Animal Crossing

I've not been online much lately because I've been spending much of my free time playing Animal Crossing: City Folk on the Wii. If you played either Animal Crossing for the gamecube or for the DS then you know what to expect from the Wii version. If you have not played it before, it probably doesn't sound like the sort of game that would appeal to adults. In the Animal Crossing games, you play as a character that moves to a town inhabited by animals. There's no real end goal to the game, except those that you set for yourself. There are lots of fish and bugs to catch, a museum to stock, and errands to run. Plus hundreds of items to collect and lots of neighbors and special visitors to interact with and befriend. It sounds like a game for children, but it is strangely addictive.

One of the best things about the game is that things happen in real time. After I post this I'll get back to Krakatoa (our town on the game; you name your town yourself) so that my character, Skurvy, can do some fishing. I want to sell a few more fish tonight before the town store closes. Plus, one of our villagers thinks he lost his keys in the river and needs me to find them so he can get back into his house. On Thursday afternoon we'll be fighting over the Wii so we all have the chance to steal utensils to give to a nervous turkey in exchange for furniture. (We will try to each collect the whole set, but whatever pieces we don't get Thursday we can't get until next Thanksgiving!)

I had never even considered getting the Gamecube version until my sister and brother in law gave it to us for Christmas a few years ago. We weren't too sure about it but tried playing it anyway, and then we played it every day for a year. We bought the Wii the day it came out just so we'd be sure to have one when Animal Crossing Wii finally was released. We've really enjoyed this one so far, and the addition of Wii Speak is a nice touch. Now when friends visit our town to fish or deliver fruit we can talk instead of having to type at each other.

This is just one of those games that can't be adequately described - you really have to play it to understand the appeal. Be warned, though - if you do play you may also become addicted.

(For any of you that are playing - Send me your friend codes! Our native fruit is Pears, though we now have a few orange, peach, and apple trees. So far our cherry trees keep dying and we don't have coconuts, though I might be getting a couple later this evening.)