Animal Crossing is a unique game, with no overall aim or anyway to finish the game. Lets start from the beginning The game starts with you on a train heading towards a village. You start talking to an animal who eventually puts you in contact with a friendly racoon who can sell you a house in your village =) Yes thats right, you have a house! One of the strongest features of Animal Crossing is the way it uses the time and date. Time passes in real time, the shop opens and closes at set times, your neighbours will sleep sometime during the night, the rubbish is even picked up at 6:00am each morning! Also the game world will continue even if you don't turn on your Gamecube, if you leave the game for a few weeks you will most likely have a load of post waiting for you when you do turn on..

Animal Crossing initially looks more functional than beautiful but after you play for a while you realise that the small details do matter in this game. For example, you can (just about) see mosquito's and capture them if your quick enough before they bite you. The game runs at a smooth 60fps (or feels like it anyway) hardly surprising when there isnt really that much happening on screen at a time. Also you have no control of the camera and the view can be obstructive every now and then, when you are trying to look behind trees etc.

The sound is ok, nothing special again. The animals have an odd animalese language that might annoy some people but you can change it to silence if it does.. Music is the typical cute Nintendo style, with matching sound effects. Every hour the clock strikes and plays the villages theme tune, which you can change if you want (Near the post Office) I do really like the title screen music for some reason, it reminds me of old US comedies shows. Don't ask me why

You can pretty much do whatever you want, you can collect insects, fish paintings and fossils for the museum, send letters to your neighbours and friends, decorate your house inside and out (including having a NES system), visit friends villages and trade items with them. However at the start of the game at least, most of the time you will be running packages around for your neighbours, earning various objects in the process. Later in the game, there are better ways to earn money, like selling fish It is also possible to have up to four people live in the village at the same time, each playing seperately and leaving messages, items, in the game for the other people playing. It's possible to connect a GBA using the link lead for extra things to do, you can visit an island, and even play NES games on the GBA. The E-Reader is also supported, with this you can scan in special Animal Crossing card to unlock items and set village theme music.

You may find yourself getting addicted to this game, playing at least once a day to see if you get any mail and to see whats different in your little game world. With real holidays as well as game ones noted in your diary, there isnt a fortnight that passes without an event of some description. As the year progresses the leaves then the snow falls, even the fish and insect wildlife change with the seasons!

Conclusion

I wouldn't recommend Animal Crossing to everyone, you will need a lot of time to play it properly, not in huge chunks but small doses, daily. It is a shame that the best thing about AC is also one of its worse features, the realtime-ness. If you play at 10pm there is less to do than in the daytime, with the shops shut and some neighbours asleep. I can't think of another game similar to this, which isn't necessarily a bad thing, so if you want a different experience in a game you might just like it.. (Now you only have to wait for Nintendo to announce its release in Europe)