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Animal Crossing: City Folk review
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This unorthodox franchise finally lands on the Wii after an extended cameo on Super Smash Bros. Brawl. And it comes with an extra accessory: the Wii Mic. And like most of the games that Nintendo has shipped with an accessory, Animal Crossing: City Folk just usually serves as a trojan horse for a new Wii feature.
But this isn't a case of Nintendo trying to simplify a long-running franchise (Mario Kart Wii) or just trying to shill an extra remote (Wii Play) or even trying break new ground for video games (Wii Fit). Nintendo's social experiment (probably the quickest way to describe it) was groundbreaking on the Gamecube for a rather lack of hardcore elements. There's no high scores, levels, boss battle, or complicated schemes to learn. It carried over to the DS version, Wild World.
For City Folk, not much has changed. After creating a name and city for your game, you're free to explore the town, choose a house to live in, you engage in certain mini jobs to pay off your mortage to Tom Nook. Along the way, you get converse with other inhabitants, find different items, redecorate your house, visit the city for a chance to participate in events to win rare items, and have people on other consoles visit your town and trade items. Congratulations, you've learned all that there is to do in this game.
The great part about it is how it isn't tied down to usual game structure. You're not penalized for not doing anything. What makes it so great is how much accomplishment you can get from an hour of play, as opposed to Zelda game that can have you spend hours in one dungeon. The game doesn't throw a bunch of puzzles at you or give you a time limit. But getting those rare items to trade for and decorate your house has its charm, as does the art-deco graphics. And the Wii Remote with the Nunchuck seems to be the perfect interface moving around and switching around items.
The social part gets an upgrade as with the WiiConnect 24, you're able to receive and respond to messages and be able to visit your friend's town at will. However, the Friend Code strikes again meaning that if you want to visit a town, you'd have to have to know someone who actually has a copy of the game and exchange friend codes. This is totally backwards for a game that makes community interaction an integral part of gameplay.
The mic does make the play the game a little more fun but other than that, there's not much new to do. Even the items are the same from the GC version. Nintendo could be accused of phoning it in. But I won't do that.
Even though Mario Kart Wii was a major regression in terms of playability, Animal Crossing's design has always lent it self to casual gamers and small doses. And seeing how the Mic and the upcoming Wii Speak channel can only be accessed by buying a new copy, you're better serve at buying City Folk.
Grade: B
The good: Voice chat, same accessible gameplay The bad: Same gameplay, friend code restrictions The convoluted: adding you Mii
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