Animal Crossing: City Folk

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Animal Crossing: City Folk Animal Crossing: Let's Go to the City
North American box art
Developer(s)	Nintendo EAD
Publisher(s)	Nintendo
Platform(s)	Wii
Release date(s)	NA November 16, 2008 JP November 20, 2008 AUS December 4, 2008 EU December 5, 2008
Genre(s)	Life simulation
Rating(s)	ESRB: Everyone (E) CERO: A PEGI: 3+ OFLC: G
Media	Wii Optical Disc
Input methods	Wii Remote, Nunchuk, Wii Speak, USB keyboard, Nintendo DS

Animal Crossing: City Folk (街へ行こうよ どうぶつの森, Machi e ikō yo: Dōbutsu no mori^?, Let's Go to the City: Animal Forest), known in European and Australian markets as Animal Crossing: Let's Go to the City, is a life simulation video game for the Wii video game console, released on November 16, 2008 in the United States, November 17, 2008 in Canada, November 20, 2008 in Japan, December 4, 2008 in Australia and December 5, 2008 in Europe. It is part of the Animal Crossing series.

[edit] Gameplay

A player's house

Animal Crossing: City Folk's gameplay is built upon the gameplay of previous Animal Crossing games. The Wii Remote pointer and motion controls (including the Nunchuk) can be used for handling tools, such as axes, slingshots, fishing rods and bug-catching nets.^[1] Also, players live in individual houses spread apart from each other, unlike Animal Crossing, in which all four houses are located in a central plaza, and Animal Crossing: Wild World, in which all players share one house. Each town begins with six animal residents, and can grow to a maximum of ten. In previous iterations of Animal Crossing, custom clothing involves a single image that is repeated on the front, back and sleeves; in City Folk, the player can make separate images for each, which is called a "Pro" design.

The player will be able to celebrate as time progresses several real world holidays, such as Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, Thanksgiving, Easter, Father's Day, Mother's Day and Halloween, although they are named differently in the game itself.^[2] Holiday-associated characters from previous games return, as well as new additions such as Zipper T. the Easter Bunny, Pavé (a peacock who celebrates "Festivale"), and Nat (a chameleon who hosts the "Bug-off").

The city is a new area added to the game. The player can go there by taking a bus from town, driven by Kapp'n. and once at the city, players can buy clothes, get their hair done, and go to a theatre. also, characters may appear in the city such as Phineas (who hands out prizes) and Kicks(who will polish your shoes)

The box art for Wii Speak, a voice communication tool used for online play in Animal Crossing: City Folk

[edit] Online connectivity

Animal Crossing: City Folk is the first Wii game to use Wii Speak, a new microphone option for the Wii that enables voice communication over Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection (WFC). With Wii Speak, all people in a room can communicate with those in another room also containing the device, and can also have live text chat using a USB Keyboard.^[3] Players can communicate with other players by sending messages to their town, Wii Message Board, mobile phone or personal computer. The Wii Speak feature is currently being discontinued on the production line^{[citation needed]}, but the currently operating Wii Speaks will continue to operate.

An auction house run by Lloid, a Gyroid, is available in the city and is where players can auction items to other players via Nintendo WFC. There is also an office for the Happy Room Academy run by Lyle, where players can see how other players' towns are progressing. Free downloadable content, such as furniture and items, will be released periodically.^[1]

The city

The game supports Nintendo DS connectivity functionality. Instead of creating a new character, players can import characters from Wild World. Only the character's face, hair (including color and style) and catalog (the items purchasable from Tom Nook) are imported; bells and items owned by the character (including items in the character's inventory, house, town or dressers) are not transferred. The data in Wild World is not modified when a character is copied to City Folk, so the character can continue to be played on the DS as well. Items from the character's catalog can be repurchased with bells from City Folk.^[4] A system error occurred with the Australian version of Let's Go to the City when connecting with the Nintendo DS claiming that it was "the wrong game card". Nintendo Australia allowed gamers to send back their game discs to fix the error to allow compatibility.^{[citation needed]} Additionally, the Nintendo DS can be used to transfer characters between Wii consoles as a means of visiting other player's towns via DS Download Play.

Using WiiConnect24, Nintendo periodically sends out downloadable content to online players. The first item released was the "Red Pikmin Hat". Other items given to players include a "Girl's Day updo" and "Top", Saint Patrick's Day hat, DSi chair, a bag of bells for Tax Day, and a bus model for teacher appreciation week. After summer '09 began, Nintendo sent to North American players a hot dog hat, the dolphin model from Pikmin, ladder shades, a hopscotch flooring, a dresser in the shape of a Nintendo GameCube, a pile of leaves, an election poster, an anniversaary cake and a Wii locker.^[5] And for Black Friday you get a shopping cart.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Development

In a 2006 interview, Katsuya Eguchi, leader of Animal Crossing's production development, stated, "someone could send a letter from their cellphone or from an email address on a PC to the Wii, and then the player living in the town in Animal Crossing could receive that letter."^[6] In another interview with IGN, Katsuya Eguchi also discussed how his team continues exploring potential ways to take advantage of the WiiConnect24 feature such as allowing friends to visit other towns or leave messages while the machine is in standby mode.^[7]

[edit] Reception

The game was announced as a Wii game that markets the WiiConnect24 feature of the console.^[12] Nintendo officially announced the game at E3 2008 on July 15. City Folk was released on November 16, 2008 in the United States; November 17, 2008 in Canada; November 20, 2008 in Japan; December 4, 2008 in Australia; and December 5, 2008 in Europe.

Japanese gaming magazine Famitsu gave it a score of 33/40, lower than the 37/40 scores of its predecessors,^{[citation needed]} while Nintendo Power gave the game an 8.0.^[11] Cheat Codes Central gave the game a score of 4.4/5, calling the game great, but too similar to its predecessors.^[13] IGN gave the game a 7.5/10, claiming that while the design of the game is sound, they believed it was too much like its DS predecessor to the point of suggesting it to be just a port with enhanced features.^[10] 1UP.com gave the game a C grade, claiming "City Folk seems like a missed opportunity to improve and enhance the series in almost every possible way."^[9] X-Play gave the game a 4 out of 5, praising the gameplay and the addition of WiiSpeak while finding it too similar to previous titles. The British Official Nintendo Magazine gave the game 90%, saying that the game was "Packed full of Nintendo Charm" and "You'll be playing it for months", but criticized the game as it being "Not new enough for veterans". It was awarded Best Simulation Game for the Wii by IGN in its 2008 video game awards.^[14] IGN also nominated it for Best Family Game^[15] and Best Online Multiplayer Game.^[16] GameSpot, however, awarded it as being the "Least Improved Sequel".^[17]

As of January 4, 2009, Animal Crossing: City Folk has sold 949,000 copies in Japan.^[18] It was the 10th best-selling game of December 2008 in the United States, selling in excess of 497,000 copies.^[19] It is also the eighth best-selling game of Japan in 2008.^[20] As of January 2009, Animal Crossing: City Folk has sold 3.22 million copies worldwide.^[21]

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Official Animal Crossing: City Folk website (North America)
• Official Animal Crossing: Let's Go To The City website (Europe)
• Animal Crossing: City Folk at Nintendo.com
• Animal Crossing: City Folk E3 2008 page