N-Sider Goes Wild

N-Sider Goes Wild: Game Impressions

Mattie Behrens

Well, what can I say, really? It's Animal Crossing, and it's portable. That alone was enough to win me over. I remember toting my sleeping GBA with the pattern designer or Animal Island loaded into it, just to get even a small bit of an Animal Crossing fix at lunchtime in the office or when off visiting family.

I've been impressed on the whole with what's new in Wild World — especially the animals. They do so much more than they ever did in Animal Crossing. Since I started playing, I've been given a nickname by one, which has spread; been party to lots of gossip, contributing to some myself; and have been visited twice by one in particular with an eye for my home's layout. The animals also redecorate with items I send them or they acquire by some other means, as well as myriad other things; it all adds up to such a deeper experience than Animal Crossing ever offered before.

As for the multiplayer experience, it's been a mixed bag. To be sure, it's been a lot of fun visiting other towns from around the world, but the implementation is lacking. You can run around, buy stuff out of shops, talk to all the animals, but as far as actually participating with the other players, you're effectively limited to broadcast chat. No way to put items up for sale for other players like you would with your Gyroid in Animal Crossing, as far as I can tell. Not even an interface by which you can stand next to each other and pull off a trade a la Nook's shop interface; you've gotta drop Bells and items on the ground and hope another player doesn't scurry over and pick up items before you get a chance. Events — the lifeblood of the series' longevity — also appear to be suspended while a multiplayer session is in progress, which is also somewhat annoying.

On top of the missing features, the multiplayer suffers from a major problem: dropped or troublesome connections will make your game reset. I had hoped, with Mario Kart DS, that Nintendo had learned the lesson that connections will fail, and it's not an excuse to end the game; dropped connections are certainly dealt with gracefully in that game. Thankfully, the town host can initiate a save across his game and all the other players', and this is probably something I'll be doing often.

So, in conclusion: single-player game, excellent; every day brings more new stuff that reminds me what I loved about the original. Multiplayer: flawed, yet still fun in its own right as it adds to the game. This game is definitely rekindling my love for Animal Crossing, and I'm thrilled that I got a chance to get into it and share with everyone.

Dean Bergmann

Animal Crossing: Wild World was one of those games that I really didn't think would be such a big deal. I mean, I looked forward to it, but I figured it'd just be a port from the GameCube version. Well, I was happily wrong. While most of the original look is still there, and the same 'beginning' procedures (getting a job, meeting everyone, etc) are also present, there are enough changes that make this a worth while buy if you love the world that is Animal Crossing.

The Animal interaction has increased greatly, which is obviously a good thing. They now furnish their holmes with the stuff you send them, and they sometimes give it back to you as well. The minor cosmetic changes, and simplification of some of the more tedious tasks (Loans, dealing with the four central houses, etc) have been made very user friendly, and the whole aspect of living in one house paying the same debt just rocks. I've been hearing something about a 3 story 6 room house, I don't know if this is true, but it'd be insane if it were.

We've all just scratched the surface of the game; using the one or two songs per week from K.K. Slider, it'll take at least 30 weeks to get the entire library! Nintendo's made a huge game, a drastically huge game, even more so than the GameCube version, and is definately worth a buy.

Conor Curtis

I'm tired.

You might not think that's relevant to Animal Crossing: Wild World, but I'm telling you it is. For the very reason that it is because of this game that I am in fact, tired. Not since the Pokmon craze has a game had me so tied to a screen. And like Pokmon, Animal Crossing: Wild World can be taken with you where-ever you go. You might see that as good or bad, depending on how much you value your time.

Wild World is the original Animal Crossing formula, plus more. Aside from the online functionality, it's probably nothing that couldn't be achieved with an expansion pack. (Impossible on the GameCube, but there you go.) Nevertheless, it's on a different platform, so the game is justified anyway. But it's not really important to me: I hadn't played the original when I first picked this one up, so it was still a new experience for me.

There's always something to do. Whether it's fishing, fruit picking, digging for fossils or recognising star constellations, you'll always have something to do. It's a good thing there's a lot of variety too, because some of the tasks are very tedious and you'll find yourself getting annoyed if you do then for too long. Luckily the game has a completely free-form way of doing these tasks. If you haven't played the original, you'll be glad to know that in Wild World you can change whatever the hell you're doing at that point on the fly. No loading, no start screens, nothing. Just a quick item change and a walk; that's it. I'm glad they used that system: the game would have been much more tedious without it.

Travis Woodside

I have played the Nintendo DS more than I ever had and it is because of the beauty that is Animal Crossing: Wild World. I'm impressed by everything it has brought to the table. Tweaks to the old forumla set by the original Animal Crossing on the GameCube are perfect and new additions are fresh and invigorating. Animal Crossing has finally been perfected.

Neighbors are more interesting this time around. I know there have been a billion previews out there to fill you all in regarding this, but I have to say the neighbors really are more interesting than I ever expected. I actually care about them to an extent. In the last game they were fun for a while, but felt more like a gimmick to me. They just weren't interactive enough. The AI really has been massively improved. It's still limiting in some ways, but such is to be expected. Animals will still occasionally repeat lines of dialogue, but it just seems far less frequent to me.

Online, in my opinion, is fantastic. It's a bit limited in that when you get to town you can't do anything with any other players aside from talk to them. You can use your imagination and play some hide 'n seek, tag, or go on a scavenger hunt, but the ability to have a snowball fight or play simple games like basketball would have been great. Interacting with a friend's town, however, is priceless. It's neat to get mail from out of town or know that your friend's neighbors may be mentioning you in the future.

It's a great game and I'm in love with it. It has sucked me in far more than the original ever did thanks to the bump in interactive quality. Plus, finally, you can customize how your own character looks beyond buying new clothes. I know a lot of people who continued to restart the original game because their randomly made character did not suit their tastes. Now, if it doesn't, you can change them around with new hair styles or accessories.

I really am very impressed.