Animal Crossing: City Folks is a Huge Disappointment!

I have known about Animal Crossing for the Nintendo Wii for close to 2 years now. I knew the game was in development, and I knew it would be hitting shelves eventually, but my God the wait seemed like it was forever. Heck, it even took a year for them to release to the public the official name of the game, which is obviously known now as Animal Crossing: City Folk.
 
I got my copy last week, and imagined that this 2 year wait would deliver brand new things to the game, and I could not wait to see what these brand new things might be. I imagined all sorts of new things. I expected a second social city where other online players could come, chat, or talk with my character. I imagined being able to set up my own Animal Crossing business in the city. I imagined I would be able to make friends in the city, and visit their towns if they wanted me to join.

What did I get though?
 
I got a repeat of the last is what I got. In fact the game was noting more than a huge disappointment. Being a pretty gigantic fan of Animal Crossing, I have to say this is the most disappointing game they could deliver. Seriously now. 2 years for a near exact replica of the last!!!

So what is different?
Well naturally there are some new things in the game. Of course you now have a city you can visit by taking the bus. In the city you have a few shops all set up in a drab little corner in the city. I wished it was much larger and had more to offer.

Basically what you find in the city is shops that originally used to visit your town once a month. Gracie has a clothing/fashion store. Redd the crook is also located in the far right of the city, and a slew of other familiar faces have shops set up in the city. The most interesting thing about the city is probably the salon where you can go get a makeover on your character to have him or her look like a Mii, instead of an original Animal Crossing human character.

Other than that though the city does not have much to offer at all. I was hugely disappointed. I'm hoping over time Nintendo will expand it, let other online players in to interact with me, because honestly its frigging boring. Calling it a city is an insult. It's more or less a drab little town with bigger buildings. In all honesty it resembles an outdoor shopping mall. There is nothing city like about it at all.

The 'city' aspect is the biggest difference in the new game.

In addition there are a few more bugs to catch, a few new species of fish, and there are more fossils to fetch. Of course there is some new pieces of furniture to collect as well.

For the most part though everything is the same. From the appearance of houses, Nook's shop, and the town in general.

The main gate will allow you to visit other peoples towns, but only if you both have exchanged game codes, which was a pain in the keester with the last Wild World game for DS. Why the hell couldn't they just let players visit other players without having to go through the ridiculous task of finding friends in online forums to visit their towns!? More freedom in the game would have been a hell of a lot more appreciated. Yet fans are subjected to switching codes with other people in person, or online in order to make full use of the game. Lame! It was lame with Wild World, and it is lame with City Folk! You'd think with the newest Animal Crossing game, they would have fixed that!

Anyways, for those new to Animal Crossing, you'd probably enjoy this one because it is new and likely very intriguing and fun. However if you have been playing the game since the first release, don't expect anything creative here. Everything is pretty much the same.

For those who had Wild World for the DS, you also have the option to incorporate your game into this new City Folk game. I found it to be ridiculous, because it is even more apparent the game is so similar to the last one, that you can swap your old town into your new one!?

It is so obvious that it is Wild World all over again, just with a small drab little 'city' added in to the game. Yay! Bravo! This is what we waited 2 years for!?!?!

Anyhow, for those who have never played Animal Crossing, City Folk is pretty much the same game play it has been since the get go.

Plot:
 
You are brought to a cute charming little town, where you pick out a home in the town. Your town is filled with odd looking talking animals for you to talk to, and make friends with. Mostly though they repeat the same few lines over and over again, and having them in your town is simply for that extra cute factor, because they don't, and never have added much to the actual aspect of game play.

Anyhow, when you are given your new town, you have to work to pay Nook who gave you the home. Every time you pay off your loan, Nook asks you if you want an upgrade to your home. The upgrades allow larger space, new floors, and more rooms to add your furniture to. With each upgrade your loan increases, and you have to work pretty hard to pay back the loan to Nook.

You can pay your loan off simply by collecting things and selling them back to Nook. Nook will buy just about anything, so it does not really take very long to pay off your loan.

The game is pretty much never ending, it is set in real world time, which means if it is December 5th 2008, 5:15pm in your real life, it will be December 5th 2008, 5:15pm in Animal Crossing. The weather system also works the same. This is probably the most unique thing about Animal Crossing, weather will match your weather as well, and its a pretty neat incorporation into the game.

Anyhow, holidays also occur is Animal Crossing: City Folk. Playing the game on a holiday will guarantee you some sort of special gift, or piece of furniture for your Animal Crossing home.

Basically the game is about collecting, and paying off a large loan.

If you have done this before in Wild World, you might as well just stick to your old game, because this one does not really put out anything too fantastic for me to recommend it to owners of Animal Crossing Wild World.

For those who never played any of the Animal Crossing games though, you will definitely find enjoyment in this one. For those who know it though, and were expecting to see huge new changes...
forget about it. It is not worth the $49.99 asking price. In fact the asking price is insulting for what you are getting.

Overall:
 
It's a skip for those who own a copy of the last game, and a green light go, for those who have never had played any of the previous Animal Crossing titles.