AC:WW is th coolest DS game on the market!!!!
Not much has changed since the original Animal Crossing, but considering the enormous leap down in machine power from the GameCube to DS, this isn't bad at all. There's more furniture, and clothing for you to play with including hats, glasses, and fun items like the slingshot.
The game has abandoned the top down view which I had becom so accustomed to, but whether this is a good or bad thing is up to you. It allows you to see the sky, which changes regularly and includes any constellations you draw. It also allows you to see more of the screen, and has ditched the acre system. the camera keeps you steadily in the middle, and doesn't jump around like in the GameCube's Animal Crossing.
Alot of the old games buildings are gone too. The post office has merged with the dump, the museum has a cafe in the basement and a telescope on it's roof, and the police station is just gone. I guess the game creators realized that in a town where the worst crimes were liotering and hitting your fellow villagers with nets, police officers were unnecisarry.
The amount of things that villagers can do has increased as well. They still ask you to run errands for them, or give Rocco back his hankerchief, but now they will also make nicknames for you, throw paries at their house, or come over to your house to hang out. This adds another level of fun to the game, because it increases the amount of things you can do considerably.
The sound is great, it features a wide variety of mellow, catchy tunes that hum along in the backround. It fits the slow pace of the Animal Crossing lifestyle well. The villagers still speak in Animalese, which I find amusing, but if you don't like it, you can change the way they talk to something less shrill.
The control is great, but not without a few flaws. The touch screen works beautifully for running around and navigating menus, but when you want to fish, it's hard to walk slowly without tapping yourself and casting your fishing line. fortunately, Nintendo thought of this and also lets you control your character with the D-pad and buttons. This also works very well, but you can't get the same control as you can with the touch screen, considering you can only go in 8 directions.
Online play adds alot to the game. The only downside is, you need friends to go online. Again, whether this is a good or bad thing is up to you. This prevents you from randomly going to a strangers town to get their fruit, shop, chat, and play, but it also blocks out the possibility of some rif-raf entering your town, harassing the citizens, and digging holes everywhere.
A great item which adds to the online play is the timer. It can count down from 1, 5, 10, or 15 minutes. It also counts the number of fish and bugs you have caught in that time. Everyone in the town can see the timer, so this makes games like hide and seek, or Fish or Bug catching tournaments a breeze.
The portableness of the game is a great thing too. Never again will I miss the fourth of July because I'm on vacation. Another helpful feature in the game is that when the battery is getting low, a bubble will pop up and say so. This helps you save in time and get off, so that you won't lose all those valuble Bells you've earned, or that rare furniture the snowman gave you.
The lasting appeal is outstanding. With so much to do, so many villagers to talk to, so many fish to catch, so much furniture to collect, so many bugs to catch, so much EVERYTHING, there is no question that this game will keep me playing for at least a year. Even after I pay off all my debts, fill the museum, and retire in my wooded paradise, I'm sure that I'll pick it up and play every once in a while just to see how the towns getting on without me. And that's what makes the game so great: There's so much to do, but you have no obligation to do any of it. And in my eyes, that is the perfect world.