Animal Crossing is just nice.

No, no, wait.

Animal Crossing is like the Andrex puppy, wearing a little hat, dancing, whilst bringing you your slippers.  Slippers that are actually just smaller puppies, wrapped around your feet.

Now, before I get the animal rights activitists after me, my point is that Animal Crossing is very, very nice.  Sometimes whilst you’re playing it, you just want to give your DS a big hug, and invite it for a cup of tea.  It’s that nice. 

The primary thing you have to get over when you first start playing Animal Crossing is that it’s not really a game.  For one, there’s no plot, no specific goal, no target.  You move into a little forest town, with little forest animals, and that’s it.  The rest is up to you.

You can fish, you can dig, you can plant trees.  You can chat to your neighbours about the art of feng shui, share a coffee, swap letters, or just kick back by the sea, gazing at the star constellations you just found in the local museum.  Why not get to know the local businesses, have a chat to Mabel about her and her sister’s design business and she’ll help you design a rather dapper looking umbrella.  Or even wander into a neighbouring friend’s town using Wi-Fi?

It’s not exactly rocket science, and it won’t rock your world, but there are simply too many subtleties and too many charming eccentricities enveloped in Animal Crossing to truly convey how charming this game is.  You take your time with it.  Put it down one month, pick it up another, it’s all in real time. 

At first, I admit, I was almost disappointed, because I expected it to be like the Harvest Moon series.  I was frustrated it didn’t have the same addictive quality, where it grabs you and runs with you at a break neck pace (well, as break neck as you can get while milking cows.) But when you get it, when it’s had time to sink in, you realise that Animal Crossing is a much gentler being - and it’s all the nicer for it.  Because sometimes it’s nice to relax with a game that only asks for you to enjoy it.  No pressure.  No expectations.  No commitments. 

So for those of you who aren’t tempted by that import, keep your eye out in March, when this little game with the big cult following will be hitting the shelves in the UK.  I bet you an apple and two daffodils that I can catch an octopus quicker than you.