Animal Crossing: Life or something like it.

When i first popped that wafer-sized AC disc into my GC, I uttered a silent "sigh," as in I was not exactly pumped-up to play this game. 40 hours into this sure to-be a cult-classic, that sigh" shifted into a "Huzza!" I was wrong about this game all along. If the phrase "never judge a game by face value" has ever come into play for any title..this is it. Here's the run-down of what this game is about: As a debt-ridden individual, you move into town and start a life of your own,in a community that thrives whether you're here or not, 24/7. You start off with a dinky, in shambles miniature house (with your choice of roof color,woo!) And buy running odd-jobs for local neighbors (which are similar to the fetch-quests in RPG's and platformers) you can aquire new furniture,rugs,wallpaper,and NES games (which are reproduced flawlessly in all of their 8-bit glory) to add some much needed pizzaz to your crib. In conclusion, Animal Crossing is not only the sleeper hit of the year, but also has my vote for GOTY runner up. A fun,addictive, must-buy game if there ever was one.

Gameplay: Is mostly text reading which is entertaining thanks to each indivuals uniqe,colorful diolouge, plus collecting fish,bugs,paintings ect to reap new,rare items never get old. 10/10

Sound: Nothing too catchy here, but the K.K tunes add a ton of verity and have "tap-your-toes hum along" quality to them. 9.8/10

Visuals/Graphics: Will have you getting nostolgic about the N64,but the vibrant,cartoony look lends itelf well.

Overall: 10/10 buy Animal Crossing without fail.

Reviewed by: Sabashtian

Sonic Mega Collection

Overall Score: 8.0

Visuals: 3 (compared to other GC games)

Sound: 7

Ingenuity: 5

Replay: 7

Im glad this is one port Sega didnt screw up, since they have a bit of a reputation for doing that (see Sega Smash Pack on the Dreamcast). This is the second compilation pack for the Sonic series, and in terms of number of games, this is the better one. However, compared to Sonic Jam on the Saturn, it doesnt have nearly as many extras. Plus, the extras on SMC are kind of lame. The gallery pics are unimpressive, in the comic list has only one readable one (Sonic Firsts, which I already read), and the videos are pretty crappy. I wish on the History of Sonic video, Yuji Naka (the creator) gave a more indepth view on it. Its a shame for hardcore Sonic fans like me who want something a little extra. Whats annoying about SMC is unlocking the secret games means takes near-impossibly long, since you have to enter each games 20-25 times (or have a Sonic Adventure 2: Battle or Phantasy Star Online save file). Normally, no one would put up with that, so you can easily enter and exit the games to get the secret ones. So why hadnt I? Because Im lazy. Another upsetting detail is that Sonic CD, one of the best if not THE best Sonic games in the series, isnt included. I was fortunate enough to play the PC version, so no big loss for me, but for the Sonic fans who missed out on both versions of CD (from Sega CD or the PC), its a real bummer. Still, this is one disc no Sonic fan, new or old, should be without.

here's a list of the 12 games (5 are secret) included in SMC:

Sonic the Hedgehog: Sonic introduction first impression, impresses with lush graphics (at the time), excellent music and a style to run through levels as quick as possible on his quest to stop Robotnik. Sure it was pretty short, but it was very enjoyable and one of the more replayable Sonic games. Rating: 9.5

Sonic the Hedgehog 2: Sonic returns in a short year with a new pal, Tails to tag along. In terms of length, this is the longest Sonic game. Most Sonic fans says that this is the best the series has to offer, but I disagree. Its still a good game, but I found the level design a little less creative from the original (up until Metropolis and beyond). So how is it? A little better or worse compared to the original depending on who you ask (little worse for me), but still great. Rating: 8.0

Sonic the Hedgehog 3: Sonic 3 introduces several new features: the ability to save mid game, levels that are three times as big as Sonic 2s levels (I dare you that you cant beat any of these levels before 4 or 5 minutes passed), a VS mode (it kinda sucked) creative bosses, a ton of cool moments thatll leave you in awe (the caverns caving in! I tripped an alarm!) and of course, the introduction to the second coolest Sonic character in history, Knuckles the Echidna. You also have the option to play as either Sonic & Tails together, Sonic alone, or Tails alone, making extra exploring a joy with playing Tail alone. This is my second favorite Sonic in the pack. Rating: 9.0

Sonic and Knuckles: The main game plays in the same style Sonic 3 does and also gives you the ability to play Knuckles. Ok, stop your groaning you people who just played Sonic Adventure 1 and 2 as Knuckles. It isnt any annoying fetch quests like it was in the SA games. Knuckles levels, dare I say was better than Sonics in S&K. The level design in Knuckles sections is definitely better and I could see the developers did a good job on it. Unfortunately, Sonic isnt as well designed until the last two zones. It also had a lack of water areas strangely. Still the coolest feature of S&K was to lock it onto Sonic 2 or Sonic 3. If locked onto Sonic 2, you can play Knuckles in Sonic 2. In Sonic 3, it links both games so you can play all 14 zones together like the plot seamlessly was supposed to be. Also, you can play Tails in S&K levels and Knuckles in Sonic 3 levels. It has a lot of cool features, which Ill commend for, but the main game still isnt the best compared to other Sonics. Rating: 8.5

Dr. Robotniks Mean Bean Machine: All this is really is a redone Puyo Puyo so it could look Sonic style (like Pokemon Puzzle League was to Tetris Attack). The puzzle game itself is decent if youre ever in the mood for one. Rating: 7.5

Sonic Spinball: Its Sonic in a Pinball game. Its an oddball title, but depending on who you are, you either love it or hate it. I think its decent. Sonic Spinball has 4 levels of challenging puzzles to go through all with the style of a pinball game. Its a unique way of going into the pinball genre, but the only thing I wish was better is the controls when you have to walk or jump when on the terrain. Rating: 7.0

Sonic 3D Blast: One word: Isometric. This sub-3D Sonic game is shown in an isometric view. Impressive (at its time)? Maybe. Fun? Not exactly. A lot of the usual Sonic bits and fun are sucked away in this new adventure. Plus, searching for flickies all the time isnt very fun. Rating: 5.0

Secret Games #1 and 2; Play Knuckles in Sonic 2 and play Sonic 3 and Knuckles: These are poor excuses for secret games, since it should have opened up in the first place when booting SMC. Rating: 5.0 (secret games that arent really secret just makes me very upset)

Secret Game #3; Blue Sphere: The sphere mini game you did to get chaos emeralds in Sonic 3/Knuckles. When locking on Sonic 1 to S&K, this is the result. I still dont like it though. Rating: 4.0

Secret Game #4; Flicky: Hadnt unlocked it yet, so I cant give a fair rating Rating: N/A

Secret Game #5; Dont know shince I hadnt unlocked it yet Rating: N/A

And last, the Sonic game that should have been in SMC:

Sonic CD: even though this game introduces Amy the Hedgehog and Mecha Sonic (the blue one in S&K, not the brown one in Sonic 2), it has another more important feature. This game in terms of size, is the largest Sonic game ever made. With the time travel ability, you can go through most levels in 4 different ways besides the boss level, making the level total over 60! The core game plays like the original with improved graphics and sounds. The replayability is high, because of the numerous ways to play through Sonic CD. The bosses are very creative in CD also. My favorite is the race to the finish with Mecha Sonic through Stardust Speedway. In terms of coolness, no other boss fight can compete with that. The bonus levels on CD are way better than any other Sonics. The music is expansive in Sonic CD with all of the ridiculous number of levels, because there are four types (past, present, bad future, good future, but you can access good future only if you have all the chaos emeralds or time stones from the bonus levels) on each world, plus the music changed around for the Japanese and American versions, not to mention the cool, anime styled intro and ending moviesSega indeed put a lot of work into Sonic CD. Which comes into my next questionwhy wont Sega include Sonic CD into SMC? I dont know a lot of Sonic fans who played CD, and its a bummer, because this is truly, a great, great game. Rating: 10

Reviewed by: dowman5