Lets be honest here, anything as cute, charming and simple looking as Animal Crossing has to have more going for it than what is on the surface. And there is! Far, far more than what you could think of.

When I first played the DS game Wild World, I have to admit that I was sure I was going to hate it. After all, I only got it after a mate of mine said he was going to get it and may want someone to play it with. At the time I needed a new DS game and the rave reviews the game got I thought “Why the hell not? What’s the worst that could happen?”

Turns out loads could happen.

It took me over 18 fucking months. Every day I had spare. Why do I hear you ask? I have no fucking clue! Really! I have no idea what I was so compelled to play it so much. I just was. And my mate who convinced me to get the game in the first place hated it and gave it to his girlfriend who was in turn quickly bored.

Now those two are in the minority of AC players. The ones who didn’t really get it. The one’s who didn’t take the time to try all the different things within their own little world. The game is very, very open. Where on the likes of GTA IV where the idea of freedom is there, it isn’t really when you think about it. You can only see and do things depending on how many of the story missions you take the effort to do. In AC, once you have worked for 20 minutes for Nook (The town’s shop owner and loan shark) you really can do ANYTHING you want! Sure, there are different things you can do depending on the time of year but other than that if you wish to catch bugs then go for it. Fishing more your thing? Toss some bait in and hope that you don’t get a Sea Bass for the 1,082,874th time in the week. You can even just go to the shops and buy anything to make you crappy little house look a little less shitty.

But this is where some of the evil lies within the worlds of animal crossing. On paper all of that sounds boring. Very boring to the point it was why I was at first put off by the game. But once I started to play I couldn’t stop. I went around with my rod out (fishing rod! Don’t turn that into an innuendo you sickos!) Just tossing it about (OK, now I’m just not helping myself here…) trying to see whatever would take the bait (too easy now) for hours on end. I wasn’t trying to make any Bells (the in game money) to pay off my house, buy items or anything else; I was just doing it for fun, for hours. Now to watch it happen or something like YouTube you’ll think it looks shit. Hell, go look now, I can wait.

Finished? OK then. See? What did I say? Looks very, very boring. Now go off and play it. Give it go. You’re compelled to keep going maybe in the vain hope of catching a rare one. This is even worse than someone playing Pokémon in the hopes of getting one of the rarest in the games. Or maybe, there is no reason. Who knows?

One of the biggest selling points of the DS and Wii game (City Folk for the US and Lets Go to the City for Europe) was on the online modes. As the game will always generate a town at random (but some things like the amount of house, the river and a few other bits will always be there, just there locations are random) the people who can get their DS or Wii online will wonder how to other’s towns look and what other players are doing. I saw some great theme towns on Wild Worlds where players had made tiles to look like other game graphics and put them all over the town (Zelda: A Link To The Past was by far the most popular and easiest to do). Now with Wii Speak added to the mixed it is even easier to chat in game (For the record Wii Speak works just as well as the head sets for Xbox Live). I enjoy showing off the way I have done my town. Hell, after all the work you put into them you’ll want to show them off to your mates.

As I have said, the DS game took me over for 18 months. With the news of the Wii game at E3 2008 I knew I was going to get it. No matter what I said.

Now I work in GAME. I got a fair bit of stick of buying Pokemon Ranger 2 for myself. When the guys I worked with hear me saying I was going to get AC they didn’t believe me. They honestly thought I was just taking the piss. That was until I got it. Cries of “How Old?” could be heard in the back for the next week, even from my manger who booked the week that World of Warcarft: Wrath of the Lich King off so he could play it. The main reason for that is because I’m an 18 stone brick shithouse, beer drinking, rugby playing Metal Head who, on paper, wouldn’t give this game a second look. There was even genuine surprise for a few of the charimas temps when they heard. Did I care? No. Honestly I didn’t. And I still don’t. And that is why Animal Crossing is evil. If it can stop someone like me for playing Gears Of War 2 and Left4Dead and anything else that is coming out next year (Hell, because of the game I haven’t got round to getting the new Prince of Persia) then there most be something evil within the games coding. There has to be a few 666s within all them 1s and 0s. And I hope I never find them! Now I have wasted too much time with this and need to go pick off the fruits of the trees to make some money.

Article was submitted by Ninsox.com reader Gary Rose