Animal Crossing City Folk is an epic disappointment

I loved Animal Crossing for Gamecube. So naturally, I was looking forward to Animal Crossing: City Folk for the Wii. I got it over thanksgiving break and well...... its not worth the money I spent.

We can all agree that graphics are not everything, yes? So if a game is not going to improve its graphics with its next release how does it draw in potential buyers? Content and features. Well Nintendo has failed in that department as well. The game is EXACTLY the same as the version for the Nintendo DS. It even has some of the same bugs! Its so much the same game that when starting a new game it even asks you if you want to import your town from your DS.

When I go to KK Slider to get the weekly song the credits begin to roll down the screen and I feel depressed and confused. There is a very long list of people who worked on this game, what they have been doing these last couple years is beyond me. Oh and for a final kick in the groin, Nintendo decided to put a copy lock on the save game file. All that time I spent playing this game over thanksgiving break on my little brothers Wii (because obviously I was with family), gone. It refused to copy to my SD card.

The major push for this release was the city. The city is terrible. Five whole buildings. One auction house, which is empty. One theater which is stupid. One furniture and clothing shop that does not change items very often, if at all, and has prices in the 100,000 bells range. One hair salon which lets you change your hair style (for 3000 bells, and only once a day), but does not actually let you pick your haircut. The game asks you a series of questions like what kind of look are you going for, mysterious, radiant, etc etc. and poof you get a haircut. Its alot like playing Russian roulette. One fortune teller that does not seem to really do anything and a guy that will change your shoe color for 500 bells, again you dont actually get to pick your shoe color, you answer a random question and the game guesses at what shoe color you really wanted.

Another new feature is the Wii Speak (in game voice communication), I would love to review it but unlike the various other dongles and gadgets for Wii games, this one did not come with the game. It is sold separately for an extra 30$. The friend codes are back again. I, and many others, have complained so much about these that there really isn't anything new I can add to the chorus. As stated in a previous blog post, Nintendo PR seems to think we like the friend codes and how each games has a entirely new code to trade with your friends. I've said it before and I'll say it again. Thank you Nintendo for protecting me from myself.

Save your money and don't buy this game.