Game: Animal Crossing: Wild World
Console: Nintendo DS
Developer: Nintendo
Release Date: 5th November 2005
For those of you unfamiliar with the concept of Animal Crossing, it's a laid back game played in real time, in which you become a villager in a town, doing odd jobs and collecting items to pay off your mortgage. There's no real goal in the game, or timescale in which anything needs to be achieved. Other villagers will move in and out of your town and you can visit, interact with, befriend and give gifts to them whilst they are in your town. I'd say the goal of the game ultimately is to let yourself be relaxed and immersed into the game world.
Wild World was the 2nd series release inside of Europe (the 4th in Japan), and the first on a handheld console. The player begins by entering a variety of information such as the date, and their name; as the game is played in real time, the day/night and season cycles will reflect that of the system date and time as set by the player. The questions answered in the initial conversation will determine the player's facial features. Arriving in town, you're shown your house before working off some of the debt that owning it has put you in.
After this part however, the game is pretty much free-form and you can spend your days doing as much or as little as you like. There's plenty of activities to earn money from, or complete museum exhibits with including fishing, fossil hunting, and bug catching. Other interesting things to do include planting trees and flowers around the town and watering them in the hopes that they won't wilt. Weeds will also sprout in town from time to time and removing these will improve the villager's impressions of the town.
The gameplay is geared towards short to mid-length play sessions, everyday. My usual routine would involve finding the hidden fossils for the day, and the rock inside which lots of money is hidden before selling any fossils I had already put into the museum to Tom Nook (the shop owner), and checking up on his selection of furniture. Depending on how much time I had, I'd fish or bug catch for a bit, water the flowers and talk to my villagers amongst other things. Whilst this might not sound the most amazing of experiences, there's a certain charm in the virtual life you lead in your town.
Differences in Wild World, to previous installments of Animal Crossing include more player customisability and villager interaction than before, the player is able to use both the DS touchscreen and buttons to control their character, 72 new villagers as well as new fish and bugs to catch, a better space system than the previous acre system, and other more minor changes. Most of these are positive and advance the series in the right direction to encourage the player to continue to upkeep their town.
Graphically the game is fairly simple and cartoon based in style, and the town features a nice sphere effect as the horizon scrolls behind the player while they move up or down. Musically the game is superb, featuring a theme for each hour that passes along with other music for the inside of buildings and the ability to customise your town's theme which plays when interacting with villagers or entering buildings.
Overall, Animal Crossing: Wild World is a relaxing experience, something made to be picked up everyday, completed a little a time, with no overall goal or time limit. It builds on previous installments of the series, and adds new and exciting features. While some people would call this type of game boring or aimless, I personally think that it has a lot of charm and works well whether you have a few minutes to spare each day, or a whole lot more time. In a world of instant gratification in video gaming, its a reminder that working a little at something each day can build up to great achievements.
Rating: 84/100
Grade: B
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