By Ricky Thompson
Enter to the most soothing soundtrack, Nintendo’s Animal Crossing has you hooked immediately. Although the long running game has drastically changed over time, Animal Crossing preserves its relaxing, wholesome, and addictive appeal. Animal Crossing involves you, a settler on an island paradise, and your small and fully customizable island home with your fellow villagers. Animal Crossing runs off real time, allowing you to live your morning, day, and night simultaneously with the game. Animal Crossing features mundane activities such as planting and watering flowers, talking and building friendships with your animal villagers, catching bugs and fish, and collecting items and clothes from the shops. In this game, you start off with a small tent and continuously save up the in-game currency, bells, to buy shop items and pay for upgrades on your house, turning it into your own dream mansion. What sets Animal Crossing apart from other games is the pure satisfaction of completing a set of items you’ve been waiting to get for ages, finally buying all the upgrades on your house, and having your favorite villager arrive on your island. On top of that, Animal Crossing has hundreds of villagers in the game, so getting your favorite one is especially rewarding. With the many small details to improve your gaming experience like the fun dialogue with villagers and other NPCs or the calming soundtrack that has a different tune at every hour of the day, Animal Crossing sets itself apart from other games and it is one I would recommend.