Animal Crossing: City Folk

 Review

Common Sense Media says

Life sim has homey charm, but similar to others in series.
greenON: Content is age-appropriate for kids this age.
yellowPAUSE: Know your child; some content
may not be right for some kids.
redOFF: Not age-appropriate for kids this age.
not for kidsNOT FOR KIDS: Not appropriate for kids any age.

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Quality
 
Sometimes media can be age appropriate but a real waste of time. Our star rating assesses the media's overall quality.

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Parents say

Kids say

What parents need to know

Parents need to know that this is a life simulation game in which you become a citizen of a small community of anthropomorphic animals. If your child is old enough to have played the original Animal Crossing on the GameCube, this game is not that different. But if they haven't played the game before, prepare for hours in front of the TV set while your children move around this new world full of funny animals. This is the first game that utilizes Nintendo's new WiiSpeak microphone, an option that lets you speak to friends and families who are also playing this game in another location. While this opens up the possibility of chat-abuse, you can only chat with people you know, since you have to have exchanged "Friend codes" offline. Online capabilities let also allow you visit towns of friends and family. Reading is a big part of this game so it is not playable by non-readers.

  • You become a citizen of a small town and the game teaches you how to live and communicate in a small community. Various characters have different personalities, and you have to listen to all kinds of animal folk. They're all kind of funny and no one is nasty.
  • Not applicable.

What's it about?

When the original Animal
Crossing
was released for Nintendo's GameCube back in 2002 , the combination of cuteness and
fun made you want to live in that animal world and do even the dumbest of tasks. Now comes ANIMAL CROSSING CITY FOLK, a sequel for the Wii that includes a console first, voice chat. The story here is a simple one: you go from city to village and back doing chores like catching
bugs or cutting hair. Essentially, the story is what you make of it, and it
happens in real time, so you'll celebrate festive days like the 4th
of July and Halloween.

You'll employ the Wiimote to catch fish in fishing events,
dig around with a shovel to find treasures, and customize your town. You can
also visit the towns of other pals via the online capability. You'll talk to
all the quirky characters, and occasionally you'll titter. Some of these personalities have been in the
previous games, like Katrina, a kind of cat who's a psychic. You'll collect
bells along the way, which is the currency of City Folk.


Is it any good?

 

Disappointingly, if you've played the GameCube offering (or a more recent DS game), Animal Crossing City Folk is not that improved or different. Yet it does make you feel a range of emotions. Sometimes, characters you've become friends with leave your village for the city, and you'll feel an abiding sense of loss. You can go to the city (via a virtual bus) as well, but it's basically to shop and do doll-like things to your character like dress him or her up with new
clothes. It is fun to find the shoe-shining skunk.

One of the cool things you can do is play as your Mii, which you can customize. So that makes the experience more personal. If you purchase the WiiSpeak microphone option (for an extra $20), you can chat with pals and if you have a USB keyboard, you can text to mobile phones. But for fans of the other games, City Folk offers too much ddjj vu. It's truly a missed opportunity
for Nintendo to innovate. For the price, the game should have far more original and inspired elements. If, however, this is the first time you've played an Animal Crossing game, you'll enjoy its homey, funny charm.

 


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What families can talk about

Families can talk about their favorite animal characters. Do you like Grace the Hedgehog, who works at the clothing shop, or Katrina, the fortune telling feline? If there were any character that you could take out of the game and make real, which would it be? Did the game give you any ideas for things that you could do to help people in real life? Like what?


This review was written by Harold Goldberg
Kid, 12 years old
July 16, 2011
 
Yeah, that's right. This is my obsession
This game is my obsession. I play it every day, and I have a very well built town! :) You start as a kid, (roughly 12 years of age probably) and you are moving to a brand new town. Each town is different, with different styles, animals, and fruit. You have to work for Tom Nook as a part time job at first, and he'll pay of 1,400 dollars of your house loan on your house. This is REALLY hard to explain, but let me tell you, it's the best video game you'll ever play, if you like really fun and relaxed games! :D

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Teen, 14 years old
November 25, 2011
 
REal life game
This game is fun and it relates to real life and time you live in a city,you pay your moragage and you get to celebrate the holidayd like Chrismas

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Teen, 14 years old
July 17, 2011
 
Fun but alot of reading
Very Fun but alot of reading so be prepared

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Kid, 12 years old
January 17, 2011
 
Love it.
It's very easy. Peppy villagers, or normal, lazy, or jock villagers are nice. But you gotta watch out for Snooty and Grumpys. There's a wiki for Animal crossing too. It's mostly about paying a Raccoon, named Tom Nook. And living daily life packed with holidays. It's only iffy if they wifi. The only way they would pretty much meet strangers is by the ACC. (Which can be good and bad.) ACC stands for Animal Crossing Commuinty. (However you spell it) They will give out free stuff, but they need a friend code first. Getting bells is hard, and you can get stinged by bees. But there's nothing really bad about it.There's no cussing, or any name calling. The snootys are just a little mean to others, but not the player. They don't namecall, just tease. Grumpys are welll..grumpy.

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Teen, 14 years old
December 20, 2008
 
awesome!
I think its a GREAT GAME!

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Kid, 10 years old
January 15, 2011
 
great game
Best game I will contact you later I would like to add you so see you later

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Kid, 13 years old
November 27, 2010
 
Perfect for the linguistic kid!!!
I love this game I play it a lot but it's only fun if you play it over and over again, so you can do long-term super fun activities.

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Kid, 11 years old
October 16, 2011
 
A Reborn Game, But Just As Great!
The rebirth of the popular simulation game, and the additions are quite appealing! It can help kids manage and save money and discover bugs and fish and flowers. Positive messages come from the fact that you should be social and make friends with more than just your neighbors. It shows that being mean can really set someone off, and it's not good to do. Some characters can be good role models. Your neighbors can inspire participating in events and trying new things. The workers and employees love their jobs and promote hard work. Except for Phyllis. It also gives you a taste of real life. There will be gossip and tragedies, people will move out and argue. It's a satisfying game if you wish to be relieved of the bad-tempered world around you. It can create a better person out of you by influencing kind attitude and understanding that a few neighbors implore to each other. Not to mention you can control your character with ease and the neighbors help you too! It's a simulation game with a talented view of life. Good for education and messages for anti-social kids. An addiction hard to stop.

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Kid, 10 years old
June 19, 2011
 
Animal Crossing= Good game
It's a really fun game. It can get boring after you've played it for 7 years, but I still play. There's no language, violence, or anything else bad for kids. You can go to a city, making City Folk uniqe to Wild World and the original, and use one of your Mii's for a Mask! Fun, and I reccomend for kids 3+.

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Teen, 14 years old
November 3, 2010
 
a very fun yet educational game
i love this game and its really educational particualry in maths and life. the role models are good because none of the characters are mean or nasty and everyone is your friend.

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This review was written by Harold Goldberg
Available online?Available online
Genre:Simulation
Developer:Nintendo
Release date:November 18, 2008
Price:$49.99
ESRB rating:E for Comic Mischief

This review was written by Harold Goldberg

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About our rating system
ON: Content is age-appropriate for kids this age.
PAUSE: Know your child; some content may not be right for some kids.
OFF: Not age-appropriate for kids this age.
Learning ratings
BEST: Really engaging, great learning approach.
GOOD: Pretty engaging, good learning approach.
FAIR: Somewhat engaging, OK learning approach.
NOT FOR LEARNING: Not recommended for learning.

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