Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 11-15 of 384
 Hey- who took all the fun parts out? July 24, 2006
A.N. Roman (Hillsboro, OR)
14 out of 26 found this review helpful
Animal Crossing for GameCube is one of my favorite games ever. I still play it on a regular basis, enjoy visiting the neighbors, catching fish and bugs, seeing the special monthly events, and helping out in making the town look good. I bought it last May, and it's been over a year and 2 months. How many games can you say that for? When Animal Crossing: Wild World was announced, I didn't know what to think. Sure, an online Animal Crossing was a great idea, but why wasn't that made for the GC version in the first place (let's not forget that the GC -did- have an internet adapter)? Plus, would the super gimmicky touch screen help or ruin the gameplay? Of course, like most DS games in the first year or so, the touch screen element was a gimmick, and something unnecessary. In fact, there's no reason that the non-online portion of Wild World couldn't have been done on the GBA. Playing Wild World was a big disappointment for me, a huge fan of the original. Things were taken out, villagers no longer had 2 options in talking, there are tons of petty events that don't matter, your town is a lot smaller, and there's just plain less to do. Simply put- unless you have AT LEAST 3 friends who have DSes and Wild World to play with online, you shouldn't get this game. And if you have the GC version? Stick with that, and wait until the one for Wii comes out. At least then, things won't feel as rushed as they did here. No, I'm not trying to seem like I hate the DS, Nintendo or Animal Crossing, but quite frankly, Wild World could've used more time in development.
If you haven't played Animal Crossing before, it's hard to summarize the gameplay. There's no objective to complete. You move into a town inhabited with animals, and work to pay off your debt to Tom Nook, the one who sets you up with your house. You repay him via selling fish and bugs you catch in the town, selling items villagers give you as rewards for favors, play in the stock market, and do some harvesting with foreign fruit. It's a lot of work to pay off the debt, but you don't exactly HAVE to pay it. In fact, you could just sit around and do nothing for months and it wouldn't matter. When you're not doing things for money, you can enjoy shopping for new furniture for your house, designing patterns for clothing and floor tiles, donating fish and bugs to the museum, checking out the stars from an observatory, getting new hair styles, and a little more. But the key selling feature in this game is the online/Wi-Fi play. Using the DS' built-in...whatever it has...you can go online with a friend and visit their town or have them visit yours, seeing how their place is going. Doing this helps you get things not available in your town, like new kinds of fruit. At first, there's not much to the Wi-Fi thing aside from the novelty of playing with a friend. But you soon realize that there's not much to really play, and will probably get bored after a while. Again, if you don't have friends with the game, you're going to be having limited fun with Wild World. It'll be like a half-assed version of the GC version when you look at the big picture.
So what's wrong with this game, the sequel to what I originally gave 5 stars? A lot, that's what. For starters, being on the DS really hurts the game. Yes, there are 2 screens, but that doesn't mean that both have to be used at once in order for a game to work. When you're not in a menu or building, the top screen will show *gasp* the sky. Yes, that's all. Very rarely will a present on a balloon or something else fly by, giving you the option to shoot it down with your slingshot (an otherwise useless item on its own). Aside from that, there's no point in seeing the sky. It's a waste of a screen, and precious battery time. Sure, the touch screen aspect -can- be useful, but it's not always the case. The only times it's really helpful is when you decide to write a letter, name a star system, or organize your inventory menu. Using it to move around is a bit of a pain. Opening doors will take a few tries, and trying to pick something up while holding the shovel will usually result in you digging a hole instead of nabbing said item. In the original Animal Crossing, when you'd talk to an animal resident, they'd give you two options in conversations: continuing talking about life, or seeing if they need a favor done. That's no longer the case in Wild World- all you can do is talk about little things, rarely getting to do any favors. Why take this out? Why the sudden need to talk constantly to a resident until they eventually have a favor? And when they do have something for you to do, it's usually a waste. I'd often spend 5,000+ bells (AC's currency) on something they'd want, only to get 300 bells as a reward. Great. 'good to see that I wasn't wasting my time at all. The new museum is a bit bigger in some ways from the original, but it's lacking variety. I didn't feel motivated to fill up the museum at all this time around, and it's not because I completed it on the GC version either. It just seemed so...pointless. But this museum also features a cafe where you can buy coffee. There's no benefit to doing so, but it adds a bit of flair (I guess), and also serves as a new location for K.K. Slider to play his music. There are many more cons, like less residents being allowed in your town, them having a more random chance of moving out, only being allowed to put so much furniture in your home, pointless events (La-di-da Day??), a pointless charity option, and more, but it's too long to go over. I should mention that Wi-Fi play isn't as easy as many would make you believe, for some at least. If you have a firewall, or a friend does, good luck finding a way around that.
Visually, the game looks worse than the GC version. It has lots of jaggies, some slowdown once in a while, and it's hard to make out some things like when you design a shirt. It's actually pointless to do that since it won't look anything like how you designed it. The game does have the same style to it as the original- simple and nothing fancy, so you'd think they would've had more time and effort to at least make things look as good as they could. As for the sound, this is what really gets me- there's hardly any variety in the music. At least in the GC version, the music would change by the hour or weather. Here, there's maybe 6 tracks that play when you're out and about, and then each building's respective theme. They're all pretty weak. There's no real vocal work here aside from noises that the animals make, some being pretty creepy like the more macho characters.
As you can tell, I was disappointed with Wild World. In fact, I don't see how it's "wild" at all. It's a dumbed-down version of the GC version, and makes me lose faith in how Nintendo's treating what could've been an outstanding franchise. I'll give them one more shot though with the upcoming Wii version. If you absolutely loved Animal Crossing for GC and would love to take it with you anywhere you go then this is obviously your [only] best choice. But just be careful not to give your hopes up. Like the GC version, you'll play it in small doses, but given that there's less to do here if you don't have friends to play with, you'll see it collecting dust in no time.
 Excellent Escapism for fans of Life Simulations November 14, 2006
A. Mahler (Texas, USA)
13 out of 16 found this review helpful
I recently bought the game and am very pleased with the game. Wild World offers a fun, and extremely unique little microcosm for users to explore and interact with. More importantly, the constant changes that occur in game keep you coming back again and again to discover something new about the game.
With that said, this is certainly not a game for everyone. Wild World will be the most fun and offer the most opportunities for gamers who can find enjoyment doing mundane tasks like gathering apples and writing letters. More than anything, this is a game that will not be enjoyable for gamers looking for quick thrills-a-minute gameplay.
If you can be won over by the sheer uniqueness and charm of the characters, and have a penchant for fishing, Wild World is certainly an excellent buy.
 Astoundingly addictive! July 29, 2006
J. Peplinski (Michigan)
11 out of 12 found this review helpful
It's very difficult to explain why this game is so much fun and so hard to put down. In fact, I almost didn't buy it because I didn't understand the premise. The Amazon reviews saying "you can fish, you can catch bugs" didn't really help much!
But in the end, I did buy it, and now I can't think of much more to say than "You can fish! You can catch bugs!" It is fun, charming, relatively easy even if you're not good at games, yet there's enough depth to keep you coming back. I'm terrible at most games but I've found a lot to enjoy in this. I find it very hard to put down!
I like that there is so much you can do, that there's some skill involved but not so much that I get lost or frustrated. I like that it's laid back; you can't die or get stuck on one level forever (as I tend to do on many other games!). Now that I'm addicted to it, I even like it's unexplainability. It's sort of funny to try and explain to my husband that I want to catch some rarer bugs so I can sell them to the raccoon in order to pay off my mortgage. He looks at me like I'm nutso and maybe he's right! But I'm having a lot of fun with this game!
Gamecube to the DS...what happened? Well I'll tell you... November 27, 2006
11 out of 12 found this review helpful
I have Animal Crossing for both the DS and the Gamecube. The original had me hooked for hours on end, trying to catch that giant fish or fill up that darned museum. I loved every bit of it, especially the real-time game play, and the system of sending and receiving letters. After the DS came out, I bought it and a few games, including the 'all-new' Animal Crossing: Wild world. Having been so used to the gamecube version, I automatically was turned off by the curved ground, and the fact that you had to either use a D-pad to move or use the stylus. Using the D-pad made your character limited in the directions he/she could move (Being a full 360 top-down game, directional ability is a MUST), and using the stylus was a bit awkward, and I was used to using styluses at that time. Biggest problem was that the critical screen you had to look at was the bottom screen, which is where the stylus is, which made it hard to see where you are going and where you have been. This is about where the disappointments end, though, as I entered the world of online play. I grabbed a few friend codes and started playing, and it was pretty entertaining to chat with other gamers and find out about their town and such, and trade fruit and all that good stuff. Back to the normal gameplay: I started out thinking it was going to be an exact repeat of the gamecube version, but then I started noticing the new things. Constellations, being able to shoot things down from the sky instead of having to wait until it hit a tree, an obvious influx of new items and fossils, a flea market where animals buy stuff directly from your house and you buy from theirs, and many other new features. Though it isn't a huge jump, Wild World is a pretty good game and is recommended for fans of Animal Crossing. Be warned, if you are the GTA type or the type who can't stand still and relax for more than 3 minutes without getting impatient, this is NOT FOR YOU. It's a building block game, where the more you do stuff the more stuff is unlocked. patience is key.
Also, it is definitely not recommended for people who did not enjoy the Gamecube version.
SO...for those who want the instant wrap-up
PROS:
New tidbits of interesting features such as online play
New tools and gameplay items such as additional fossils and fish, and an entirely new museum display, "Constellations"
Uses the great real-time play that was used in the gamecube version
Has familiar control and is somewhat comfortable to use.
CONS:
Moving your character around can be a little awkward at first, hard to get used to using a D-pad to get around instead of a control stick
If using the stylus it can easily block the view of what is going on.
Must get friend codes to use online play. (though you don't want random strangers coming into your town and cutting down your trees, now, do you?)
All-in-all, this game is great for Animal crossing fans and people who just want a relaxing game where you can kick back and develop a town (Not super-technical, though), bad for impatient people or those who do not enjoy sandbox games.
Paws-itively Great - from an 11-year old DS Fan in No. CA November 30, 2006
11 out of 11 found this review helpful
In Nintendo's whimsical simulation game, Animal Crossing:Wild World, the adventure starts on a rainy day in a cab driven by the craziest pirate "Kap'nn" you've ever seen. With a colorful character to match your personality, you set off on a journey to a new town, where everything is normal until you meet your neighbors. Animals! Making a meager earning in Nook's shop, you must work your way from fixer-upper cottage to a Donald Trump monster house, while making friends with your crazy animal neighbors, from curmudgeon hippos to pants-on-fire peppy cats. And once Nook kicks you out, who knows? With the right stuff you could become a budding fashion designer or archaelogist...the choices are endless in the Wild World!
PROS: This unique and eccentric game beats the others...paws down! A very cute game of dazzling and charming animation with special holidays for the town you create, and wild visitors who give you everything from comic relief to fashion tips! With a wide array of tools for fishing and bug catching, even a shopping center and clothing headquarters to design your own clothing line, this game expands creativity...and mischief. You really never know what your crazy animal friends will do next!
CONS: Everyday play is fun, but the game can get very repetitive and annoying, like rude lazy neighbors throwing insults at you pell-mell, weeds all over the place, a certain wild-eyed mole who yells at you if you even dare to accidentally switch off the game without saving (earning you a very painful lecture). But the very worst you shall ever see is the EXTREMELY annoying song the female animals sing constantly about puppies and candy...but other than that the game is pretty great!
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