Overall Score: 8/10. Even though it tends to get old after a while, Animal Crossing: Wild World is a fun game. If you thought the original was highly customizable then wait until you see this version. Now you can do what fans of the original have always dreamed: take your town on the go.
Idea: Live life in a town inhabited by talking animals. The meat of any AC game is making money and spending it. Almost everything you do uses or helps you make Bells (the currency in Animal Crossing games.)
Controls (8/10): Walking around is fairly simple: use the D-pad. Easy, right? Managing your inventory is easier in the DS version with the help of the stylus. Shaking trees, casting out your fishing line, swinging your net, etc. is done with the buttons. The buttons are arguably easier to use than the stylus. You can walk using the stylus but it's not nearly as precise. The best uses for the stylus are for the inventory, writing letters, and designing clothes. The controls aren't anything special or fantastic, but they get the job done.
Entertainment (9/10): It's always hard to explain what's so fun about Animal Crossing. How could arranging furniture, talking, running errands, writing letters, fishing, and a bunch of other stuff be fun? Good question. But the Animal Crossing games have made it ridiculously fun. There's just something about finding the right look for the interior of your house, catching bugs and fish, and talking that makes it fun in this game. Speaking of talking, the animals' dialogue is well-written. As I said in the Idea, this game revolves around money. You can sell stuff at the local store run by a racoon named Tom Nook to make money, then blow all your cash at the store the next day. At Nook's store there are certain tools you can buy, such as a shovel, fishing pole, net, or axe. Wild World introduces two new tools: a watering can and a slingshot. These two tools are not, however, very fun. The slingshot is only for chasing down balloons and shooting them to make them drop presents. The watering can is for watering flowers you plant. If you do not they will wither. This watering gets very tedious and is by no means fun. And there's always that one question: What about the NES games? In the original you could find and play some old NES games. Not so in this version. Big mistake, Nintendo. The entertainment, despite its few shortcomings, is pretty good. Some days, however, there really isn't much to do.
Graphics (8/10): The graphics in Wild World aren't bad. They aren't, however, the best on the DS. They look a bit similar to the Gamecube version but lack the texture of the previous game. Since this game is, from a certain point of view, a sequel a graphics downgrade isn't a good thing. It couldn't be helped, but it simply doesn't look as good as the Gamecube version.
Sound (7/10): Most of the sound is cheery and upbeat. But for a game that is meant to be played a long time, the music grows repetitive. In the bar in the museum is a dog named K.K. Slider who will play songs on Saturdays. He usually gives you the music to these songs that can be popped into the tape deck (or whatever music object you might have.) This means you can have a variety of music in your house. Much of the sounds seem recycled from the original, though. The animals' babble grows very annoying as well.
Replay Value (9/10): There is so much to do in Animal Crossing: Wild World it isn't even funny. It's scary. You could play this game for a year and still find something you haven't seen yet. But there lies the problem. This game gets old by or before a year. It's meant to be played for a very long time. Sadly, it gets old before a long time passes. But Wild World is enjoyable while it lasts.
Multiplayer (5/10): Nintendo Wi-Fi uses a friend code system. In Wild World you cannot play with someone online unless you do know their friend code. This is very annoying. Multiplayer really isn't very special to begin with, either. It serves little purpose but to show off one's town.
Final Thoughts: Animal Crossing: Wild World is a good game. It has shortcomings and does get old after a while, but it's a good game. If you wabt to buy this game solely because it has online, don't. For fans of the original the ability to take your town with you and even more customization is appealing but if you have played the original and that doesn't appeal to you, there isn't a reason to buy this game. The formula doesn't change much from the original. For sequels that isn't a bad thing. But for virtual-life type games such as Animal Crossing, that is a very bad thing. Even more customization doesn't make this sequel an improvement over the original. Wild World is fun for those who haven't played the original. But for those of us who have, Animal Crossing: Wild World is not much of an improvement over the original.
The Verdict: This game isn't for everyone, but it is worth a try.
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