Animal Crossing – A Great and Innovative Game
My wife and I played a lot of this back on the Gamecube, and years later we picked it up for the DS as well. We loved it in both incarnations. We keep meaning to pick it up for the Wii. Should we?
Benjamin Sell has been working on a ton of great guides for the game. If you play Animal Crossing you should definitely check them out. Here are a few:
Animal Crossing: City Folk Guide to In-Game Holiday Events
Animal Crossing: City Folk Fishing Hints and Tips
Animal Crossing: City Folk Bug Catching Hints and Tips
Animal Crossing: City Folk Happy Room Academy Decorating Hints and Tips
Have any of the readers here played this for the Wii? If so:
- What do you think of it?
- Is it much of an improvement over the Gamecube and DS versions?
- What do you think makes Animal Crossing so great?
- Why does it seem like nobody other than Harvest Moon has even come close to replicating this style of game?
I’ve not played the Wii version, but as a devotee of the Gamecube and DS versions, I’d say it’s at least worth a shot. One big problem is that the game cannibalizes itself. It’s meant to be played night on forever, so each subsequent iteration naturally kills its predecessor.
That’s not a huge deal for the player looking for the newest shiny, but as a budget gamer, I’ll probably skip the Wii version because I have the other two. (And I only picked up the DS version because it’s portable. Two “sit down and play” versions wouldn’t do much for me.)
I’m in the same camp as Tesh on this one. I haven’t played Animal Crossing on the Wii, but enjoyed the DS version a lot. Animal Crossing is good because it manages to cultivate a feeling of ownership/pride/accomplishment without getting too tedious.
The game successfully walks a tough line – trying to be casually enjoyable but also provide the option for meaningful challenges. Harvest Moon is one of the few other franchises in this genre, but Viva Pinata is also worth mentioning. It was a really well-done game that you could play in short spurts for the cute factor alone, or spend hours and hours powergaming the shit out of your garden.
Why there aren’t more games like this? Hmm, to some extent I think the fun of them is hard to convey in an advertisement. Did you ever try to explain the concept of Harvest Moon to someone who was unfamiliar with it? Anytime I have, I’ve gotten ‘holy crap that sounds boring’ as a response. I always figured that it was primarily word of mouth and the cute factor putting these games in people’s homes, with astonished addiction sneaking in later. I’m not an industry pro by any means, but to me that sounds hard to bank on.
The best version is the Gamecube one in my opinion. Both DS and Wii don’t include the unlockable retro NES games you could find, which was a huge bonus. They also use a weird rolling log perspective instead of the top down screen to screen version of it. Also, from what I hear the gameplay didn’t change much in either to be worth playing it as a sequel.
The DS has a game like that by Konami called Magician’s quest: Mysterious Adventure. Essentially it’s a clone where you attend a magic school, but they copy it right down to the perspective and styling.
Hmm interesting. Thanks for the info, Dblade.
I have a tragic Animal Crossing story to impart. Long ago, I bought the DS version for my current ex-ungirlfriend..
Naturally, I had to play it. And as we all know, there is only one reason a person would want to play animal crossing: to collect as many Gyroids as possible. And then put them all in your enormous basement. And then activate them all. And listen to their neverending screams.
But then! I discovered only four of them could be activated at a time. I was devastated. All interest fizzled.
Looking at The Internet right now, it says the limit in other versions is ~8-14, which is still a pathetic sum. Haunted urns just aren’t that awesome when the dream of an entire screaming room can’t be fulfilled.
What do you think makes Animal Crossing so great?
The nature theme. You can get the sunshine you don’t get in real life vicariously through the game.
And the relationships with the NPCs. I’m sure most people have had strong emotions of HATE when meeting one of the NPCs, and that’s a special kind of moment. Also a couple might have felt sad when one of them they kind of liked moved away.
Why does it seem like nobody other than Harvest Moon has even come close to replicating this style of game?
Are we including things like The Sims in this category, or only third person dating simulators with dialogue (which disqualifies Black and White)?
Hahahaha. I remember a few times I actually thought this while playing, and realized that meant I REALLY needed to go outside.
Agreed. The NPCs did not even have very powerful AI, and yet somehow I actually managed to really like some of them, and strongly dislike others. That is an accomplishment.
grandioso cencos mi istibes te vimosedil ditidamo ilhans. dalheir te etifupo rento nos chadiredu o tisubsos sseira reires bien.