Gamer's Wii Review Animal Crossing: City Folk
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The good parts (4 out of 5)
The well-written lines and dialogue of the engaging animal characters were truly funny and made me and my little nephew laugh while playing, keeping us entertained for hours.
The available work stocking the local museum is a new feature that is one of the best new parts, adding an interesting concept that keeps the energy up and the entertainment coming.
An excellent game for busy gamers who only have small spurts of game time to play and want the ability to just step into a fun, enjoyable and interactive gaming experience without a huge learning curve.
The parts that need improvement (3 out of 5)
While most of the interactive characters in the game are wonderful fun, with funny and enjoyable lines, a few of them only had a few lines of dialogue that they repeated often when you talk to them, which takes away the entertainment value, when you notice it.
This is still the same old Animal Crossing fun you remember, with emphasis on old. Where’s the new content that is suppose to improve a game, and bring the enjoyment to a new level in relation to the previous titles?
The game graphics (3 out of 5)
Animal Crossing: City Folk has a cute, charming and colorful visual presentation that creates a easy going atmosphere that you will remember from the DS offering of Animal Crossing: Wild World, but gives it a dated look compared to some of the new offerings for the Wii.
Sounds in the game (3 out of 5)
The voices and voice acting of the characters in the game is obviously meant to be funny and interactive for the gamers, and the developers hit the mark here. They all have catch phrases and funny little comments they will make depending on the action occurring, but this made me laugh for the most part, which was the goal.
The sound effects were also light-hearted. They added to the entertainment and kept the action and fun rolling for the most part, with environmental effects and character effects of the animal characters.
The music is cheerful and happy, upbeat for the most part, but suffered from occasional moments when the music score didn’t match the action occurring in the game. A little more care to make sure the action or job you’re doing matches the tempo and energy of the track playing would have really improved the entertainment value of the game, especially for the young ones.
The story line (4 out of 5)
The game will begin with you being given the opportunity to import all your saved data and information from Animal Crossing: Wild World. Provided that you have any, you will be limited to your appearance and contents from the local store, but this gives the title the feeling of continuation from previous games.
You will be given the opportunity to start a new life in Animal Crossing when you begin the game, a life with a small home that you still owe money on to a character called Tom Nook. You will need to earn money to pay the house off, but when you do, Tom will come around and want to make improvements, he’ll insist on making upgrades that will put you back in the hole.
You earn money to pay him off and buy new things for your home by carrying out tasks and chores for the inhabitants, taking part in contents, and even collecting items for the local museums. You don’t win or loose in this game, you build up your new life by exploring new environments, and buying and selling items to make a profit.
Playability (4 out of 5)
There are so many things to do in Animal Crossing: City Folk that you’ll be coming back again and again to continue building your life in this unique, interesting and engaging look at virtual life for the Wii experience.
The Nunchuk and Wii remote combination works well enough most times, but there will be a few moments when you will need patience to complete jobs and achieve goals. The controls work pretty well with all the equipment provided, allowing you to complete all the tasks using fishing rods, butterfly nets, or whatever is required.
Playing this game never stops, in fact you could probably play forever, especially with new games and new content expected to be added in the years to come.
The bottom line (3 out of 5)
Animal Crossing: City Folk gets a hardy thumbs up from me for actually adding a few features that add to the entertainment value of this title and mesh well with the original concept, instead of heading off in a direction that would leave us shaking our heads and wondering what they were thinking. The millions of current Animal Crossing fanatics who spend time every day maintaining and improving their lives in this unique virtual universe will now have the chance to try a few new things and add to their virtual lives, which is different than life on Earth.
