Animal Crossing: Wild World, Reviewed [DS]

I first purchased Animal Crossing for my DS over a year ago and it was my first game for my brand new DS. In fact, I actually bought the game before the DS! I stole my fiance’s DS and played on it until I finally bought my own. I couldn’t put it down then and to this day it’s still one that I can get sucked back into if I’m not careful.

Animal Crossing is a free-play game. There are no turns, no story to work through, no bosses or levels to beat, you just go happily along doing whatever you please. This attracted me instantly because I like games where I can move at my own pace and I’m not restricted within the levels and can only do certain things. The game is also played in real time and will keep on playing after you’ve turned your DS off. Most things won’t happen while you’re gone, however if you are away for too long, neighbors will move away, your house will become infested with cockroaches, weeds will pop up all over the place, etc.

The game starts you off in a cab. The driver asks you a series of questions that will determine where your house is located in town, whether you’re a boy or girl, what your name is, and what the name of the town is. Not necessarily in that order though. Once you answer all the questions, he drops you off in your newly created town. Everything about the town is randomized, right down to who your neighbors are, so each town is different every time you start a new game.

To get you oriented with the town, the local shopkeeper, a raccoon named Nook, will send you on a few little errands. They’re simple things, and kind of annoying, but once you get through them you’re completely on your own.

About the town:

The buildings are: your house, the post office, the museum, Nook’s store (a general goods store), the clothing store run by two sister hedgehogs, and the neighbors’ homes. Your house will grow bigger as time passes and as you progress in the game, Nook’s store will also get bigger as you spend more money there. You can buy many things to put in your house and decorate it with. You can also buy various tools to use in the neighborhood such as a fishing rod or a shovel.

The museum will store catches or finds that you make. There are separate rooms for fish and bugs you’ve caught, paintings you’ve acquired (watch out for forgeries! But don’t worry, the owl at the museum will let you know if something is fake), and fossils you’ve dug up. You can also go upstairs and make your own constellations in the sky or go across the hall and get a cup of coffee (which has no value whatsoever but it’s cute).

Your neighbors will be a series of animals with different personalities. Some are nice, others are grumpy, and their stay in your neighborhood will depend on how much you talk to them and whether or not you send them letters or presents. So if you have a neighbor you don’t like, ignore them completely and they’ll move away. That is a nice feature that I wish would transition into real life

You can fish, collect bugs and furniture for your house, harvest fruit and flowers, sell things to Nook to make money, and even visit the neighborhoods of your friends via wireless connection and wi-fi. There are various dates and holidays in the calendar as well as the seasons all change in real time.

It’s a wonderful little game that doesn’t fit nicely into a genre or category. I highly recommend it for those of you who like to be completely on your own, like the idea of having neighbors who are animals, or like collecting things. All ages can play this game and enjoy it, even my mother-in-law plays

[Rating: 4/5] 4 out of 5.

I took off one star because even though there are many things to do, there is only so much you can do in a day. Also, having the option of a story mode would have been nice, or perhaps some mini-games. That’s the only thing I can think of the might improve the game, other than that, it’s still one of my favorites.