Animal Crossing: Wild World

Animal Crossing: Wild World
For the Nintendo DS


Ask any hardcore gamer today and they'll tell you that Nintendo lost touch with them when the Wii came out. I'd have to agree with them, since I'm certainly not buying that Wii Fit is essential to my library of dust-collecting Wii titles. Yet, many don't know that Nintendo had already tried this casual market once before with many a game, including Animal Crossing. What at first seems like a fresh and relaxing experience becomes more like a chore, leading me to believe that I'd be better off doing a chore that's constructive than doing one in front of my TV screen. So, when the second AC game came out on the DS, Animal Crossing: Wild World, I was once again tricked by the cheery atmosphere and sucked into a world of relentless torture. That, my friends, is Animal Crossing: Wild World in a nutshell.

Sadly, I can't even begin to call Wild World an actual game. It simply mimics what you do in real life, but replaces you with an odd-looking child that's eyes refuse to move in any direction and tasks to complete that are as entertaining as watching snails in a foot race. With that said, Wild World does little to full immerse you in the experience, starting off with the simple fact that a plot is nonexistent. Wild World places you in a random town full of annoying creatures in hopes of living a good life. This good life, however, comes with a price. You'll soon find that enjoying the game becomes much more difficult when the local shopkeeper places a mortgage on your home and your only option to pay it off is sell things you find laying around the village. I feel no remorse when I say that Wild World completely misses when it comes to being fun. Completely.


This couldn't get any more boring...Oh wait, it swam away...It just got more boring

Wild World does start out amusing, I'll give it that. It'll entice you with the ability to build up your house, make friends, go fishing, and numerous other activities you can take part in. Unfortunately, the number isn't big enough to avoid the game becoming repetitive and downright boring. Collecting fruit to pay bills over and over again just doesn't make a fun game. What makes matters worse is that Wild World is extremely shallow in what it offers. Customization barely scratches the surface of what other games provide, special events give no purpose to attend them and the game never changes its daily routine of “make money, pay bills” gimmick that never gave off a good vibe in the first place. The sad thing is that the game had so much potential to be better than it was; to actually be a game worth buying.

It's at this point that many who do play the game realize that AC:WW is nothing more than a chore: a game that makes you feel that you have to play it, rather than making you want to because you enjoy it. I can recall numerous occasions when I'd pop the game in because I realized I needed to collect some money for the huge loan I took on my house. I can call myself an idiot, because when I am playing a game that has you live through some of the worst parts of real life, it's time to stop. Plus, the game even penalizes you for not playing. Things will become deteriorated as time goes on without your maintenance. It once again sucks you into an experience that is absolutely dreadful.


If this ends up as the layout of your bedroom, you need to find a good doctor.

Then again, the development team behind Wild World did succeed in making the title far from an eyesore. The graphical style presents a 3-D world that breaks away from other 3-D DS games by creating an environment that is inventive, easy on the eyes, and, above all, simply extraordinary. Though the sounds that ring in your ear canals may become tedious, you'll never become weary of the cartoon-like characters joyfully trouncing up and down through the community. Wild World may have struck out repeatedly already, but it hits a home run when it comes to graphics and audio.

Nevertheless, ACWW once again strikes out. Multiplayer could have brought the game out of the gutter, but all it does is drive the nail through your head, reminding you that the game is nothing more than a shell of the awesome title it could have been. Interactions between other players is limited to local and WiFi visits from friends. They can't do much other than explore your town and, without any special modes to keep the experience going, multiplayer doesn't become much else than walking around with someone you can do the same with in real life. It is a horrible letdown and shamefully doesn't do much to remedy the problem with special add-ons relating to it.


A wild party? Maybe next time, boys, maybe next time...

To be honest, simulation games like Animal Crossing: Wild World seem to be sorry excuses for games. I said the same thing about Nintendogs. Why play with this virtual mut when I have one of my own? AC:WW applies the same way. Why endure through this when I can do so much more in real life? Ask yourself that when you think about playing the game. For what it's worth, I can't think of many good reasons of why I ever acquired the game. It was fun at first, but then it became exactly what I've already described: a chore. No one likes chores.