Animal Crossing (GameCube) review "Animal Crossing barely made it to America. Can you believe that... It was originally Animal Forest and released it to Japan. They then improved upon the game and set up a release for America. I was psyched, I love the Harvest Moon series, and I thought a game just like Harvest Moon without the farming would be a classic in itself. And that is what Animal Crossing, a game with such detail and such power that it is one of the must haves for the Gamecube and one of the most popular games to date, a..."

Animal Crossing barely made it to America. Can you believe that... It was originally Animal Forest and released it to Japan. They then improved upon the game and set up a release for America. I was psyched, I love the Harvest Moon series, and I thought a game just like Harvest Moon without the farming would be a classic in itself. And that is what Animal Crossing, a game with such detail and such power that it is one of the must haves for the Gamecube and one of the most popular games to date, and with a sick value of replay value.

STORY (9/10): This is a game where you control your own story. There are over 200 different characters who can live in your town, all with distinct personalities and cool one-liners. You can befriends these people and do jobs for them, or piss them off and force them to move out. This is your life; YOU control it.

GRAPHICS (9/15): The only weakness in this game is the graphics. While improved upon sense the N64 version only released in Japan, this game looks alot worse than alot of other Gamecube games. The characters all look very original, although a few don't look that much like their respective animals, and you look kinda fruity. Of course the power that is in this game in so many other parts has to be taken from somewhere, and the poor graphics in no way affect the gameplay.

SOUND (8/10): This is Totakeke's world. He is the little dog with the banjo who plays loads of music, all in which you can put on your stereo and listen to over and over again. It is all good music, and very easy to listen to. The background music is kinda dull, but it changes with the seasons fairly well, and it does have it's variety. Then of course the beeps that go along with the voices. I LOVE them. I love the beep voices, and they fit the sound idea so well.

GAMEPLAY (50/50): After the initial job of naming yourself and your town, you are into the game. Your town starts off with only a few residents, but it will expand to fifteen. You will be forced to do a few jobs for Tom Nook, so you can begin to pay off your house. This jobs are mostly deleveries to animal to animal. This is basically your job for as much as you want. Just ask if they need any help, and they may hire you to deliver or pick up some item that is there. That is not the only thing you can do. You may also go around and fish for 40 different fishes, which will visit in the various times of the year, of journey about trying to catch a few insects. That is not the only way you can gain money. You can plant and sell various fruits, or play the ''stalk'' market, in which you buy and sell turnips. The heart of this game is money.

What good is money if you have nothing to use it for. The first thing to use your money on is expanding your house. After you do that, you need to furnish your house. That is where Animal Crossing gets huge. There is so much to furnish your house with, and each at relatively easy price. You can buy tools, such as a shovel that you can use to undig fossils and give to the local museum. Of course, then there is the Nintendo games on this thing. There are loads of them, and they play just like they used to all those years ago. That is one of my favorite parts of this game, the immediate entertainment of all those original nintendo games.

Real time play is a key to the game. While this is kinda bad, for you will need to play on Holidays to do everything possible, it is great because everything fits a set schedule. There are tons of holidays in this game, likely over 75. They are original, and although some are better than other; they are all interesting and will likely leave you with some rare item.

Last of all, Animal Crossing while not being online is still linked to other places. You may fit 4 different players into your town, and while you can't play simultaneously you can leave items for eachother. Next there is the train that you can use to visit a friends town. When you visit a friends town you can take their prized fruits, and talk to some of their residents and maybe even steal them away. To get some items that aren't in your game, you can also trade via passwords. While somewhat of a hassle the rewards are definitely worth the hassle. Finally the GBA can be used effectively in this game. You can use the link cable to bring you to the GBA island where you can talk to some strange inhabitants and find some rare fruits and some items, which you can bring back to the homeland to gain even mroe money. Loads of options in this game, is what makes it strong.

REPLAYABILITY (12/10): This is where Animal Crossing shines. Each day is a new game, where you can work to gain some items; participate in one of some annual holidays, or search for annual fish/insects. This game is like the U2 song, it is Everlasting. It will never die, unless you let it die, for there is so much new things you can do with this game.

DIFFICULTY (5/5): There is really no difficulty to Animal Crossing. At times it is very annoying to gain money, but that is like most money. If you play the game calmly it will never push you that much to the limit and it is entertaining play.

OVERALL (93/100): This is one game that my scoring system hurts. While it is so great, and has so many strengths, only a few negatives in the sound department, and a minor problem with it's subpar graphics does keep its score down. However, it is hard to keep such a great game that down just because of graphical problems. This game is pure fun, and worth every second of play. There is so much to gain within this game, and every moment of it is one that you will want to last forever. Definitely pick this up if you are a Gamecube owner. I guarentee you will love it, and a Donnie Guarentee is something you can depend upon!

Community review by ratking (November 22, 2002) A bio for this contributor is currently unavailable, but check back soon to see if that changes. If you are the author of this review, you can update your bio from the Settings page.