I have always been a fan of the Animal Crossing series by Nintendo. I remember first falling in love with Animal Crossing: Wild World in back in 2005 on the Nintendo DS. When playing Animal Crossing: New Leaf in 2013 on Nintendo 3DS, I even joined an Animal Crossing forum so I could arrange trades with other players for the items I wanted. It wasn’t long before I had collected and finished everything. I was overjoyed to hear the release of a new Animal Crossing game, Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp. Unlike past Animal Crossing games, Pocket Camp is available to play via mobile phone app on Android and iOS. You don’t need a console to play it!
In Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp, your living space is a campsite which you decorate by gathering materials from befriending fellow campers. Players are given the choice of a male or female avatar which you can customise and buy clothes for when you obtain the Animal Crossing currency, bells. To gain points and level up, players must travel to different islands to catch fish, catch bugs, collect fruit, collect seashells and trade them with the Animal Crossing characters. Once you have impressed a wandering character enough times and have specific items at your camp that they like, you can invite them to come chill with you.
Inviting the animals to your campsite has some benefit; not only is your campsite no longer lonely, but characters often gift you items by merely striking conversation with them. You only have a limited number of spots at your camp which you can chop and change by inviting and sending home characters. However, some characters level up depending on what establishments you choose to build and expand your camp with – so choose wisely.
I found the game easy to follow. When you succeed in a task, whether it be a timed goal or stretch goal, you really feel accomplished and satisfied that you’ve done a good deed by helping the cute animal characters. The graphics are visually appealing and makes you realise just how much technology has progressed and how far Animal Crossing has come since its original form on Nintendo 64 and GameCube. I still feel odd using my fingers to play and not a stylus like I have done in the past with Animal Crossing games on Nintendo 3DS, but I’m sure I’ll get used to it over time.
If you link your Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp game with your My Nintendo account, you can get a little help from your friends at Nintendo for bells, material, leaf tickets and items you might need which really helps. As this is a mobile phone game, you are able to put in real monies in exchange for leaf tickets which can help by making wait times shorter, or is a good substitute if you’re trying to build things but don’t have enough items. Whilst it can help, it doesn’t really effect your gameplay if you do not choose to use this feature as you gain leaf tickets during normal gameplay anyway. I also found the game slightly addictive. At present, I’ve done all my tasks. I’m trying to be patient by leaving my game alone and waiting for more tasks to generate. So instead, I’m typing this review. Aha!
Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp is time based and is designed for players to do tasks hourly and daily. I believe it is applicable to all ages. Whether you a seasoned gamer or just looking for a fun mobile phone game, I would highly recommend Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp.
At present, Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp is currently exclusive to Australia but will be available worldwide in late November 2017.