Animal Crossing took the US and Japan by storm when it was released on the Gamecube a couple of years back. Unfortunately the European release was so late and under publicised that it's no wonder so many Nintendophiles don't have the original classic in their collection. Thankfully, Nintendo, in their infinite wisdom, have seen fit to adapt, update and revamp this incredible title for our shiny DS's. As I was a huge fan of the Gamecube release, I was first in the queue to get Animal Crossing: Wild World and review it for you lucky, lucky people.

There isn't really a story, other than you're a little fella (or lass) who turns up out of the blue into a small town in the middle of nowhere, hoping to make friends, make a living and make a home there. You're a little human in a town full of cute animals with bizarre characters, who want different things in life. Similarly there are bizarre workers in the local shop, the post office, museum and town gates. All of these creatures may demand stuff from you, or not, dependent on what they think of you and how you interact with them. Similarly, around the town there are plenty of things to do and investigate, be it planting and picking fruit from trees, digging up mysterious objects from the ground or even catching enough fish to fatten your wallet, as well as roaming Walruses!

You have to bear in mind that each town made by each person who owns a copy of the game will be completely unique. You'll have one of five different fruits growing there, the river will be in a different place for everyone and so will all the shops and civic buildings. Also, textures and patterns used on the landscapes will vary and of course so will the occupants. This makes your town very unique and as such you become very attached to it, thus encouraging you to invite your friends to visit.

One of the best things about the game is it runs in real time, based on your DS clock, so when you switch it on at 9pm it's likely to be dark, and if it's December you'll see snow on the ground. The time affects what the characters in your town are up to, whether being cosy in their snug homes, fast asleep or even out for a midnight jog in the moonlight! Also, as it's date driven there are loads of time specific events scattered liberally throughout your gaming year. This includes fishing tournaments, travelling artists, visiting fortunes tellers and even seasonal events like Halloween, New Year and Christmas!

This is played out in a kind of 3D layout on the bottom screen, where your character roams. The objects roll over the horizon towards you, getting bigger as they get closer. You can guide your character around or into these with either the stylus or the buttons. Also, a quick tap on the screen of a particular button brings up an interface that is so user-friendly you have to see it to believe it; it has been tweaked to perfection. With this you can see what items you have picked up, any letters written or received, how much cash (or Bells, as they call it) you have in your wallet and a whole variety of other things. It also keeps track of insects caught, fish hooked, friends made, patterns drawn and so may other things that it's almost impossible to list without becoming an instruction manual. However, for all the info it gives you, the layout and design make it an absolute joy to explore.

Now, the problem I have with reviewing this title is that there aren't really any clearly set goals or objectives. You really do wander around searching for stuff to do and seeing what happens when you interact with things. So rather than some dry review that goes 'that bit is good, that bit is bad' (although there's no bad in this game) I've concocted a diary of my character Gronk in Simia, over three days of playing.

Thursday 5th of January
Woke up feeling fresh and fine, and leapt out of bed ready for anything! I went straight outside into the crisp clear air - lovely blue skies, though still lots of chilly snow on the ground - BRRR! On checking my mailbox I found a few letters from some of the residents wishing me a Happy New Year. That reminds me, I still have some of the party poppers the Mayor gave me on New Years Eve. I must save them for my birthday! Anyway, the next step was to do a quick survey of my orchards. Having had the opportunity to visit a friend's town, I'd obtained some nice oranges to plant alongside my peach and cherry groves, but a quick investigation showed only three of the six I'd planted had made it past the sapling stage. I knew I should have watered them more, but there's always so much to do and so it's easy to forget!

Anyway, the cherry crop was good, so I took them down to Tom Nook's to sell. He gave me 6,000 bells for the lot - what a generous shopkeeper! Mind you, that meant I could buy lots of nice decor for my house from him. He had a lovely cloud carpet and some nice bamboo wall for sale, which I rounded off with a beautiful little bonsai to add to my already burgeoning collection. I popped next door to the Able Sisters Tailors, who were still displaying the designs I made for their shirts. They also had an Afro wig and aviator glasses in their special fashion section, which I leapt on with glee. Together with the 'Che' shirt I designed, now I REALLY look stylish!

I had a quick run around to see who was out and about and bumped into Apollo, a rather grumpy eagle. Mind you, since we've become pen pals he's opened up a bit to me, and trusted me enough to run an errand for him. I took a parcel over to Frobert, a barbell pumping, clean living frog, but unfortunately he didn't really like the outfit Apollo had asked me to hand over. That eagle wasn't pleased when I told him how ungrateful Frobert had been, but he gave me a nice item of furniture by way of thanks for doing the job.

Friday 6th of January
Up and at 'em! Wow, a great start to the day today - got a letter from Redd, a slightly dodgy travelling weasel salesman but someone who usually has some nice items to get your hands on. I've been buying the works of art he sells lately and displaying them in our local Museum. Anyway, he gave me the password to get in and have a look at his wares, so I went out looking for his tent. On the way I picked some oranges from my newly bloomed grove and noticed two broken patches of ground. I had a bit of a dig with my trusty spade and, well, what do you know - I found two fossils! Redd also had a dainty painting for sale, which was a bit pricey but seemed like just the thing for the museum, so I ran down to see Blathers, the owl curator, with my findings.

The poor feathery fellow - he never likes being disturbed in the day and cast a groggy eye over my findings. He really should pop into the museum cafe and have some of the lovely pigeon-brewed coffee. Anyway, it was with great joy he found that one of the two fossils was one I had not donated already - a triceratops skull. This completed the entire skeleton, and he gave me some great facts about what the triceratops ate and what era he lived in. The other fossil, a brachiosaurus tail, he already had, so he gave it back to me. I know Butch, a rather bad tempered dog, likes these old bones, though I'm not sure what he does with them! I'll give them to him tomorrow.

However, then I had a real shock. The painting Redd had sold me was a FAKE!!! Blathers was quite sure of the fact and said he wouldn't demean the museum by hanging it in their hallowed halls. Ooh, I was hopping mad and rushed back up to see Redd about the matter. He completely ignored me, and wouldn't enter into an argument about it, nor give me a refund - blasted weasel! So what started off as a great day ended on a bit of an angry note.

Saturday 7th of January
Yowza, it was really cold outside this morning and it's snowing hard. That said, I wrapped up in my cool shades, afro hair hat and Fire Emblem shirt, and headed out to make a snowman. Wow, it was hard work rolling those two giant snowballs, but my snowman looked really cool when he was finished. Imagine my surprise when he spoke! He had such a melancholy sense of humour, which comes when you've got such a short life span I suppose.

Anyway, to get myself relaxed and in the mood for action, I decided I'd do a spot of fishing before striking out. For some reason the fish were biting hard; perhaps it was the time of day? Flicking my line over their vague shadowy shapes in the water, I soon hooked an octopus on the coast, and a carp and goldfish in the beautiful running water of the river that flows through Simia.

Heading to the museum to add my catches to their rather splendid aquarium, I heard a buzzing sound. I couldn't see an insect on a tree anywhere, so did a bit of digging. One of the animals told me last week (it was Rosie, the cute blue cat) that some insects burrow into the ground, and how right she was! Yet another insect for our live display at the museum to go alongside the cockroach and pill bug I caught last month. My fish collection vastly outweighs my insect collection at the moment, but I expect that to change when spring and summer roll around.

This trip to the museum became even more eventful. First of all I saw a parcel tied to a balloon floating overhead. Quickly and with a practised eye, I whipped out my catapult and shot into the air and ... missed! Aaargh!! I ran along below it for a few minutes until finally I was in a better position and POW - knocked it out of the air. To my delight there was lovely red boom box in there, all wrapped up.

Next up, running along the coastline I came across a message in a bottle. Strangely it was from a fellow called Bombay, another human like me, whose town I had visited a few weeks ago. His message wasn't addressed to me in particular, just to whoever found the bottle. Anyway, it reminded me I must go visit him soon and take him a gift of some rare furniture from the extensive catalogue I've worked up at Nook's shop.

I actually got to the museum much later than intended, stopping at my house for a nap for sometime first. It was dark when I got there and I handed over my catches to a wide awake and very pleased Blathers the owl. He told me some no doubt interesting info about my insect and fish catches, but in all honesty I was a bit distracted, as I realised tonight was the night KK Slider was playing in the coffee shop!

I was there in time to see him, and besides the pigeon serving coffee behind the counter, was the only audience member. Next time I must remember to invite a friend to see him play. Anyway, he did a new number for me tonight, a soulful ballad in his own inimitable style, the gently crooning electronic dog voice that I've come to love. After three beautiful minutes it was over, but the nice chap gave me a bootleg copy. I ran home and put it in my brand new red boom box, and wiled away my time before bed reliving the old KK magic.

So there you have it! Three fun filled days of life in Simia, my town in Animal Crossing! And believe you me, I've hardly scratched the surface. I didn't mention the New Year celebrations, or the exotic animals that have come to live nearby, or the outlandish styles with which you can dress yourself, your friends and your house.

Now that you're acquainted with the concept and what you might expect from a few days' play, let me go back to the Gamecube version, as there are a few differences. First of all, the train station is missing and instead you have gates to the city, guarded by the dogs that used to act as the local constabulary on the Gamecube version. While the charm of the station and the train journey itself has been lost, I can see why, as inviting your friends in via either the DS to DS communication or the online wi-fi is a lengthy enough process as it is.

Also, you no longer need to send fossils off to be identified. Blathers has taken a correspondence course and can do this for you. This is great, as you can add any fossils you find to the museum immediately. The museum has been vastly expanded compared to the Gamecube version and the amount of fossils, insects, paintings and fish you can collect has grown to match. You can wander around the vast halls at your leisure, taking in these new wonders. The museum has two new attachments, the aforementioned coffee house and also an observatory. You can make up your own constellations when you look through the telescope and these constellations will cross over to other friends when you go and visit their towns. New constellations cropping up in your sky, the top screen of the DS, will be as a result of DS to DS or wi-fi multiplayer games.

The town hall is a multi-purpose area now. You can post letters, access your savings account, pay off your mortgage to Nook as before, but you can also change the town tune, rung every hour and whistled in different forms by the animals. You can donate money to worthy causes and get feedback on how popular your town is. Also, there's a recycling bin in the corner, which replaces the old tip. I always poke my head in there, as many animals throw away perfectly good stuff I either sell to Nook or decorate my house with.

There are some changes to the graphics between the Gamecube and DS versions. As you can imagine, the slight decrease in power has meant lower definition, but this is hardly noticeable due to the size of the DS screens. Also, on the odd occasion it does become glaringly obvious that the developers have pushed so much charm and character into their limited pixel allowance that you more than forgive them. I really can't begin to tell you how utterly charming the whole game is, and will surely melt even the most hardened of hearts. Most people who know my gaming habits know I'm not happy unless blowing apart zombies with a shotgun, or hacking at elves with my heavy orc war axe. Animal Crossing is just one of those beautiful looking games, where the completeness of style, humour and zaniness seeps into your consciousness until you wish the place really existed, completely distracting you from other gore drenched, adrenaline fuelled exercises.

The characters are larger than life animals, each with a distinct look and personality. I love Apollo, because he looks like that grumpy newsreader eagle on The Muppets, and acts in the same manner [Sam the American Bald Eagle! Muppet Ed]. Tiffany is a white rabbit who constantly wanders around planting flowers, which is really nice, but can be a bit snooty. Butch is a light and dark brown Doberman, complete with those liquid brown eyes. While he is a right moody looking thing to start with, spend some quality time with him and he, like all the other characters, will respond graphically, and quite often you'll see a shower of psychedelic flowers emanating from their heads as they fall for your charms. Mind you, make them angry and a dark thundercloud, complete with lightning will follow them around too. None of the characters, including those behind counters, such as Pelly in the Post Office or Nook in the shop, are static; they are always moving in some fashion, even if they're just made to sway from side to side or look like they're breathing.

The landscape within which the creatures reside alongside you is also quite beautiful. The trees are all large, chunky and cheerful, particularly those that sprout the juiciest pixellated fruit I've ever seen. The river water flows in a simplistic manner, reminiscent of some Japanese painting, and the lovely stone bridges look of that style too. The waves lap up and down a sandy beach, which fades to shingle and then grass as you walk from sea to town. You can often find shells to sell or give as presents or even coconuts to plant as you wander up and down, and these really complement the feel of live scenery. Once a few of your planted coconuts are fully-grown, the palm trees really give your beach a Hawaiian feel, even in winter!

The collectables are great to look at too. For example, the fish and fossils you hand in to Blathers can then be viewed and look pretty impressive. The fish swim about realistically in massive 3D tanks, while the giant skeletons of past lizard behemoths can be panned and scanned around in a good 180 degree arc. Then there's your house, which you can customise to your heart's content. At the moment I'm going for a gaudy 'kiddie' theme, where the decor and furniture are all blocky primary colours, but once I'm bored with that I may go for the bamboo-heavy Oriental look, complete with stone temple lions and painted screens. My partner at the moment has been collecting all the robo fittings, including robo seats, chairs clocks and televisions. It's all a bit shiny grey metal for me, but she likes it, and this only goes to show that there's decor for everyone. I also love the attention to detail; switch on a TV and a different show will be on at different times of the day, be it a bit of footie, the weather or a chat show. You can also turn on the radio, or play with train sets and generally interact with your toys in a creative and fun way. My partner surprised me with a working jack-in-the-box when I visited her.

This charm extends equally to the sounds. Each animal makes a different noise when they greet you, although they all speak animalese. They also whistle the town tune, which you can modify. I've had the entire town whistling an abridged version of the Star Wars theme, the 1812 Overture and 'Give It Away' by the Chilli Peppers! The theme tunes are gentle, not invasive and change depending what time of day you log in to play. Ambient sounds all add up beautifully; the insects buzz, the fish splash, the waves crash against the shore. There's such a lot more, but the final icing on the cake are the incredibly funny, original, toe-tapping musical ditties of KK Slider. His music is diverse, wonderful and unforgettable.

However, throughout all this incredibly joyful gaming there are two things that really makes this version of Animal Crossing stand out more than before; its portability and the multiplayer aspect. The fact that you can whip this game out and play it anywhere, anytime is such a blessing. With the Gamecube version you often missed events because you couldn't take your Gamecube into work, or on long journeys with you. As a result, I think I was lucky to have seen about 50% of the content and I've been playing it now for over two years. On the DS version this problem has been completely overcome and I find myself visiting the town during my lunch hour, on the bus to and from work, or even during those quiet moments when you have five minutes to yourself when you're out shopping with your partner.

Not only do these events and constant changes in the environment keep you coming back for more, but now the multiplayer aspect has been taken to the max. On the original Gamecube you were limited to taking your memory card to a friend's house who also had a copy of the game if you wanted to visit their town, and you could only exchange items via a cumbersome password laden exchange programme at Nook's shop. Well, those days are gone, and now you can either have people come visit you via DS to DS play, or the aforementioned Wi-Fi. There's room for 32 friend codes, and via animalcrossingcommunity.com I found those spaces filled up really quickly. I've been to visit towns where the player is in Australia, the US or Europe and it's great! Having four friends running around town with you, playing treasure hunt, catch the biggest fish or even a childish game of hide and seek is such fun; it's hard to describe just how much! You can easily exchange fruit to grow, or items you know your friends want, or fossils and paintings missing from their museums. These final factors make this title compulsively playable, and Animal Crossing: Wild World is the only game so far that has torn my partner away from her beloved Zookeeper.

When all is said and done, Nintendo have done us proud, proving that the tired first person shooters, driving games and sports sims can all be completely overshadowed by a gentle life simulation based purely on innovation, addictiveness and utter charm and humour. Animal Crossing: Wild World is an absolutely essential purchase for every DS owner, and I defy anyone to play it for a week and not to become completely and utterly addicted to it. You can forget the raw power of the PSP; if Nintendo keep releasing games of such quality and imagination, they're never going to be knocked from the top handheld spot.

Reviewed by Dave Wynn for AceGamez (All Rights Reserved).