Animal Crossing- One of the best games ever

Author's Rating:

Pros: very addictive + Pretty much everything

Cons: very addictive - takes up an entire 59 block memory card

The Bottom Line: 
Animal Crossing is one of my favorite games, and I recommend it to anyone, even if they do not play games.

Author's Review
Animal Crossing is a wonderful game for all ages.

Animal Crossing is about you. Your character is designed by questions you are asked while traveling to the town you are moving to. You choose your name, the name of your town and your gender. The town is inhabited by animals, but you play a human. Once you get to your town you choose one of four houses to live in. In front of your house is a twirling robot, called a gyroid, which helps you manage your life. You start out very basic, with drab wallpaper, floor and a cardboard box. You learn from the local merchant that you owe him a large amount of money for this small shack, but you have as long as you want to pay him for it, he gives you a simple job doing tasks for him to start you out.

Once you are finished with the job you can do anything you want, fish, catch bug, dig for fossils, do favors for animals in exchange for prizes, gather fruit to sell, sail to an island and those are just a few of the things.

The game is very customizable, you can design your own clothes or buy them from the store, you can keep your house small, or pay up and have it enlarged multiple times and you can purchase and trade for furniture to supplement your home. You can even have fish and bugs as pets in your room.

The world around is affected by your actions. If you purchase a lot at the local general store it will enlarge and have more selection. If you donate a lot the museum it will be filled with great displays, otherwise it is empty. If you are very careless and leave your trash everywhere or cut down trees, then your town will fall into disrepair.

The games Animal Crossing reminds me are The Sims and Harvest Moon, Grant Theft Auto and Shenmue. Though AC has fewer requirements than these games, in fact it has virtually no requirements. AC is one of the few games like this. You are not driven to accomplish something in the game because you have to, but because you want to.

AC's Graphics are terrible when compared to other Gamecube games, since it was originally designed for Nintendo 64. I am still very fond of the graphics, they are very colorful, cartoony and cute, and do not limit the game in any way.

Another great thing about AC is the multiplayer. There is no simultaneous multiplayer, but taking turns can be very fun. You can have up to four people on one memory card, each with their own house. If your friend brings their memory card to your house, then they can visit your town. Sending items to another player is possible too, and you do not need to be near each other. One player gives up their item and they are given a code, then they give the code to another player and they can type it in and pick up the item at the store.

Animal Crossing is a very addictive game and it can take many hours of your life.