So picture this: you're in college, taking 22 credits. You work part-time. You've just disbanded one website and are about to start another. What with all the writing, studying, and going to and from class (not to mention time spent in class), you're pretty busy. Soooo naturally you decide now would be a really good time to buy a Nintendo Gamecube. Hey, nothing wrong with that! Multi-player games can make for some fun Saturday night socializing with friends, can they not? Except... you also buy Animal Crossing. At which point you proceed to disappear off the face of the earth. To say this game is addictive would be the world's biggest understatement. Oh sure, not every person who plays it will be hooked; some won't succumb to the hypnotic suggestions of the animals. Some people will be strong enough to resist the urge to play the game for five hours every day until their eyeball fall out and their lives implode. I am not one of those people. This is my story. But first, have you played the game? Let me give you a rundown... When you begin, you pick a name and you become a resident in a small town. Up to four players can (separately) build lives in said town. You get a house and are eventually allowed to expand it. You get to decorate your home with furniture you've purchased, found, or been given. Each day (the game plays out in real-time), there are new things to do. The game also follows real-life seasons... snow will be on the ground during winter months, for example, and several times a year there will be special holiday-esque events. To pass the time (and possibly even earn money) you can collect artifacts, listen to music, bury treasure, catch bugs, put up signs, talk to your neighbors (other animals in the game), write letters, send presents, search for treasure, go fishing, design clothing and wallpaper, plant trees and flowers, pick fruit, and even travel to other towns. Playing all by yourself? Not so fun. But if you happen to have a real-life roommate who also enjoys the game (a.k.a. an enabler), you can do awesome things. Trade your furniture! Send actual letters to each other in the game! Send them presents or money ("bells"), or make them cool clothes! Show off your new piece of furniture or your stellar new bedroom! There's no real "end goal" to the game, except to have the most awesome house you can. And getting a statue is nice... But other than that? Eh, no real point. So why is it so friggin addictive? I couldn't tell you. Maybe it's the freedom the game offers. Maybe it's the social aspect... whatever it is, in 2003, it got me. It got me good. At one point, I even reset the Gamecube's clock so that it was three hours off... so that if we started playing at noon, real-time, it'd only been 9am in the game, and things would be just starting to happen. (Hey, we had classes 'til noon!) Likewise, we could also play until 1am before it'd be 10pm in the game and the shop would close and all the animals would start going to sleep. See yeah I don't know if you caught that but we'd be up until 1am playing the damn game. Not always. But sometimes. Luckily for my sanity, my obsession only lasted a couple of months, and then I stopped playing. I recently put the memory card back in my GC and took a look at my old town. As you can see, I was missed! Know what happens when you don't play for a long, long time? Your town goes to hell, that's what. Each day of regular play, a couple of weeds sprout up and you must pick them to help the town look beautiful. You don't play for two years -- and suddenly there are 1,245 weeds. Most of the animals don't recognize you anymore. And your house is infested with roaches. How lovely, eh? Despite all these setbacks, I found myself really getting back into the game. Here are just a few of my favorite things to do in Animal Crossing... **Getting serenaded by a dog** On Saturday nights, a dog comes to town. If you talk to him, he'll offer to jam for you. He then begins to sing a haunting and mesmerizing song, which you then get to keep. The song consists of his weird voice, some whistling, and possibly even some howling! Now this is true entertainment. **Hitting the other animals with a net** What? Some of them are mean cheaters! Plus it's funny and it makes them mad... though they never do anything but fume and make empty threats. Okay, I need therapy. **Decorating** There is so much furniture available in the game that you can go nuts no matter what your taste. I chose to do a toyland room upstairs in my house, while my roommate went all wicker. In my basement, I collected a bunch of different clocks. (Doc Brown would be proud!) On the main floor, I had a nature theme going on, and even kept a fish as a pet (a trout, I believe.) So -- are you brave enough to try this game? Afraid you'll succumb to the addiction? I can understand. But they're practically giving this game away now. (Seriously -- at some stores, it comes free with the purchase of a Gamecube!) So get yourself a box of Nintendo fun, rent or buy Animal Crossing, and prepare to be mesmerized by the pretty colors and the talking animals. And, in two months, when you snap out of lala land, send me an email and let me know what you thought of the game. Update 5/16/05: Today while on the train I met an animal named "Blanca" -- who HAD NO FACE. So creepy. She wanted me to "draw" her one. Um, okay, weirdness much. But I agreed to do it. I drew her a Stewie face (they only let me work with a round head). Here are the results... Fear the unsightly creature... fear it, I say! 5/15/2005 Last Updated: 5/16/05 Back to Games Back to Main Leave a message in the guestbook to comment on this article. :) (c)2005 AlligatorJuice.com.