While it lacks certain fire that most games have, Animal Crossing makes up for its flaws in never-ending gameplay.
User Rating: 8.8 | Animal Crossing GC
Animal Crossing is certainly different than most games. It seems like a Sims game, but in essence it's completely unique. Unlike The Sims you don't have to constantly eat, go to the bathroom, sleep, etc. This gives you more time to live you're life in your own Animal Crossing town. The game starts with a dog holding a guitar. His name is K.K. and he helps you set your settings for the game and introduce you to what you will be doing. The game then switches to you sitting in a passenger car on a train. From the door at the far end you see a cat go in through the door. He looks around at all the other animals (they don't call it Animal Crossing for nothing) and when he spots you he gets an excited face and approaches you. He asks you your name, introduces himself and asks you where your destination is. This is where you get to name the town that you live in. There is a limit to how long the town name can be so think of one you will like for a very long time. He then asks you if you're going to buy a house when you get there. You respond yes (or you can reply negatively but you still get the same ending). He then calls up a friend of his in that town to see if he can set you up with a house. He comes back from the phone booth saying that there are a few lots you can purchase. He asks if you've got money to purchase the house in which case you can either say that you have enough or you can tell the truth and say you only have 1,000 bells (Animal Crossing currency). The train then arrives at the town you have named. Each town in Animal Crossing is a little different in where people live, where shops are, and how the town river flows. You are then greeted by a raccoon named Tom Nook. He is the one that the cat called on the train. You follow him to a plaza looking place in which there are four vacant houses. He says that you may look into each house and choose the one you want. Each house is the same size and has the same furniture, but you may be picky about location and each house has a different carpet and wallpaper (which can be replaced so don't worry about it too much). Once you have chosen your house he asks you to pay 14,000 bells. You give him the 1,000 bells you have and he is shocked. He thinks of a way for you to pay him off. This is when he asks you to meet him at this shop. You can find his shop by looking around until you find it or look at the town map at the train station (you will receive a map from Tom later). When you arrive at the shop he explains to you that you must work for him in order to pay off your house. After you do a few chores for him he says that you may go home but you must come back the next day to work. Now this is where the game's time system comes into play...it uses your Gamecube time. So when he says come back in a few hours he MEANS come back in a few hours for the game hours are the same as real life. If it's 4:27 in real life its 4:27 in the game. Make sense? It may sound stupid but it makes the game last a lifetime. When you go back to Nook he says that you don't need to work for him anymore and that you can just pay him back when you want to. You may be thinking "heck no I'll never pay you back!" but there are rewards for paying him back. After you pay back the 13,000 or so bells that you owe him he'll ask you if you want to upgrade your house. It will cost even more money but this first upgrade will double the size of your first floor. The second upgrade is a basement, then an even larger first floor, then you get a second floor. All in all you will owe him a lot of money if you wish to upgrade your house (the second floor costs about 750,000 bells). But that can be payed off by selling items for money then using that money for the upgrades. But there's much more to do in this game then just upgrading your home. Nook can upgrade his shop too! This can be done by buying many items from him and selling many items too. When the total money from buying and selling gets to a certain amount, he will upgrade his shop to a bigger size. This will take one day for the construction to complete and the store will have different opening and closing hours. After the first upgrade he can upgrade it two more times, the next is the same as the first but the last upgrade will take not just lots of money but you need a friend from a different village to buy from the shop. This means you need a friend who has the game to go on a trip to your village. Also in Animal Crossing you can recieve mail, mail letters to villagers (yes they will write back), dig up fossils (or items), shop for items, create your own clothing design, talk to villagers, do chores for villagers, talk to the mayor, participate in yearly activities (cherry blossom festival, the fishing tournaments etc.), and much much more. There's so much to do in this game it seems endless. Maybe you're trying to collect an entire furniture set or maybe you're making an aquarium in your basement, whatever you want to do. You can go fishing, catch bugs, donate fossils bugs fish and paintings to the Museum. The choice is yours. The villagers even know your birthday (one of them will ask you on our second or so day through) and will send gifts through the mail. Another thing that's kinda neat is the muliplayer system. You don't play at the same time but your friend can start a new character but live in your town. He/she can choose one of the other 3 vacant houses. You can then send letters to them, give them items, visit their house and they can do the same. The only problem is that you can't be on at the same time and you have to use the same memory card. The game takes 50 blocks (yes an entire normal card) but the game gives you a free Animal Crossing memory card so you don't have to worry. The card even has a letter from Nintendo that you will recieve after you come back from your first save and quit. Another thing in Animal Crossing that will be important is your gyroid. The gyroid is a stump looking thing in front of your house. With it you can put up items for sale for your friends to buy, save your game, leave messages for your friends if they want to visit your house. ONE HUGE THING YOU MUST REMEMBER: DO NOT turn off the game without saving it because when you return you have to listen to a mole tell you about not turning off the game without saving. If you do this 5 or so times he PERMANENTLY make your face look like a...a...a wierd thing believe me you don't want this to happen. Just remember to SAVE and QUIT (not save and continue) before you turn off your Gamecube. Attribute Ratings: Gameplay - 9 -: The game never ends and there is so much to do. Graphics - 7 -: Not very well done but it certainly does put a mood into the game. Sound - 8 -: Not well done either but there are some nice tunes. Also in the village there is a town theme song. You can change this by going to the sign by the Post Office. Value - 10 -: I've had the game for 3 years now and it still gives me challenges. Tilt - 9 -: Definently unique but it may not be appealing to some. Overall - 8.8 - While it lacks certain fire that most games have, Animal Crossing makes up for its flaws in never-ending gameplay. 
