Animal Crossing: City Folk

You Belong to the City

While I certainly had fun getting re-acquainted with the quaint critter-filled town, I knew that the familiar could only satiate me for so long, and the true test of City Folk's mettle was outside of the town limits and the social circle of its inhabitants. I expected big things from the city as I boarded the bus to this strange new destination.

Having only seen a scant few screens of the city, I must say I was surprised at how small the game's selling point ended up being. We're talking about 1/20th the size of your town, with six or seven buildings to enter and four or five animals around to chat with. What the city lacked in size, however, it made up for with charm. The few businesses in the tiny metropolis were fun to peruse and definitely encouraged repeat business. The Happy Room Academy that consistently mocked my decorating skills with snide letters on the GameCube had an actual presence, with a sample room in the back that displayed what the company was looking for. A salon allowed me to drastically change my look, as I had the choice to change my character's hairstyle or even get a complete makeover to look just like my Mii. My favorite city establishment was The Marquee, a performance hall with a "so bad he's good" comedian that offers you a side benefit to watching someone bomb onstage, not to mention the ability to learn facial expressions for your character, to boot. Rounding out the robust establishments is the fact that you're always encountering new animals about the city. For fans of the first two that bemoaned the fact that their town's population was full of duds, visiting the city this time around will alleviate some of the pain.

Animal Crossing: City Folk

Wii Speak to Animals

The Wii's Wi-Fi capabilities add another facet of animal interaction to the series with the ability to visit a friend in their town. While you could enter other people's towns in the GameCube version of Animal Crossing, you could only do it while the other player's character wasn't around. In City Folk, you can traverse a town with your buddy (you still have to deal with friend codes, natch), chatting them up via the included Wii Speak accessory. It's a great way to find new items, fish and fruit, but unfortunately, there's not a lot you can do to entertain visiting guests. There's no minigames to take part in, nor can you interact in any meaningful way with the villagers (like running their errands or affecting their mood by cracking their skulls with bug nets). Worst of all, you can't hit up the city together, which would probably be a blast with a friend.

The Wii Speak peripheral works about as well as the standard issue Xbox Live headset, without having to deal with any comfort issues. Ultimately, the online gameplay was a bit too broad for my tastes. I might stop by a friend's town to chat with a friend and see what crazy creatures inhabit his neck of the woods, but there's not much to keep me there for long -- or to encourage me to come back.

Back to Civilization

I've been living amongst animals on Nintendo systems for over six years now, and this, my third move feels like my last. I'm still extremely friendly with the well-spoken critters inhabiting Davville, and I do enjoy kicking back and fishing or shopping for a cool new couch, but the sameness of the franchise over the last few years has begun to wear on me. New arrivals will probably enjoy the multitude of activities in Animal Crossing: City Folk, but long-time residents won't find much to keep them from moving out.

PROS: Great laid-back gaming made famous in the first two AC games, with some decent additions in the form of the city and Wi-Fi gameplay.
CONS: Not all that different from the first two, nor is it enjoyable for long stretches. The game needs a down-time hook like the NES games were in the first.
Animal Crossing: City Folk
Animal Crossing: City Folk

Comments [21]

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ChoasMage1

Damn You Dave Rudden!!! I will make you cry! jk great review! I just dont feel as bored of animal crossing dave. maybe since im still on my first time in animal crossing. once i get this it will be my second move. oh and just in case some new guys done know, you can only plant money trees with a golden shovel! I cant wait to pick this up

PiranhaFish

All the reviews are marking it down for being too similar to the DS one, but this is a GOOD thing because the DS one rocks!

JPThunder01

It's a good game, a refreshing change from the never ending barrage of first person shooters I've played lately on the PS3.

Jake016

I can't believe this game was considered as a hardcore title for the Wii. I can recognize that AC has developed a solid fanbase and stuff but give me a break. This game is not going to make a hardcore gamer drop their 360's and PS3's to get a Wii. Hardcore game my ass.

JPThunder01

Jake016 wrote:

I can't believe this game was considered as a hardcore title for the Wii. I can recognize that AC has developed a solid fanbase and stuff but give me a break. This game is not going to make a hardcore gamer drop their 360's and PS3's to get a Wii. Hardcore game my ass.

It's a hardcore game in a sense that the game has a hardcore following and it's an already established franchise. This game wasn't directed towards the 360 and PS3 crowds who still worship Halo 3 but for the people who are sick of that kind of game, fans of the series and first timers wanting to check it out.

JPThunder01

Also, it's a hardcore game in a sense that it has a ton of replay value, you could play the game every day for a year or two and still not get bored simply because there's so much stuff to collect in the game and secrets to discover.. there's no violence, blood or anything like that but it's got replay value to spare.

eday_2010

Jake016 wrote:

I can't believe this game was considered as a hardcore title for the Wii. I can recognize that AC has developed a solid fanbase and stuff but give me a break. This game is not going to make a hardcore gamer drop their 360's and PS3's to get a Wii. Hardcore game my ass.

It's as "hardcore" as someone makes it. If someone plays it for 4 hours a day everyday, then it's a "hardcore" game. Just like Gears of War 2 is a "casual" game if someone only plays it casually. Get over these stupid terms to categorize games as either one or the other. Any game can be both "hardcore" or "casual".

I never played AC, and was planning on getting this. The fact that it's not a game in the same sense as a platformer or RPG is not an issue with me. Any game I can play endlessly is a fantastic value. The problem is that with all the other games I have, I don't have the time to really play this one a lot. Thus it might not be worth it for me to get it, at this point anyways. It does sound intriguing though. Something to play when you want to relax.

UltimateAlien

JPThunder01 wrote:

Jake016 wrote:

I can't believe this game was considered as a hardcore title for the Wii. I can recognize that AC has developed a solid fanbase and stuff but give me a break. This game is not going to make a hardcore gamer drop their 360's and PS3's to get a Wii. Hardcore game my ass.

It's a hardcore game in a sense that the game has a hardcore following and it's an already established franchise. This game wasn't directed towards the 360 and PS3 crowds who still worship Halo 3 but for the people who are sick of that kind of game, fans of the series and first timers wanting to check it out.

Hate to nitpick but why would the PS3 crowd worship Halo 3. In my experience most Sony fans despise the Halo franchise.

JPThunder01

Well you know what I mean.. most good PS3 games are first person shooters, the same way they are on the 360.. the biggest on PS3 being Resistance 2 which is similar to Halo 3. I was gonna get Resistance 2 but after playing Far Cry 2, Socom, Battlefield Bad Company, Call of Duty 4 I decided to pass on it for obvious reasons lol

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