Graphics 7/10

At first glance, the graphics are pretty bad. But Animal Crossing backs it up by including a huge amount of content. You decorate your house and customize your town with many different items. You can even create your own clothes and wear them around. If you do, the other characters in your town may try out your custom pattern too. Some better textures would’ve been much better though. The content just makes up for the N64 quality graphics.

Audio 7/10

As with the graphics, Animal Crossing makes up the average music with the ability to customize your town tune (even though not all notes are available). Tag on your favorite song each time you talk to the people in your town. The characters in your town have dribble for speech, so don’t expect some massive voice acting from that adorable/evil raccoon. Music is ridiculously simplistic and doesn’t do much to move the game forward. But the customization of the town tune is enough to make the audio slightly above average.

Gameplay 9/10

Animal Crossing in general is a life simulator, not unlike a Tamagotchi. Caring for your town is similar to caring for a pet. The big thing is that Animal Crossing offers a seemingly-limitless amount of customization. Upon arriving in your town as the up-and-coming resident, you get a job with the local merchant, Tom Nook. He gives you your own house which you can customize to your liking. In exchange, you must pay off the loan by working and earning the currency, Bells. From here, the game takes off. You meet up with the residents of your town, talk to them, and run errands for them to earn rewards. Furniture, wallpaper, carpeting and other stuff can be earned, used, or sold in your town. While you are forced to pay parts of your loan at points, the game has a good pace and doesn’t put too much pressure on the gamer. The big story in the game though is the real-time system. The game follows the built-in clock in the Gamecube, meaning that the game changes over time. Seasons change, people leave. This innovation offers a unique gameplay experience, but ignoring your game for months will come back to smack you in the face, leaving your town with weeds and other annoyances. Fortunately, the game doesn’t penalize you for this, and only reminds you of your commitment. Customizing home is the best part of the game, offering themes and sets of objects to create your dream home. You can even get some old NES games for your home to play for a quick old-school fix. You can also go to other peoples’ towns by using their Memory Card and get things you can’t find in your own town. This is an incredibly innovative game and creates a fun new experience for all to enjoy.

Replay Value 10/10

Time follows you throughout the game, allowing for years of fun. The amount of time to get the objects you want is long, but never tiresome. This game will still be played after many console cycles and is a Gamecube gem that will live for an extremely long time.

Final Verdict 8/10

Animal Crossing is innovative in every way. Despite some presentation issues, this game can be enjoyed by anyone. Being able to customize your house and interact with the characters in your town is more fun than you may think and offers a fun gaming experience. This game will live on for a long time and must be played to be believed.