Animal Crossing: Wild World (Nintendo DS)

Animal Crossing: Wild World takes you into a real-time virtual world where an entire village is waiting to be explored. Whether you want to decorate your home, catch bugs or fish, or just chat with the characters in your village, there`s always something to do. Days and seasons pass in real time, and you can visit the vilages of online players -- even if they`re a thousand miles away.

In a nutshell:
Start a new life on your DS with the most unlikely source of online addiction you’ve ever experienced. You’ve complete freedom to customise your home and the town around it as you socialise with the locals and your friends alike.

The lowdown:
The world of Animal Crossing seems a peculiarly simple one at first: there are no levels to be beaten or bad guys to overcome, just a cheerful little village to maintain, as you water flowers, catch fish and dig for fossils. But before you know it the game has its hooks in you, as you meet friends via the Wi-Fi Network Connection to chat and compete or start playing the turnip stock market. With over 600 different pieces of furniture to collect the game has a near infinite lifetime and by running in real-time with special events all through the year you’ll find yourself checking in daily with what’s going on around town.

Most exciting moment:
Winning a fishing competition against three friends and rubbing their noses in it via the online chat.

Since you ask:
The first Animal Crossing game was actually released on the N64 in Japan – the GameCube version was a slightly enhanced version of this.

The bottom line:
Live the life idyllic on your DS with the best use of the Wi-Fi Network Connection yet.
HARRISON DENT