Animal Crossing: City Folk

You Won’t Want to Miss This

Well here it is, one of my favorite Wii games Animal Crossing: City Folk.

Why is this game so special? Well firstly its addictive – of course that goes without saying, and it is suitable for all the family.

We each brough the bundle  that comes complete with the Official Wii Speak Microphone which can also be brought seperately.

So once you create your character you set off to take up residence in a new town. You get to choose the name of your town. When you arrive you have nowhere to live and no job – sounds a bit like real life really.

Well before long you go to work for the local grocer who also sets you up in a house that you have to work to pay for.

Once you have completed the first tasks you are on your own and this is where the real fun starts. You get to meet the locals in you town and they give you bits of advice and sometimes gifts. The local characters all have different personalities and you can also watch them interact with each other. Sometimes the argue and then storm off in different directions with black clouds puffing out of their heads signifying their displeasure. Some are sweet and obliging and some are just plain grumpy.

To make extra money you run errands for them, or go fishing, collect shells, shake the trees and sell the fruit that falls to the ground, catch bugs, butterflies and beetles, all of which can be sold.  You can also dig up fossils to donate to the museum.

This game keeps you fully entertained because the fish and insects change with the seasons, which are in real time. As winter approaches the game changes and snow falls, meaning you can build  snowmen.

You can have up to three other friends live in your city as well. I find this really handy when Ce’Nedra, my grandaughter comes to play. She can play with her character without having any effect on the goals attained by my character.

You can get on a bus and visit the city where you meet more characters, can have your fortune told, go to a show, buy clothing and furniture, and have your shoes shone and go to the auction house to buy or sell goods.

But the biggest plus with Animal Crossing: City Folk is that with the new Wii Speak Accessory you can talk to you online friends while you are playing.  Paula and I find that the microphone is very sensitive and its very clear.  We not only chat about the game of course but use the time to talk about other things  – saves a phone call.

Once you have visited another town you often find that some of your characters will move to the other town and vise versa.  When you talk to them they will say things like  ” I just moved here from (name of other town) do you know Paula ( or whoever your friend is).

There are no levels to reach you simply play the game for as long as you like and do whatever activities you enjoy.

Often there are things to do on special occasions, again it is up to you if you want to participate.  Recently there was a fishing competition and there was a prize for getting the biggest fish. With Halloween coming up it will be time to play trick or treat.

Because I have been away for a while, my town will have lots of weeds growing that I will have to pull out to get the town looking pristine again.

The game has all the familiar characters from the Gamecube and DS editions such as Tom Nook, the grocer; Blathers, the museum curator, K.K.Slider the musician who will give you a piece of music to play in your cd player, he can be heard on Saturday nights in the coffee lounge and of course Mr Resetti who tells you off when you don’t save the game properly.

Many of the other characters that you will have seen in the older versions of the game can now be found in permanent shops in the city.

Now because Paula and I are in the same country, we experience the same weather and seasons in our game, but if you have a friend in another country you can visit them and experience the seasons, weather and holidays that are specific to in their country. Isn’t that just way too cool.

So now you can see why Paula, Cedie and  I love Animal Crossing: City Folk and recommend it to anyone who wants a family friendly, totally interactive and enjoyable gaming experience.