Despite what was said early on, Animal Crossing: City Folk and the Wii Speak device were bundled together and on store shelves on launch day. Kinda annoying that the bundle wasn't a wide spread item that could be preordered the same way for those who DID want both though. So, if you're looking to get these two products, go for this, it'll save you ten bucks the way it ripped off those who got 'em separate.Marketing tactics aside, let's go into the product. Animal Crossing: City Folk is the third version of a much loved series and finally seemed to be at its prime at launch day--or so we thought. There are a few gimmicks that ARE pretty nice, such as transferring your character and his/her catalog from the Nintendo DS version (though that's all you can get, makes getting items oh so easy), and, unlike all the previous versions, each new player picks their own house scattered all over your new town. As you explore, you'll pick up on several things if you've played every single game like a dedicated Animal Crossing fan of all the games does: the land features and "wild world" land style that replaced the "acres" style of the original is back, and from the original you have the hill features and multiple waterfalls all over town. Gameplay is the easiest with the Wii Remote and Nunchuk combo--the pointer itself is not so easy and quite frustrating as a matter of fact. If you didn't know this from the title, there's a city half to all this where there are high priced stores and several other shops and things that were already present in Animal Crossing: Wild World; the only new thing being the auction house. There's also an occasional traveler who hands out free balloons and pinwheels. The city portion, however, is extremely painful to reach, and whenever you do care to play the game, the city gets passed over. Not that I'm saying this game is horrible--it's just more of the same. Same music from the DS, nothing really has changed. If you're new to the series, great, you'll have a good time with it. Returning players get the same old thing. The best part of the game? Wi-Fi. Get a couple friends and your town will seemingly have new life. But if you don't, this game will grow old very fast.Wii Speak, on the other hand, helps make the purchase worth it. Short term, there's unfortunately not much. Long term, there's a lot to be put into this device. Sure, the fact that it came later than most of the already great Wi-Fi enriched Nintendo titles also makes them incompatible with most games, it does come with its own Wii Channel that allows chat and gives photo sharing, a voice changer, and the ability to send voice messages adds value right out of the box. Even though Animal Crossing allows text chat, how much fun is it to point type? Not much. This just helps add value to Animal Crossing because it makes the game flow so much better. Pick it up because it is getting its value tested with a couple more games supporting it later this year, but the fact that it came so late and is incompatible with games such as Super Smash Bros. and Mario Kart (yes, we know Nintendo doesn't want the use of mild language) just kinda stings. So we are left to our own devices to talk while playing with most games, though the channel does help make up for it somewhat.
4 of 5 found this review helpful.
Overall rating
1/ 5
Gameplay
2/ 5
Graphics
4/ 5
Sound
1/ 5
chickenwing101
Turn a good game into a bad game
PostedMarch 2, 2009
I loved the original Animal Crossing, so I don't understand how there could be a sequel so bad! Sure, this is better than the animal crossing game on the DS (Wild World) but I wish Nintendo would pay attention to what made the first animal crossing such a hit. If you want to play this game (even though if you are smart and listen to me you won't) I recommend you use a nun chuck because I can't begin to tell you how annoying this game is without it. If you do use the nun chuck you'll be happy to know that the easy controls are one of the few good things about this game. When you start the game, you're aloud to start a new game, or transfer your Wild World character over to your new file, but you won't have any furniture or money you had in Wild World. So as with the first 2 games the story is the same: You create your town name, your name, which house you wan to live in, and then start working for Tom Nook. After that, you do whatever you want. This was fun in the first game, got a little boring in the second game, and it's just annoying now. In the city (a new location) you can but lots of stuff and put stuff up for auction. Also, if you register friends and they register you, you can go to each others towns online to trade furniture and run around like idiots trying to find something to do. Also, if everyone in your game has wiispeak, you can talk to them with it. It's just too bad you can't use it for games like Super Smash Bros. Brawl and Mariokart wii (at least I don't think so). Also, unlike in the first game where you could collect old games to play, this game doesn't let you unlock any. If you think this game is boring because of what I said, you're absolutely right. This game doesn’t let you do much (even for an animal crossing game) so it's so repetitive and boring. The original Animal Crossing is a game everyone must play, just don’t play this sequel (or Animal Crossing Wild World for the DS) because let's be honest, Animal Crossing for the gamecube is just this, but better.
1 of 23 found this review helpful.
Overall rating
2/ 5
Gameplay
4/ 5
Graphics
4/ 5
Sound
4/ 5
werty2
Reduex of GC
PostedJanuary 23, 2009
Animal Crossing is Animal Crossing; if you played one version, you've pretty much played all of them. The most compelling reason to purchase City Folks may be for its social interaction with other players over WiFi. Otherwise, you're going to find that much of what you did in the GameCube and DS versions is deja vu.On the brighter side...It IS a powerfully addictive game (if you consider this brighter). The connectivity with world wide players is certainly intriguing.On a negative side...A new feature (Animal Tracks), which causes the grass to wear away over frequently used pathways, will quickly leave your town a vast wasteland of sand...especially if you have multiple players OR you're one of those individuals who check-in several times a day. The degradation is vigorous to say the least. And the regeneration appears to be quite slow. No grass (or snow, in winter) does not a happy villager make.For a new player, I would recommend the DS Wild World version over Wii's City Folks and only for the connectivity with players world wide, but for those who are not interested in connectivity because they don't or won't employ high-speed internet connection or don't want to play on the tiny DS screen, the GameCube version is just as much fun.
4 of 5 found this review helpful.
Overall rating
5/ 5
Gameplay
5/ 5
Graphics
5/ 5
Sound
4/ 5
animalcrossingrocks212
Best Game So Far for the Wii
PostedJanuary 2, 2009
This is a great addition to the Animal Crossing family. The best thing I like about this game is that it never ends. There is fishing, bug collecting, designing your own clothes, digging for fossils, special visitors, visiting the city, and many more. The graphics are breathtaking and greatly surpass its prequel, Wild World. I love the entertaining music that changes every hour, except the animals' crazy talking sometimes gets on my nerves. This game has great, easy to learn and use controls, and endless possibilities. An awesome new feature is WiiConnect 24, which enables you to (with the Wii Speak) to chat with your friends while visiting their towns. The city is also a new feature that allows you to visit stores and see animals that don't even live in your town. There is a theater, a hair salon named Shampoodle, a fashion store named GracieGrace, a fortune teller, the scheming Redd, The Happy Room Academy, and an auction house. I could go on telling you more, but you have to find out on Animal Crossing City Folk!
