‘Crossing’ on to Wii

January 12, 2009 by Justin Massongill 

Video game adds fun to Wii but little to game series

I was one of the first people in Las Vegas to own a Wii. My friends and I camped in front of Target overnight just to make sure we got our hands on one before they sold out. This wound up being a great idea, since it’s only recently been possible to dependably find Wiis on store shelves .

However, after playing a few games on the system for a couple months, I started to lose interest. Sure, there were some decent games coming out for it, but most of the titles being released didn’t know how to take advantage of the Wii’s unique features, or — worse yet — developers were just looking to make a quick buck on its popularity.

A lack of triple-A titles has been the Wii’s curse since its release, and some of the hardcore gamers who grew up with Nintendo systems have started to feel abandoned. When is another great Wii game going to come along and shake things up?

Longtime Nintendo followers are familiar with the “Animal Crossing” series. The original game debuted on the Gamecube back in 2002 and was met with mostly positive reviews from critics and gamers alike. It was compared  most often to “The Sims,” but without the micromanagement or the stress (however much there was) that came with that game.

The premise of “Animal Crossing” saw the player moving to a small village, where they were to befriend their neighbors and pay off the debt on their new house. The player could raise “bells” (“Animal Crossing’s” form of currency) by doing small chores for the town’s other residents, catching and selling fish and bugs, or excavating fossils.

“Animal Crossing” was a deceptively simple game. Despite its ease of play, there was plenty to do to keep yourself occupied. This carried over into the game’s sequel on the Nintendo DS, “Animal Crossing: Wild World,” which was very similar to the original game. “Wild World” added a few new things , but players of the original knew exactly what to do in this “sequel.”

“Animal Crossing: City Folk” for the Wii continues this trend by keeping everything from “Wild World” in place and adding only a few new features. You can now go to the city to visit a multitude of different shops and new friends.

Of course, visiting friends isn’t limited within the game.  While online play is not new to “Animal Crossing,” it’s enhanced in the newest iteration of the series by voice chat (with Nintendo’s new Wii Speak peripheral).

Setup is quite easy. I took a Wii and a Wii Speak over to my father’s house (he’s not a gamer in any sense of the word), and he was able to set everything up and get online to visit my village with no problems. We had a good time running around each other’s towns and stealing fruit to bring back to our own neighborhoods.

My father also had fun leaving a message on my town’s bulletin board that read “This town smells like ass.” Thanks, Dad.

So, is “Animal Crossing: City Folk” the game that’s got me booting up my Wii each night, excited to see how my neighbors (and father) are doing? Am I paying off and upgrading my house to get that elusive basement expansion?

Not quite. While the game retains much of the charm it had in the series’ first two outings, it doesn’t add enough to convince me that it’s a different game. It’s still “Animal Crossing,” which is fantastic, but I fear that this franchise is going to turn into the next “Pokémon” — an amazing game that was released over multiple systems and eras with few changes to the way it is played. Sure, it’ll sell like hotcakes, but how many people will actually pay for — and play through — the same game multiple times?

“Animal Crossing: City Folk” is a great game for those of you with a fancy new Wii, and it’s fun to get your relatives in on it with their own copy of the game. For anybody who hasn’t played an “Animal Crossing” or for anyone who has relatives who might be interested in it, I highly recommend this game. Getting your parents to come visit your village and chop down your trees is something everybody should experience at least once.

For the gamers out there who have already played the first two games, ask yourself whether you want to play “Animal Crossing” again, because it’s largely the same game you played back in 2002.