When
I first started reading what the story behind this
game was I became really distracted by the fact they
wanted to have kids move out on there own. I figured
great where going to have a whole bunch of 10 to 17
year old kids wanting to leave home because they did
well in Animal Crossing. Eventually I did realize
that it was just a game and in some senses it did
prove to be a great tutor in personal betterment.
Although the first time my Daughter comes to me and
asks for a loan so she can move into her own house,
this game will be seen flying out my window at a speed
not normally humanly possible.
Animal
Crossing is a game about creating a town in your own
image, creating friendships and extremely helpful
to me, the need to write "Thank you's" after presents
have been given by a relative or friend. You start
out in a first person view riding a train to your
perspective town. When a Cat who has a tendancy to
laugh at just about anything and nothing funny greets
you and asks you if you would like to chat. Of course
if you do not talk with Rover (see what I mean about
humor) you will not have some of the benefits he gives
like calling his friend to get you a house and the
naming of your town. After a plethora of questions
from this annoying feline you finally get to see your
character for the first time. Depending on how you
answered the cat's questions will decide how you look
within in the game so hopefully you answered to your
best abilities. Next you run into another want to
be comic. Tom Nook he is the local shopkeeper and
he sells everything from houses to umbrellas. Tom
has a few houses he just built or should I say boxes
that he needs to throw away. He offers you one of
them and then walks you around each one for you to
choose of course like any good salesman he hasn't
said anything about a price yet. Once you have chosen
your new residence you now have to pay for it, oops
no money well not to worry Tom will take care of you.
He offers you a job at his store running around doing
errands and such to earn back money and to better
your understanding of the game when you have paid
of your debt you can then move on to bigger and better
things so good luck in your new town you'll need it.
As
you traverse your town you will see little houses
and other residents that each have there own different
sounds. Some ranging to ear piercing screeches to
low rumbling gravel tones all of which can be changed
at the beginning to something less irritating and
subtler. Also in each house is usually a Radio jamming
what ever that houses resident likes at that current
time. A nice added option is the fact that you can
add new music to your own radio in your house via
either the E-reader combined with the GBA and Link
cable, or by creating your own by changing the town
tune on the billboard near the train. Other sounds
in the game are there but isn't anything special just
like the music and speaking tones eventually you become
numb to it all.
Graphically
this title looks like it could have been done better
on the N64 but with good reason. I believe they sacrificed
the graphics for the more appeasing and ample content
you will almost never run out of things to do. Even
if you where to run out of stuff to do you could always
add more by going out and purchasing another E-reader
card, or start trading with a friend, which I will
touch on later. Even though they couldn't exaggerate
on the graphics and quality of them they made up for
it with distinctiveness. Every character and item
you buy has at least one thing different about it,
which makes for a large and entertaining game of change.
Controlling
your character around the screen is as simple as just
moving him or her to the spot you choose. About the
only thing that could be frustrating is the dropping
of items in your town such as trees and flowers. What
I mean is placing your items in your town can be rather
frustrating due to the fact it all depends on which
way your turned and how far from other objects are.
However it will get better as you learn more about
placement and where things will drop. Other aspects
of control would have to be mentioned are the combination
of the GBA and the E-Reader. Both add tons to the
games mechanics by adding new content and a way for
friends to take there game on the go. Possibilities
are endless with a friend with a town and you with
a town sharing items and other household wares.
To
touch on how huge this game is would take an entire
book to explain all you can do and add. Animal Crossing
is a never ending game basically it is constantly
growing and conforming to how you want it to be. With
it also running in real time its almost like living
another life within a game. All I can say is don't
get to entwined or you will forget what real things
mean like Food for example. Also another little thing
when you start finding old NES games within your town
don't play them forever while Tom Nook is waiting
for you. You don't want to upset him and get paid
next to nothing for all your hard work just because
you got a chance to replay Punch Out, Excite bike,
Balloon fight etc.
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Animal
Crossing Preview Posted by Dave M.
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Animal
Crossing is the typical Nintendo game that "mature"
players will complain about being way to cute and
kiddy, and claim to be above it, but will fall in
love with anyway. Animal Crossing came out for the
N64 in Japan, and was and is still a huge hit with
players overseas, and was originally supposed to come
out for the N64 here as well, but was transferred
over to the GameCube. Animal Crossing sounds like
it has all the makings of another Big N classic, one
that both children and adults will love. Let's check
it out!
Animal Crossing has a number of features that sound
intriguing, lots of fun, and often times, both. You
can visit various houses in the animal villages to
play classic NES games on! You can meet some allies
in the forest, use tools, work at a job, and even
buy your own house in the village. You can collect
various items, costumes, and creatures, fish, and
interact with the Game Boy Advance via a connection
cord. The world changes as you save your game to the
unique memory card (which is included with the game)
and you can have up to four players at once in the
world you create.
And
if that isn't fascinating enough, the game uses the
GameCube's internal clock to mimic the 24-hour world,
with day and night, and there are even all four seasons,
Winter, Spring, Summer, and Fall! The game is based
on communication, letting you speak to the various
animals for different purposes, like home ownership
and tips. Though the graphics aren't particularly
impressive, they do the job, and the unique and engrossing
gameplay will more than make up for any lack of eye
candy. And the ability the play NES classics like
Donkey Kong 3, Tennis, Baseball, Ice Climber, Pinball,
Golf, Clu Clu Land, Balloon Fight, Donkey Kong Jr.
Math in some of the houses in the village makes the
game almost worthwhile just for that purpose! At this
point, if you aren't watching Animal Crossing, you
definitely should be, because this game will be huge!
Look for it in late September.
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Animal
Forest Preview Posted by Cole
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Animal
Forest + is the name of the latest Nintendo game to
be released on the GameCube. The game was released
not too long ago on the N64 under the name Animal
Forest (minus the plus). The "communication game"
is based on character interaction and the story and
adventures are varied by your decisions.
Starting
out your life in the Animal Forest, you arrive by
train and basically create your character giving him
or her a name, age and other particulars. Soon you
will encounter other creatures that will communicate
with you through a text-based interface. They will
ask you questions and you will have a variety of multiple
response answers from which to choose from. You can
make friends, enemies, lie and generally do whatever
you want. In a sim fashion you can choose to work,
get paid, buy furnishings and clothes and basically
settle down and enjoy your life in the forest. Or
you can take it easy and live off the land catching
insects and fish and playing music. Yea, there's something
that's not considered employment, playing music for
a living. I ought to know.
An
internal clock keeps tracks of time as the world experiences
day and night as well as the four seasons. In addition
to the visual changes such as darkness and Christmas
tree lights hanging on the dwelling in the month of
December, the internal clock will also affect the
gameplay. The entire game is quirky and done in a
humorous style. For instance, numerous NES characters
and games are hidden in the world. You can play these
games if you can A) find them, B) win them in a raffle,
or C) have them given to you by a friend. The games
include Donkey Kong, Pinball, Balloon Fight and sports
games such as tennis, baseball and golf. If that's
not enough or you, you can also use your GBA to trade
game data and play other mini games. You can visit
other player's villages with your character and find
items in there that you can bring back into your own
game. Sounds pretty cool.
The
game will not change too drastically in graphic quality
or gameplay from the N64 version. Since it's such
a huge hit in Japan already it makes sense to not
fix what's not broken.
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Click
For Media
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System:
GameCube
Dev: Nintendo
Pub: Nintendo
Release: Sept. 2002
Players: 1 - 4
Review by Drayco |
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RATING
(OUT OF 5)
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OVERALL |
4.0
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GRAPHICS |
3.0
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CONTROL |
4.0
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MUSIC/FX |
3.0
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VALUE |
5.0
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