There is a genre of games that came from Nintendo that are hard to describe to other people. It's hard in the sense that when you give a brief synopsis of it, the game sounds boring as hell. Animal Crossing by Nintendo Co., Ltd. is one of these games. It's hard to get people excited about a game where you "make friends by gathering stuff and building other stuff". But the full versions of the games are good and this pocket edition is pretty okay.
The Game:
Animal Crossing is described as a friend simulator and that is a pretty good description. In this game, you will play a custom sprite who has gone on vacation and made camp. Now you want to invite all of your animal friends to come hang out with you.
To make friends with your fellow park citizens you will want to visit them every once and a while and have a conversation or complete a task. To complete a task you are able to gather item throughout the game such as shaking fruit from trees or fishing fish from the water. When you complete one of their tasks you will get heart points that go to your friendship level with them as well as crafting items. The hear points also go to your characters overall level.
You can craft all sorts of things for your camp and some things are required to get other animals to visit. You can customize your van as well. This is done through some NPCs who offer these things for the in-game gold currency. There is also a premium currency that builds some exclusive items. The price is a little steep for the furniture you are getting but they do also give you quite a bit in the game.
You also see the sprites of other players in the game who you can befriend. You friends can set up shops to buy things from and give you kudos. The social aspect that this game is known for is there.
My Thoughts:
There is no denying that I am a Nintendo fan and I have some pretty fond memories of playing Animal Crossing with friends so keep that in mind. There is a lot of pre-built bias here even if I am trying to be fair. That out of the way the game is pretty good for a mobile version of the game but it still feels like it falls into some mobile tropes.
Most of the games that come out on the mobile platform from Nintendo are a light version of the main game. That is exactly what this is for Animal Crossing. They took out the farming and replaced it with gathering some items that sit on a 3 hours cooldown timer. This slows your possible progression in the game a lot and can only be overridden with items you get from tasks or bought with premium currency. I took it as a way to gate my play time but it can be a pain for someone who wants to binge the game.
This somehow comes through uniquely Nintendo. The UI is clean and not full of clutter. The announcements are nice and locked away but accessible. The map to navigate is intuitive and the crafting system is simple. Crafting is gated because you can only carry so many items. You can carry more by unlocking 5 spots per 20 premium currency. There are other things that the premium can buy and when you start to see all that is unlocked with the real world price you notice this game is pretty expensive.
The motivation for the game is still there though. Everything is adorable and building up your friendships is still as endearing as ever. They definitely made it feel like an Animal Crossing game. I am just a little sad that its time gatted and the currency is so expensive. I really wish they had created a deal somewhat like they did with Mario Run. We didn't get that though and instead got something similar to a lot of the other mobile trash out there.
Pocket Camp holds on to the aesthetically pleasing and cheery world of Animal Crossing. There is a lot of enjoyment with meeting and befriending all the animals in the world. The issue is it is brought into a freemium environment and the currency is not cheap. It's a fun game to have but don't expect to sink a lot of time into unless you want to pay for that. Then again it might be perfect for the casual mobile player.
TL;DR:
Animal Crossing Pocket Camp has the fun and endearment of the regular games but at a lighter level. Even though it is Animal Crossing it is a mobile game that falls victim to microtransactions and gated play. It is a little romp through the Animal Crossing universe and is an okay experience for fans but I don't know that this is for everyone or how likely it is to stand out.
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