I suppose you could ask what a 21 year-old male is doing playing a game that clearly looks like it’s - and mostly is - marketed towards kids. However, I do have some pretty good reasons why Animal Crossing: Wild World still remains the perfect game for anyone lucky enough to own a Nintendo DS.

At first glance Animal Crossing: Wild World looks like a game about cute animals and, um, it kind of is. However, there’s enough depth to this game that you’ll soon forget why you’re getting curious looks from the guy sitting next to you on the train. It’s strangely gratifying trying to pay off a mortgage to resident raccoon shopkeeper Tom Nook (although you’d think he was handcuffed to you by the way he follows you around his shop) and it really takes little skill in order to accomplish this. Earning money is as easy as picking fruit off the trees or shells off the beach, while at the same time you’re amassing quite the collection of furniture and clothes to kit your house and yourself out with. There’s also other activities including fishing, digging for fossils, doing errands for the animals or simply making your house look unique.

Now I know that doesn’t sound extremely riveting but trust me on this - it’s relaxing! The best feature about the game is that it runs in real-time, meaning that you can schedule certain events around different times in your day. Although, to be fair, this can be slightly annoying when you pop on only to find that Tom Nook has shut up shop for the night. You do have to be careful as leaving the game to gather dust for a few weeks will mean you’re greeted with some of your animal friends having moved out, cockroaches in your home and weeds everywhere on your return. If you get into the habit of returning everyday you’ll have better relationships with the animals and shops will also have new goods available for you to buy.

Parents can be safe in the knowledge that their kids will get months of play out of this game so it’s certainly worth its £25 asking price, even though it’s been out for a few good years now. They can extend this lifespan even further by inviting friends into their village through wi-fi and trading items with them. If you pick it up yourself, like me, be warned that it will get addictive. Cute it may be, but it doesn’t stop you returning day after day (although I’d sure like to hit Tom Nook with my spade). You can be guaranteed that you’ll get enough daily use out of your Nintendo DS to totally justify having one. I’ve had the game for over two years now and I still return to it three to four times a week. It’s also the perfect game to play in five-minute doses making it a great travel companion.

Finally, for those looking for more Animal Crossing fun, Nintendo has just announced that a Wii version, called Animal Crossing: City Folk, will be hitting stores on November 16th. If you can’t wait until that time then you know what to do!