Let's go to the City! (Animal Crossing: Let's Go To The City (Wii))

Member Name: emmaglet

Product:	Animal Crossing: Let's Go To The City (Wii)
Date:	20/01/09 (840 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Hours of fun

Disadvantages: Characters talking too much

Animal Crossing: Let's Go To The City is a game for the Nintendo Wii. You can purchase it on its own, or also with Wii Speak which enables you to talk to your friends via the game. The game on its own retails for approximately £27, and the cheapest I have seen it with Wii Speak was for £44 (from both ASDA and Zavvi if anyone is interested) although prices are subject to change. Wii Speak retails on its own for £25, so if you weren't sure if you wanted it, it is always possible to purchase it at a later date, although it will cost more in the long run.

I had waited weeks to buy this, after many failed attempts, such as not being able to justify spending £44 on a game, I could finally justify it and off I went to buy it. I decided upon ASDA in case it was faulty, and I could return it, whereas I am not sure where Zavvi stand with returns at the moment, or where Zavvi stand at the moment full stop. Whilst paying for it the lovely lady at the till commented on how she wanted it too, so we had a lovely chat. Friendly staff are the best!

I had to endure a 40 minute drive home before playing, and it honestly felt like 40 hours. Once I got home I tore open the box and put the game into the Wii.

The first thing I had to do was update the Wii software. Thankfully I had previously configured the wireless internet, but if this is something you do not have, or haven't configured, do it before purchasing the game to save you time. There is nothing worse than needing to configure the Wii and wireless internet together when you want to play a new game. And I bet that is the time when it won't work! Murphy's law and all that.

When you start up the game you will find yourself on a bus, travelling somewhere, anywhere! You will be led through a series of animations and instructions where you create your character and your town. After doing this you will be dropped off in your new town. Once you have arrived you have a choice of 4 houses. You need to go and have a viewing of each house and decide which one you want to live in. After visiting each house Tom Nook will appear and ask if you want it. Once you have settled on one Tom will tell you how much you owe on the mortgage. Don't have a heart attack when he tells you that it is 19,800 bells.

Bells are the currency in your town, and you can earn these a number of ways. The easiest way is to shake trees. Bare trees often have bags of 100 bells hiding in them, which drop once they are shaken. They may also house furniture. Some trees also have fruit on them. You will earn 100 bells for each piece of fruit from your own town that you sell to Tom Nook, and 500 bells for fruit from other towns that you have. To get other fruit you can visit your friend's towns and take some fruit with you, wait for some to wash up on the shore or receive some in the post as a gift. Once you have one piece of different fruit you can plant a tree (using a shovel to dig a hole, then plant the fruit, and then use the watering can to water it) which will hopefully give you 3 pieces of that fruit every few days. Rinse and repeat this method, planting more and more trees!

To get you started on your mortgage payments, Tom Nook will hire you to do some work for him. These jobs enable you to get around your town, meet your neighbours and get your bearings. You will also be able to earn some Bells towards paying off your mortgage. After paying off your mortgage you can visit Tom Nook who will ask if you want to extend your house. There are a few extensions available. The first expansion costs 120,000, the second costs 248,000 bells. Both of these will just extend your ground floor. The third expansion, costing 368,000 will give you a second floor, and the final expansion costing 598,000 bells will give you a basement.

There are some places where you can get freebies in your town. I mentioned above shaking trees, but you can also visit the recycling bin, located in the town hall, to see what your neighbours are throwing out. You are allowed to take as many of these items as you want! The recycling bin gets emptied at 6am on a Monday and Thursday, so visiting the day before is great and you can always find something! Another place for freebies if your town's lost and found. This is located in the town gates, by talking to the person on the left. You ask if there is anything lost, and you will be shown items that you can take. Again, you can take as many items as you want! You can also send letters to your neighbours in your town, with gifts attached. They will often send you a gift in return!

Tom Nook's shop is a great place for both buying and selling items. When you spend your Bells in the shop you will earn points. These points add up to different levels, and you can earn/unlock things such as a banana! Random to say the least. You can check your points balance by using the machine in the shop. The items you buy will also appear in your catalogue, and you can aim to get the best catalogue by having once had every item in your possession (not at the same time though, don't worry!)

Another area to discover is the town museum. Here you will meet Blathers, and owl who sleeps during the day and is awake at night. But don't worry, if you want to visit him during the day you are allowed to wake him. The museum doesn't have any exhibitions, and it is your job (if you choose) to help fill the museum. You can donate bugs you find, fish you catch and fossils you dig up to make this museum a thriving place. Blathers will always thank you (and perhaps go on a bit!) when you donate an item to the museum. There is also a lot more to explore there, such as an observatory where you can create your own constellations!

In this version you can also visit the city. In the city you will find loads to do, from shoe shining, makeovers to going to the theatre. To go into the city you just need to catch the bus. In your first journey you will have to make some configurations, but the next time you travel this will be simple. Buying things in the city can sometimes cost a lot - I paid a few thousand Bells for a new hair cut, without even being able to decide what I wanted - apart from choosing between things such as cute or modern and fiery colour. Money wasted since I hated the new hair cut my character was given!

One of the great things about Animal Crossing is that you can choose how to play the game. There are no set goals, no ways of "winning". Your aim can be any number of things, even more than one goal, such as having the biggest house, having the best house, catching the most fish, filling the museum with fossils, making the most friends, getting the most items in your catalogue and much, much more.

It is very important to SAVE your game each and every time you want to exit. Try to not reset unless absolutely necessary. This may lead to you losing your most recent progress, and for an annoying character to pop up and just keep on talking, telling you about the dangers of not saving your game correctly. You can save at any point, you don't even have to go back to your house to save your game.

Overall I have racked up many hours of game play on this, despite only having it for 3 days! It is easy to navigate around your town and the menus using the Wii remote. It seems a lot easier than the DS version. One thing that annoyed me about this was that I couldn't connect the Wii Animal Crossing to the DS Animal Crossing, so they could visit each other. Another downside is how much the characters talk. Tom Nook always says the same things to me when I want to sell, and it takes awhile to go through him talking - and he even talks to me when I leave the shop. He also says "Thanks much" which annoys me greatly! Nintendo, please sort out your grammar, it isn't cute. Also when I start the game, Rover always makes comments that I am back AGAIN. Yes, AGAIN. It is because I love Animal Crossing, dear Rover, I don't need you to point out that I play it way too much! There is so much more I wanted to say in this review, but I think I have babbled on way too much! I am turning into one of the annoying characters! I can't wait to see what else I will discover whilst playing this!

Summary: Well worth every penny!