"The REAL Truth About Animal Crossing"
It's hard to rate a game like this because there isn't really anything else like it. It's in a category by itself, and that's how it should be. The game will get points for trying, but you should know that this game is a very effective waste of your time and money. Do not let Nintendo suck you in to this supposedly "hot" title.
THE GAMEPLAY AND REPLAYABILITY
If you want to escape from your daily real-life routines and replace them with tedious chores, then this is the game for you. For instance, you'll have to water flowers and pick weeds and run various errands for your neighbors and catch fish. If any of these activities sound fun to you, then think of this: Imagine repeating them day after day after day. And you will repeat the chores because this is all the game consists of. And if this still sounds like fun to you, then there is no knowledge I can impart unto you.
There is a break in the monotony in the form of monthly holidays or events. But they are fake holidays and mostly unoriginal. For example, on La-Di-Da Day you go around and listen to various tunes from your neighbors. This event is very basic and is over with in less than 5 minutes. Just talk to everyone and it's done. That's how most holidays are. There is bright nights day in, um, February; why would animals decorate their houses in Christmas lights in February? And all it consists of is voting every day for a random neighbor that you think has the best lights; but here's a secret, the developers are so unoriginal, they make every house decorated exactly the same with randomly hung lights! No variety. That's a nice theme for this game.
There are various other holidays that are even worse and more uninspired, if that's possible. There are days where you have to wear a mask or catch the biggest fish/bug or buy neighbors' furniture or make a flag design or breed flowers. You could do any of these "events/holidays" on any day; just because they slap the label of "holiday" on these activites doesn't make them special. These holidays are so boring and most people find them an annoyance because they take away from the special visitors. Whenever you have an event, you will not get any special visitors, which is about the best part of this game.
The special visitors come very rarely. And when I say rarely, I'm talking like once a month. And it's not like they are great either. There is a UFO that you must shoot down; there is a giraffe that insults your clothing and may give you something rare; there is a fat walrus that gives you designs; there is a frog that talks to you (wow, big deal); there is a pirate thing that gives you an item after talking to you; there is a rip-off peddler; there is a fortune-teller who doesn't do anything despite charging you 10,000 Bells. Look, most of the special visitors do is give you junk. However, there is one special visitor that I liked, and that was K.K. Slider. I liked listening to some of his songs because they were fairly catchy. I thought the fact that the credits roll and you can watch your character jamming in a coffee shop was pretty fun. But there are 70 different songs, and watching the same animations 70 times only to a different tune will get old, trust me.
The main impetus for replaying this game again and again is collecting furniture. There are hundreds of items to collect. But to collect everything requires you see the special visitors several times. You won't collect everything without online play or some serious time-traveling, so don't even bother trying.
GRAPHICS
The graphics in this game are average for a DS game. They are very grainy despite being on a 3" screen; I thought it could look much better. Furthermore, if you plant too many trees and see some of your animal neighbors walking around, the game has terrible slow-down. I was really surprised to see such a thing in a Nintendo title, which are usually of high quality. But based on the quality of the gameplay, could I expect anything more of the graphics and smooth processing?
The colors are very drab. And if you do not cheat by time-traveling (changing the clock to your every whim), you will be stuck in the same looking environment for months at a time. It is sad that one of the best things about the game is looking forward to seeing the scenery change. Again, very little variety is a common flaw in this game.
ONLINE PLAY
The online aspect of this game is pathetic. You have to enter someone's 12-digit friend code, player name, and town name AND give them your 12-digit friend code, player name, and town name to visit one another's town. Not only is this another tedious process, it is very inefficient. So, let's say you don't know anyone who bought this game. In that case, you'll need to go to an online community site (like this site) to get friend codes. How can you trust the person who comes to visit? You can't and more than likely you are going to get burned unless you are extremely careful. A visitor to your town can change your environment however they want and take anything that isn't stored in your house. And if you have worked hard on your town, you'll want to maintain it. But what fun is it to have to monitor everybody who wants to visit? It turns you into a paranoid gamer, and it just creates stress when games are supposed to be fun!
MUSIC
There are a few tunes in the main game, and none of them are particularly catchy. Sometimes you'll even find the music annoying as it repeats over and over. The music reserved for K.K. Slider, however, is fairly good. It's nothing to play on your iPod but it's good and a nice break from the repeating tunes playing in the town.