You arrive to the world of Animal Crossing: Wild Word via a sketchy cab driver. His invasive questions may either excite you or trouble you to your very core. Nevertheless, they must be answered, and when his interrogation is over you find you have at last arrived at your destination: a new house in a village with a name of your choosing.

And so it begins.

Personally, I never got to play the original Animal Crossing on GameCube, so the times to be had in this DS interpretation is all new to me. Nintendo is officially calling this one a sequel, so I'll just take their word for it. Whatever the verdict, Animal Crossing: Wild World is a treat of a game in itself regardless of possible past incarnations. Community simulation games are easily becoming dime a dozen titles these days, and even the better ones have their regular bouts of tedium, but Wild World accomplishes some authentic player engagement in a manner that is frequently lacking in so many social simulations.

What Animal Crossing: Wild World does is an amazing job of pulling you into the experience. A majority of the game is crafted with so much authentic human precision, detail and personality that the end result is something that makes you feel inadequate if you don't return the same effort when actually playing. Wild World is put together in a way in which the game environment is only as good as what you put into it, and as you go deeper into the game and pull of continuous layers of depth, you come to find that there is always some kind of treat waiting for you, whether it be something acquired or an authentically entertaining event.

Wild World is fun to play because it makes participating in your environment so gratifying. There is so much to do and find in your town that the game is an unlock-fanatic's dream - it gives players a reason to engage themselves. Since neighbors move in and out, events come and go, and random and entertaining little encounters abound, there's always something there that gives you an authentic reason to keep playing. It never feels limited, or that you've "done everything"; the game is designed in a such a dynamic and charming manner that while playing you're not only investing your efforts, but also being rewarded for coming back. This isn't always done sucessfully in life and social simulation games, but it's done quite well in Wilid World.

Community interaction with computer controlled neighbors is handled quite well. Since the world is dynamic, neighbors, the town, relationships, weather and seasons are all constantly changing. The game flows in real-time, even when off, so all your actions such as letter writing and/or tree planting have an impact on how things are going to look when you come back. You can anger or charm your neighbors depending on the kind of attention you give them, and the regular influx of new "friends" to harass at least gives something to look forward to on the social network front.