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The tag-line “conceptual” is granted far too freely and
habitually in this industry. “Original”, “innovative” and
“intuitive” also find themselves being declared for at least
nine-tenths of the industry’s produce.  This
could simply be the result of the videogames industry’s relative
youth when compared to its entertainment sector brethren, or perhaps
the fixation on genre development has been passed-on-through due to
the major publishers feeling compelled to manoeuvre their way
through an undiscovered market in the way that their peers have a
well-proven track-record for them to follow and manipulate
accordingly, as opposed to aspiring to chisel their own path and
create a substantially different, if not superior, market. Or maybe,
just maybe, the blame lies with the lazy British Press who seem to
organise themselves at EA’s feet every-time that FIFA
or BurnOut title comes around with a new affix.
Animal Crossing: Wild World is one title which, with
this industry analyst at least, resides well into all the above
marketers-dreams. And while you may think these are bold claims to
make while still simply introducing a game, one important fact
should be bought into perspective; none of these tag-lines will
necessarily relate to a game being good.
The story of Animal Crossing is a rather long and
twisted one, which doesn’t rely too heavily on provable fact.
Having reportedly spawned from the infamous Shigeru Miyamoto’s
brain-child for the Nintendo64; the series begun life known simply
as Cabbage. Cabbage was an ideal which seems to have
later been split into both hardware and software propositions. The
idea was relatively simple: you begin with nothing, and through play
must build your world, obtain a job and gather items. In addition,
the title was to come with a Controller Add-On; a specialised Memory
Pak with which players would be able to purchase further items at a
small cost from Download Stations available at retailers, such as a
Bike to travel to-and-fro quicker, or a new outfit, or even a new
toy. The first off-shoot is pretty clear for those who didn’t wait
for the UK release of the GameCube’s Animal Crossing – e-Reader
Cards. The e-Reader was a fantastic 
piece of hardware that never made it to UK shores, allowing data to be read by the device by simply swiping a
playing card containing the code through the entry slot. Plugging
into the Game Boy Advance, NES games amongst others could be stored
and played on the Game Boy Advance’s internal RAM; clearly the
inspiration for that with which we now see the PSP’s Game Sharing
and the NintendoDS’s DS Download functionalities. This was the
evolution of the idea of purchasing new items, as with specialised Animal
Crossing-e e-Reader Cards and the use of the
GameCube/Game Boy Advance connectivity, rare and exclusive items
could be obtained. The was also reflected with another Nintendo
device developed specifically for the untapped Chinese market.
The I-Que Player was launched to a Chinese market – a
market with the most prolific reputation for copyright infringement
in the world – with a unique take on copy-protection. Being the
first console launch in the country, Nintendo chose to use
Nintendo64 technology as it was far and above anything the public
had access to through more under-handed measures. The unit was not
dissimilar in appearance to a cheap Plug-&-Play unit your mum
would probably buy from the market for a tenner, but held a
removable RAM Unit containing several encrypted codes over-layered
onto the Game Data. Owners would take their Memory Unit down to the
local Download Station in order to purchase new games.
Unsurprisingly, the release was a success; and others are certainly
looking interested in following suit.
Obviously, the second portion of Cabbage is Animal
Crossing itself; originally released only in Japan on the
Nintendo64, and later ported to the GameCube for a second launch in
Japan, the move stateside  and,
eventually, to Europe. But Animal Crossing: Wild World is a
first in many ways; first handheld version, first with Touch Screen
technology, first online edition. But, having undergone such a
strenuous verve, does the newest release have the endurance to fair
the weather?
The presentation of Animal Crossing: Wild World will
be that of familiarity; yet as with the first will be comically
informative. This time, Kapp’n will drive you into town, whilst
you choose your name and town name. Upon arriving in town, you will
still be subjected to Tom Nook’s errands before the game becomes
freely playable – an introduction to the title that may annoy
those already accustomed to the series but an innovative approach to
a Training Arena.
The basic commands become obvious here; with collecting
items, changing clothes, planting flowers and writing messages all
being introduced as part of your daily routine at this early stage.
Once the title allows you the opportunity for open-play, freeing up
it’s world in the process, things become a little more sedated.
Never are you given a task unless you should ask for it. Upon
speaking to the characters in your town, they may wish you to run an
errand, but there’s always the opportunity to refuse.
Objectives are limited, often non-existent, as Animal
Crossing: Wild World invites you to create a structure,
boundaries for your own play. Limited in nature as the title is, its
open-ended play brings each activity to a whole; completing the
title in a way that so many games simply seem to overlook.
Everything within the title is characterised to suit Animal
Crossing’s invariably bizarre world and the charm of the title
is realised through your simple daily actions.
With Animal Crossing being the world’s first, and
still only videogame series to play within the confinements
of that elusive fourth dimension – time – Animal Crossing:
Wild World puts progression into characterisation more so than
its predecessors. Seasons come and go and random visitors appear and
leave. Town  folk
move-in and move-out and animal’s such as fish and insects become
harder to find out of their season. Weather changes and town events
also help the sense of age. This simple modification in progress is
made by the game and not the player – in a similar sense to that
of the Starwing and Lylat Wars titles, the player is
“on-rails”, adhering to the title’s linear progression whilst
making as much room for freedom of expression as possible at the
same time.
The most changes to the title come in that of its
presentation and dual-player modifications. The Multi-Player the
title now features is simply an incredible accomplishment for a
series that has proved so isolated in the past. Players may live up
to four characters on one Game Card, in one house. Should one of
these players then get their own Game Card, they will be able to
move their character (and whatever they can fit in their pockets) to
the new Game Card and continue in their new town. Players operating
from separate Game Cards can wirelessly-link to visit each other; be
it through a local connection, or using Nintendo’s family-friendly
online service. Entering a Friend Code – similar to that in Mario
KartDS and Tony Hawk’s American Sk8land – will give
you access to other towns and other player’s access to your town,
allowing up to four guests at any one time. Another respectful idea
in evidence here is that which is similar to Nintendo’s Bark Mode
featured in 2005’s Nintendogs collective. While your
NintendoDS is in Sleep Mode, having released a Note In A Bottle,
should you pass any players doing the same you will exchange
messages, items and, possibly, Friends Codes.
Animal Crossing: Wild World’s presentation
isn’t astounding, but comfortably ups the average of the
NintendoDS’s
output and places titles such as The Incredibles: Rise Of The
UnderMiner and Pokemon Dash into a shadowy darkened
corner. The title now features a rolling-log system for its world
basis, in which you avatar remains central and the world revolves
around your movements – executed by either the Touch Screen or
the D-Pad. The effects in the game are competent and show-off many
of the NintendoDS’s talents, but remain far from pushing the best
out of the system. As remains the tradition, the sound is
impeccable. The Babalese speech is almost coherent and K.K. Slider
is simply magnificent, almost worthy of purchase simply for the
seemingly insane-caterwauling.
While Animal Crossing: Wild World may seem too many as
a luke-warm The Sims venture, there simply isn’t room for
comparison. The first foray into the world of Animal Crossing
broke the boundaries of gaming as a convention, and with none of the
expected me-too titles having appeared to disgrace the seemingly
unformulaic formula Animal Crossing: Wild World simply
insists that the traditions of gaming are as irrelevant as they are
essential.
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