Animal Crossing: City Folk Member Review for the Wii

Animal Crossing just has that certain charm that makes it very appealing to a variety of people. Sure, it looks kid friendly on the outside, but break that shell apart and you can find a game you'll keep coming back to for a long time and that will extend even more if you got a few friends who have this game.


Just like in the games before it, City Folk starts you off as a broke hobo who just moved into the town you just named. Unlike the other games where the player houses are either shared or are in one spot, City Folk has player houses separated and scattered across the map, so you get to pick where you want to make your home at. Once you pick your home, Tom Nook, the resident store clerk, will appear and hand you the bill. He also teaches you the basic mechanics of the game, which you cannot skip if you decide to play the game again as a new character.


The animal neighbors come in their own flavor and charms and seem a bit more developed in character compared to the previous games. In the past, you had to choose whether you wanted to just chat or if they had an errand for you. All that is taken away since now they will just talk once you greet them and they will only offer you jobs if they have any.


The amount of things you can do in the game is almost endless. Catch bugs, go fishing, dig up buried items, shoot presents out of the sky, etc. There's always something going on and it's up to you to find it. Making money will be the most common thing you'll be doing and Tom Nook will buy almost anything you give him. At first, his store is a shack, but keep buying from him, and he can upgrade several times to hold more inventory. Tom Nook, like in the other games, will also upgrade your house each time you pay off his debts, whether you like it or not. Having a bigger house lets you put out more furniture and other doodads to show off. You can also show off your bugs, fish, fossils, and painting collections by donating them to the museum.


Players also have the ability to create designs for clothes and umbrellas. You can design anything you want and have it appear all over your clothes, but for a small fee, you can make designs where each clothing part have their own design. For example, you could draw a heart on the front, a diamond on the back, and a club on the sleeves. The controls for drawing the designs aren't too stable on the wii remote so drawing things perfectly will take time to master.


Of course, the game wouldn't have the word "City" in the title if there wasn't one. You can take a bus to the city and find several things to do. However, almost all of the things in the city are just the random events from the DS game rolled into one area; you can watch a show to gain emotions to use, visit a store that sells trendy buy expensive items, get your hair done, have your fortune read, etc. The so called city is in fact, quite small and you don't have much interaction with the animals wandering around there. What's also disappointing is you can't go the city with a friend online.


The online is only a small step up from the DS version. Players can use text to chat or they can use voice chat by using the wii microphone that is bundled with the game. The microphone is extremely well made and can pick up voices from a few feet away. It also doesn't pick up other sounds unless the sources are very loud. When you have a friend registered, you can send letters to them without the need of visiting their town by the use of Wiiconnect24. Other than that, the online interaction has barely changed since the DS.


If you happen to own a copy of Animal Crossing: Wild World from the DS, you have the ability to import your character and catelouge to the Wii version. It won't transfer items from your house or your pockets and you won't get money saved from the DS version. This is just a small bonus if you own the DS game and don't want to find most of the items all over again.



The main problem of the game is too much of the same. You still do mundane chores to make money and pay off your debt to Tom Nook, you still decorate your house from items found or bought, the online is still the same as before, the furniture and other trinkets haven't changed and many places from the DS game like the town hall and museum reamin almost exactly the same in this game. Even the music that plays in various parts of the game are still the same as before! The graphics barely look different from the gamecube version, the only thing improved is slightly better resolution and textures. Only people who never really played Animal Crossing before will enjoy this game. If you played the other games, you probably will not find a reason to pick this up.