Okay folks, my review on Animal Crossings: Wild World for the Nintendo DS, has been a long time coming. I felt I could not give a complete review until I got my DS a Wifi connection. The time has come.
I got this game for one reason, and one reason only. Animal Crossings was probably the finest game I had played on my game cube. Adding Wild World to my DS game collection only made sense.
I was able to purchase it on the day of its release at Gamestop for $34.99. Believe me this game was selling out like hotcakes at McDonald’s on a Sunday morning.
The game itself starts off a bit like the one on game cube. You’re leaving home, about to start a life on your own away from your parents. You answer a few questions, before the game itself starts. You choose your name, your gender, and the name you would like to call your town. After all of this basic stuff, your character arrives. (The neat part is if you don’t like how he/she looks, you can always restart the game. The characters face can and will change every time you start a new game. Or add a new person to your town. –You are allowed to add 3 more friends- say a brother, or sister to live in the same house as you)
Upon your arrival you will be greeted by a raccoon named Nook, he is the owner of Nook N Cranny’s, the town’s local shopping center. Nook takes you to see your home, and then he slaps you with a bill. However you don’t have any money. Dang! This is where the games actual play is put in effect. You have to earn that money, and believe me it won’t be an easy, or fast job to complete.
From here Nook leaves and asks you to meet him back at his shop. You have to choice to either, get to the shop and start working immediately, or you can go and check out your house and the town.
Yech, its rather small and ugly looking house. It will be up to you from here on out to decorate your home to your preferences. I will get into the home furnishings and decorations further on however.
You get to Nooks, and he asks you to perform little annoying missions to earn some bells (money). You have to deliver packages, introduce yourself to all of the animals in town, and post a bulletin for Nook. This is basically just a tutorial, it gets a little annoying, but once you complete the tasks you get to roam free, and Nook hooks you up with a town map. This makes it easy to locate other animal’s homes, when you first start off.
The number of animals in your town will vary from time to time. At one point you will have up to 10 neighbors, and sometimes you will have 8. The animals tend to move out, and move in about once a week. However sometimes it takes awhile for a new animal to move in. Your neighbors will vary from friendly and bubbly, to complete grouches, each animals personalities will differ from the last, and you may even grow more fond of one than the other. Don’t get too attached though, when move out on you sometimes, you can’t take it personally. You will see a large variety of different animals. Rabbits, dogs, toads, pigs, bears, chickens, roosters, ducks, hedgehogs, squirrels, monkeys, cats, chipmunks, etc. The list goes on and on.
Now just how does one pay off that home loan?
Well there are many, many ways to pay Nook back. At first you most likely will be selling Nook sea shells that you happen to find at the beach, which is always located at the very far bottom of the town. You can also run errands for the animals in town. They will either give you bells, clothes, or furniture.
You can then sell the clothing and furniture you were given to Nook, who will buy them from you. This is basically how you make money.
There are also hidden tips to making bells that aren’t as obvious.
-If you hit rocks with your shovel, sometimes a rock will release bags of bells. Keep hitting it, and the bags of bells will get bigger. There will only be one money rock per day in your town.
-If you go up to a tree and shake it, sometimes a bag of 100 bells will fall to your feet.
Okay, so now you have some money. However don’t pay of the loan just yet. First your going to want to purchase some tools from Nooks shop. A major necessity is the fishing pole, shovel, net, axe, and the slingshot.
Once you have gotten the pole you can go fishing. This is where things get fun. You find a river, or the ocean; once you see a dark shadow in the water, release your line. When the line starts shaking, reel him in! It’s easy. One can spend hours fishing. There are quite a few fish to catch too, 56 different species to be exact.
Once you have caught fish, you can either bring them to the museum, or have them put in the aquarium. Or if you have caught two of the same fish, sell the extras to Nook. There are a few rare fish that Nook will pay almost 10,000 bells for. Now remember different fish come out at different seasons. Animal crossing Wild World is set in real time. So if it’s February 7th 2007 for you, it will also be the same date in Animal Crossings. (You can however change the time in the game if you’d like)
The net is used for bug catching. There are 56 different bugs to catch. Like the fish, rare bugs are worth big bells. You can donate bugs to the museum, or sell them to Nook.
The shovel is used for digging, hitting rocks, digging up cut down tree stumps, and planting flowers. If you happen to be walking around your town and see a star shaped marking on the grass or sand, that would be where you would dig. What you dig up is a mystery every time. It could either be a fossil, (take this to the museum to have it identified) a pit fall (if you happen to step on a star that contains a pitfall your character will fall into a hole- just hit the A button to get out) it could even be furniture that another animal may of buried, or a gyroid. (A Gyroid, is a wooden type totem pole looking thing. If you place it in your home it will make noises) Gyroids are found the next day after a rainstorm in large quantities. I usually sell them to Nook, as they are worth 800 bells each.
The slingshot is used to shoot balloons down in the sky. Balloons come every now and then, and you will see them floating in your top screen. The balloon usually has a gift attached to it. If you happen to get lucky and shoot it down, the gift will fall to the ground. Usually the gift contains a piece of furniture for your home. Shooting balloons down is probably the most difficult task that this game has to offer.
The axe is used to chop down trees. Now you don’t want to go crazy with cutting them all down, it will make the animals in the town upset. The axe is used to lighten up areas that have too many trees crammed together, causing you not to be able to make your way through. Cutting a few trees down just makes it easier for you to move around the town in a quicker manner.
Now lets move on to your home. Collecting furniture will prove no easy task. There are many different types of sets one may want to acquire. You either get furniture by buying them from Nook, or getting them from completing tasks from animals in town. However you may also acquire furniture in the lost and found. There will be two dogs waiting by your main gates, ask the dog to the left if anything has been lost. He will show you a list of things if there are any. Feel free to take everything if you want.
There are 576 different pieces of furniture. So it will take a lot of time for you to get them all. Once you have gotten a piece though, don’t be afraid to sell it. You can always repurchase it, as it will be saved in you catalog. (Your catalog is a list of any furniture you may have had in your possession in the past, regardless of whether its in your house at that time or not)
There are also 64 different wallpapers, and 64 different types of carpets for you to decorate your home with. You can get crazy and creative.
You also will have the option to join the HRA. This is a home rating system. Every week you will get a letter in your mailbox from the HRA with a grade on your home. If you get a great score, sometimes the HRA will send you a gift and congratulate you.
I know there are ways to do feng shui in the home as well. I haven’t mastered this yet, but I do know if you master it, you will get some sort of gift from the HRA.
Decorations also go beyond the home. You also can plant flowers and trees all throughout the town. Be careful you don’t run through flowers though, as you can kill them. If you plant a lot of flowers, sometimes there is a good chance of creating hybrid flowers. These are rare occurrences, and these types of flowers will never be available at Nooks.
However if you don’t play the game for about a week or so the town will become overrun with weeds. They’re easy to get rid of though; you just stand over them and pick them. Its pretty easy. There also is a small chance that you will find a patch of clovers. If you pick them, there is a random chance of finding a 4 leaf lucky clover. You can wear it in your hair, or put t in your home.
There is also the Able Sisters shop. This is where you go to buy different clothing patterns to wear. Here you can also create your own styles to wear, or use as a pattern on your umbrella. The cost to make your own clothing will always be 300 bells. It’s neat because after you create a new pattern, and put it on display, sometimes animals in your town will sport the new look as well. You can also purchase accessories like glasses, beards, hats, and hairstyles here when they become available. Two different accessories will be available each day.
Also when you pay off your loan, your house will get larger and larger, and so the bill from Nook will also grow. However if you keep paying off your loan you will eventually earn yourself the mansion. The best and very last upgrade to your house. It consists of 3 levels and 7 rooms total.
Another neat feature is message in bottles. You can purchase them at Nooks. You can then write a letter to someone, anyone really. You never know where it ends up- it travels to other wifi Animal Crossing DS users. I like to leave my email address in the letter and a little gift, and see if someone emails me letting me know they got my message. Sometimes you may even get a message in a bottle washed up on your shore.
You can also write letters to other animals in your town, usually they write back and add a gift. So it’s fun to do. You may also write letters to other users in your house, or write letters to other wifi users on your friend list.
As you upgrade your house, Nooks store will also upgrade, becoming larger and nicer with each upgrade. Eventually there will also be a hair salon in Nookingtons. You can take your character here for a makeover for 3,000 bells. Your hair style and color will change depending on how you answer the hairdresser.
Now just when you think things are becoming boring, a special even will pop up. You can find all the details out about special events on the town bulletin board.
There will also be special visitors in Animal Crossing: Wild World.
A reindeer will come for a visit on Christmas Eve. He likes to hide in your town. If you happen to find him, he will give you a Christmas themed piece of furniture for your home. If you continue to seek him, each time he will give you another piece of furniture. Save these pieces, they are the only types of furniture that you cannot re-order. However if you get doubles, sell them. They’re worth a lot of money.
When it is snowing in your town, you will also sometimes find balls of snow. If you roll them, you will create a snowman. Its hard to do, and takes some concentration and fine hand skills to pile one ball on top of the other. Once he is made, he will give you a gift, which is worth a lot of money. You can make a new snowman everyday and everyday get a new gift.
On the 4th of July at night, if you look at the top screen you will see a display of fireworks. If you go to the town center you will find Tortimer, the town mayor. He will give you sparklers to hold during the festivities.
On Halloween everyone in town will be dressed in costume. You have to be careful, if they run up to you, you must give them candy. Make sure you buy candy at Nooks in advance; if you don’t have candy they will give you a trick. There will also be a visitor named Jack. If you find Jack roaming about tag him. He will give you a piece of Halloween furniture. Seek him out as much as possible without getting tagged by other animals. Otherwise they turn your Halloween furniture into jack o lanterns, which are worth nothing. His furniture is also worth a lot of money, so if you get doubles sell them to Nook.
There is also a random chance of a sea gull named Gully that sometimes will wash up on shore at the ocean. He will look dead when you find him, but if you keep prompting him to talk, eventually he will wake up. He will then tell you a huge story about why he washed up, and then he will give you a rare foreign gift. These gifts are worth a lot of money if you sell them To Nook. However they also make the house look nice, and will raise your HRA score.
Gracie is a fashion designer; she will visit your town about once a month. You never know when she might pop up, she doesn’t leave a bulletin, but if you talk to the animals, sometimes they clue you in. If the animals talk of Gracie, she will be in the town. It’s now up to you to find her. When you do she will ask you to wash her car. If you wash it nicely she will give you one of her fashions. You can either wear the clothes she gives you, or sell them to Nook. Her clothing is worth way more bells than any other pieces of clothing you may come across in the game.
Redd, a raccoon that looks like Nook; only crooked will also visit once a week. He will send you a letter and let you know when he will be visiting. He will also send you the password to get into his tent. If you loose the password you will have to ask every single animal in town what the password is. So keep the letter till he visits. Its annoying having to hunt down which animal has Redds password. Redds tent has a variety of rare items that sometimes does not sell in Nooks shop. Here is where you may come across paintings for your museum.
However, sometimes his paintings are fakes and worth nothing. So it’s really a gamble unless the insurance man comes to visit-, which doesn’t happen as often as you would like. At Redds sometimes you loose, sometimes you win. It’s sort of a gamble. His prices are also extremely high; so make sure you visit him with quite a few bells in hand.
There will also be an old woman selling turnips every week, if you buy them, then sell them at Nooks you can make a huge profit.
The prices of turnips rises and fall each day, just don’t let them spoil. They will rot and be useless in one weeks time if you don’t sell them.
During spring and fall seasons your town will also be visited by a beaver that will hold fishing tournaments. It’s simple really, catch the biggest bass, and win the trophy.
There will also be spring festivals, fall festivals, and other activities for you to participate in.
THE GRAPHICS
The game itself may look lame and childish, but in reality it has a lot to offer. The town you will be in is very colorful. Everything is in a 3d type atmosphere, and sort of reminds me of a more childlike colorful Southpark.
If you have the wifi connection this is where things get very fun. Now before you get all excited, you must remember you have to have a friend code plugged into your friend rooster, and that friend must have you plugged in as well for you to visit, and have visitors. It’s the most annoying process that Nintendo has added, seeing how not everyone has 10 friends who own animal crossings.
There however are forums and websites where you can exchange your friend codes with others. (By the way the dog at your main gate will give you your friend code)
The best site I have come across for friend code exchanges is www.animalcrossincommunity.com
Once you have exchanged codes with someone you can then visit their town or have them come and visit yours. Once you have a visitor you can exchange furniture, play, pick different fruit, then plant them in your town for fruit variety, or just gossip. It’s really a lot of fun being able to explore someone else’s town, seeing how each one is different. However you also have to be careful when you let someone in your town you don’t know. It wouldn’t be fun to have them cut down all your trees, steal hybrid flowers, and ruin your town, like some people just may do. If you see any sort of activity you do not like, you can just turn your DS off, and take them off of your friend rooster. However the site I provided gives other users a rating, so you can see comments from other users, if that person is a good visitor, or a bad one. A bad visitor can ruin all of the fun if you happen to come across one.
Don’t let it stop you from having visitors though; you can rid your town of bad visitors easily. Remember though, when you do have visitors that are new, try and monitor them.
If they don’t chat back when you ask them something, or if they keep running through your flowers, ask them to leave. If they don’t, like I said turn off the DS. There are many known hacks to this game, so if you feel someone is suspicious, kick em’ out!
I have been nothing but impressed with Animal Crossing Wild World. The game is a great buy. The fun never runs out. There is always something to do in your town, or in others. You will not be disappointed if you purchase this game.
Just a note- I myself cannot wait for the launch of Animal Crossings for the Nintendo Wii.
Mii crossings; however that review will have to wait for another day in the future. Sigh*
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