on a daily basis and talked about it when we weren't playing. The combination of time-based events and small surprises in almost every play session makes this something that people want to talk about. Best game I've played this year.
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41 of 41 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
I Wish I Lived There!, August 5, 2003
Okay, let's all admit it! Before playing Animal Crossing for the first time, you think that this is another baby game, just by Nintendo. Actually, you'd be half there. Animal Crossing may appeal to babies, but it will also greatly appeal to anybody else who loves games along the lines of Pikmin or Super Monkey Ball 2. I thought about buying this game for months, before finally deciding to pick up a copy, and even then, I questioned my purchase. However, within five minutes, I fell in love with the game. The whole point to Animal Crossing is trying to make a home for yourself in a town overrun with animals. It is similar to The Sims, the PC hit by Maxis, but only not as in-depth. However, in some ways it is better than The Sims. You have no momentum bar like you do in other Sims games, and you explore the whole town freely, unlike in The Sims where you call up cabs or buses to take you everywhere. AC is much more colorful than The Sims as well. The first thing that you will notice in AC is that the game is simply not hard. In fact, the hardest task that you may do is finding out who stole Leopold's glasses! Although it may sound corny, the concept is VERY fun. In the town, the time passes like a real day. One minute in our world is equivalent to a minute in Animal Crossing. it is really fun like this! Also, a calendar is kept, unlike The Sims, and you have four seasons come and go. The animals also celebrate holidays like Christmas and Halloween. There are fishing tournaments and even raffles to do in the town. The whole thing is really quite fun and charming. There is never an excuse for not doing anything in the town. There is always something to do, whether it's running an errand or catching bugs. The biggest problem with the game are the graphics and sound. The graphics are really about N64 quality and the sound is only okay. But, the fact is, everything is so endearing that it's hard to heavily nitpick Animal Crossing. This is definitely one of Nintendo's better projects, and in my opinion, Nintendo is still king when it comes to developing games. While most systems stride to become more and more violent with games like Silent Hill 3 and GTA Vice City, Nintendo strides to become more family-oriented, which is a refreshing favor. Even me, a diehard fan or Resident Evil and Vice City loves Animal Crossing. Whether you are three or fifty, you will find Animal Crossing very fun. I know that I will play this game for years to come!
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