http://wii.ign.com/articles/930/930689p1.html
I've highlighted some parts:
"November 16, 2008 - Ever since the debut of the Wii two years ago Nintendo had been hinting that the company would eventually be bringing its casual and social "second life" game Animal Crossing to the new console. In that time Nintendo could have really knocked our socks off with an experience that advanced the classic game with a scope that pushed it in unseen new directions. But it's clear that someone at Nintendo tossed the DS cartridge at the Animal Crossing team and said, "here's your design document. Get to work." Animal Crossing: City Folk is a great conversion of Animal Crossing: Wild World, but as a console sequel? It's pretty lazy, and it's hard to praise phoned-in work like this.
And that's unfortunate, because the Animal Crossing game is a praise-worthy product. Back when the original title hit the GameCube (which was, admittedly, a ported and upgraded N64 game that only shipped in Japan at the time), it was actually amazing to essentially experience a game that pretty much revolved around the simple things in life: gardening, shopping, fishing, chatting with neighbors."
"Animal Crossing: City Folk admittedly doesn't claim to be a full-fledged sequel but it certainly hints at that with its new subtitle. At the very least after six years and two previous games in the Animal Crossing series there's a bit of expectations out of Nintendo updating its successful franchises: you would think that the designers would love to get their hands dirty and actually attempt something a little more ambitious than simply converting existing ideas for Nintendo's latest game systems.
To put it another way: Animal Crossing: City Folk wasn't made for Animal Crossing fans. It was made for those that missed out the first two times. And for those people, you've got yourself a fine product. To those that helped make the first two games a success: maybe Nintendo will thank you some other way, because City Folk is only for you if you want to go through the same things all over again.
That doesn't sound like such a bad deal on the surface: if it ain't broke, don't fix it, and if it was such a great game before it'll be great playing through it again…right? That mentality doesn't really apply to Animal Crossing because the bulk of the experience is doing work. You know, chores. Things you should be doing instead of playing videogames."
"The Wii version features essentially the same online experience as what Nintendo introduced on the Nintendo DS in Animal Crossing: Wild World. Before you can venture out you'll need your friend's specific 12-digit code, and they need yours. And even after these codes have been traded you still need to coordinate with each other who will be the one visiting. After the link's established, then it's a seamless experience. The Wii team even improved a few things in the online play: villagers will now stay out of their houses and wander around the village as if you weren't online. And, of course, the inclusion of Wii Speak support which enables players to voice chat while connected using the speakerphone-like device."
Closing Comments
After putting literally weeks and months into playing both the GameCube original and the Nintendo DS sequel, it was very disappointing to see that, after putting nearly two weeks into Animal Crossing: City Folk that very little effort went into the design beyond porting and enhancing the Nintendo DS game.
If you’re entering into Animal Crossing with a fresh, inexperienced take: congratulations. You’ve got yourself a great, casual game with tons of things to see and do. Of the three Animal Crossing games on the market the Wii version is certainly the tops with its sharper visuals and voice-enabled online play.
Animal Crossing: City Folk is a good game, but it is not a very good effort as a follow-up or sequel. Its foundation is definitely solid but it doesn’t pay enough respect to the millions of gamers who were involved in making the franchise a successful one.
But if you’re ready to do it all over again, Animal Crossing: City Folk keeps up the tradition of making menial tasks a whole lot of fun.
| Rating | Description |  |
|---|---|---|
| out of 10 | click here for ratings guide |
|
| 6.0 | Presentation The design is sound with tons of things to experience, but it's hard to praise a game that's simply doing exactly what the last game did. |
|
| 6.5 | Graphics Sharp and colorful visuals running at 60 frames per second, but let's be frank: the Wii can do way better than this. |
|
| 7.5 | Sound Pleasant and fitting music that changes hour to hour. But again, most of the tunes have migrated exactly as they played on the Nintendo DS. |
|
| 8.0 | Gameplay Only Nintendo could turn mundane chores and casual pasttimes into a successful game design. City Folk is still great fun, but it's a letdown for those that supported the series since the beginning. |
|
| 9.0 | Lasting Appeal Nintendo keeps the calendar full of events to encourage almost daily play. You won't experience too much beyond subtle additions every day, but it's enough to keep coming back. |
|
| 7.5 |
OVERALL (out of 10 / not an average) |
Proud poster of the 10000th reply at the Official Smash Bros Update Thread.
tag - "I wouldn't trust gamespot, even if it was a live comparison."
Bets with Conegamer:
Pandora's Tower will have an opening week of less than 37k in Japan. (Won!)
Pandora's Tower will sell less than 100k lifetime in Japan.
Stakes: 1 week of avatar control for each one.
