Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp
And if playing the first hour of Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp is telling, this entry into the Animal Crossing franchise won't let you down! As I was running around in-game with my newly created Animal Crossing buddy I realized that I wasn't too deserted by the games amazingly plush graphics or storytelling. I've seen some people on Twitter make themselves cry tears of joy at the launch of this game but as a pretty reasonable Nintendo fan who hasn't said goodbye to my love for Nintendo because I haven't felt like they've run around or hurt me. I've really known Nintendo for a long time and I think my hearts aching for more Nintendo franchises on mobile. But I think...
Oh and if you want to friend me in game in Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp my friend code is 75569758972
It seems like the driving goal for the game is to get as many NPCs to visit your camp as possible.
Right now I’m waiting 6 hours for two pieces of furniture to be built... oooooooooor I could just use some tickets to speed it up. Run out of tickets? Oh just buy some with real money!
I am not going to stop playing it because there’s a really fun core there but I feel like I’m hitting that paywall where I’ll stop having fun because I have to wait so long.
My friend code is 09584784544
It's out already! Sweet! I've been loving Animal Crossing since the GameCube!
It looks like it’s having some connection issues this morning but when it comes back I’m 11840522114
Yeah, the servers aren't the best right now.
Rick Astley jokes aside, the thought of having Animal Crossing in my pocket is pretty cool. The actual experience in the game, however, seems to be only a collection of "payoff moments" from the bigger games. It satisfies a quick fix, I suppose, but pales in comparison to a legitimate Animal Crossing experience. Maybe it's not meant to be "real" Animal Crossing, but I'm wondering why it couldn't be. Certainly not because of shortcomings on the platform. Mobile games can give, aside from screen compactness, every bit the breadth of play that console games can give. What I mean is that a console version of Animal Crossing could fit into a mobile presentation (the DS versions do this well enough). In Pocket Camp, you lose all nuance of what makes Animal Crossing great, and are instead presented with the payoff: Your campsite, on a base level, is fully furnished at the start of the game; Moving around between locations is relegated to a fast travel mechanism, and locations are very small area maps; You can sell items right from your inventory; There isn't any cultivation or maintenance of the environment, because everything is done for you, therefore pride of ownership is minimized; etc. I would like to see if they implement some kind of event system.
Pocket Camp feels like going into someone else's miniature Animal Crossing neighborhood, and and being able to loot everything so you can take it back to your campsite to decorate. It's a well-made thing, I guess, but it doesn't feel like Animal Crossing, which is unfortunate.
If you'd like help getting into Shovelstrike Quarry, or want those sweet, sweet Kudos, my code is: 7324 3897 834
Yes, agreed scrypt. What you say about the payoff moments is right on the money. It's Animal Crossing's charm without the depth.
Stardew Valley got the depth, Pocket Camp got the payoffs.
mmm... Stardew Valley
> The actual experience in the game, however, seems to be only a collection of "payoff moments" from the bigger games. It satisfies a quick fix, I suppose, but pales in comparison to a legitimate Animal Crossing experience. Maybe it's not meant to be "real" Animal Crossing, but I'm wondering why it couldn't be.
I think it's a game that is wrapped in it's free to play trappings so much it sacrifices fun for it. The game is built entirely around getting you hooked into your camp, building things and keeping in game friends that require you to collect stuff that is time gated to keep you grinding and grinding. Eventually you might want to drop real money and then the developer time spent making the game is paid for.
It was a nice couple minutes but I have no idea where the fun is here because i've played a lot of these games and I'm not really interested in them anymore.
That said it the servers seem to be on fire right now and I can't connect to the game. I'm trying to find more fun with it but right now it's working about as well as Diablo III on launch day.
Yeah, the servers are taking quite the beating.
Bummer, the game is not compatible with my iPhone 5c.
Maybe that's a sign that it's time to look into a new phone. :P
I've been enjoying the grind so far. I am sure I will tire of it like all the nintendo mobile games in a few days. I did buy the 99 cent pack, but given the amount of time I have spent on it, it was worth it.
Ok, I am now tired of the grind. I woke up this morning and asked myself if I wanted to burn time grinding through the game, which I decided against.
That was fast, lol.
That's kinda how I was with Pokemon Go. It was a neat distraction for a little while, but then it started to feel less like a fun thing to do and more like work.
My pitiful phone doesn't have much system memory. I bought an SD card, but instead of installing and updating directly to the SD card, I have to install and update to system memory and then move it to the SD card. This happens every time I have to update an app. Even if an app is on my SD card, it still has to update it by putting on to system memory. I was going to try this game, but I'm having trouble with space, so I deleted it, possibly for now. I need to do some more memory management and eventually get a phone with more system memory.
>Ok, I am now tired of the grind.
Pretty much. RIP, Animal Crossing Pocket Camp, we barely knew you.
I said earlier that it's Animal Crossing's charm without the depth. After meeting a few more campers I don't even think it got the charm right. I'm still poking it for a few minutes a day but that's about it.
My friend code: 28135603545
Friend requests sent! It seems I need the help of 5 friends to unlock an area.
Yeah it's basically breaking some rocks and getting the reward specified by the icon above it.
I friended you Greg and helped Travis mine for rocks!
Sorry, Greg, I ended up uninstalling. There is no reprieve from the grind in that game. Even the area you mention, Shovelstrike Quarry, has to be repeatedly accessed via friend intervention or dolla’ bills, which is pretty horrible. They could have just kept the time cost barrier without the other currency costs of entry, but instead, more grind. It only adds to the exhaustion.
@scrypt That's ok, bro, I still sent you one, so if you ever get back on, you can accept. I didn't know much about this game beforehand, but thought a mobile Animal Crossing game would be cool. However, I was disappointed after reading your review. You clearly appreciate Animal Crossing, like I do, but this app doesn't seem to add up. I'll see how it goes.
I had phone storage space issues, but I think I resolved it by uninstalling stuff I don't use. I can't say how much I'll play, but I will when the opportunity arises. There is currently a game sucking my life away, which I need to write a review about.
What's the last Animal Crossing game you played Scrypt? Any one you would recommend? The last 3DS game is $20 as a Nintendo select. I wonder if that one would be a good version to try?
Jon, the last one I played was for the 3DS, I bought the digital edition. Unfortunately, my 3DS is lost. However, I do recommend the game! I also have the Wii and GameCube versions.
The last one I played was City Folk for the Wii. I haven't spent any serious time in the handheld versions, so I can't really recommend those as much as the console versions. The original on the Gamecube and City Folk are both great games, though, and I think serve the franchise better. The DS/3DS versions look good, but a game like that deserves the screen real estate of a monitor. I'm sure (well, I hope) they will bring the series to the Switch at some point, but until then try the console games, if you can.
@scrypt a Switch version would be sweet!
A switch version has to be in the works.
Once you get through some of the early levels it actually becomes somehow less of a grind. I’ve been popping in for a few minutes a day still. Once you get a rhythm down the grind becomes less grindy. It’s not what I want but it’s ok.
Jon, if you get the 3ds version, I will have to dust mine off.
So, I've never played an Animal Crossing game, but I enjoyed Pokemon Go for a while, and really enjoyed Super Mario Run, so I gave this a shot. But, I lasted about 20-30 mins and uninstalled it. I assume the real console games are better?
Adam, it's the difference between smelling cigarette smoke, and smoking a fine cigar.
The only other one I've played is the one on DS, Adam, but by that comparison yes. The other games are much better.
scrypt, thank you for talking my language! lol
In the era of the GameCube, my friends and I had Animal Crossing. We also learned that the game pretty much requires a full memory card, so we'd buy a few of those. We enjoyed visiting other players and just playing the game. I still have the guide for it and maybe another, too. I really love the game series. It's something to pick up once or more a day and play for a bit, put it down for a while, and come back to it later. The base game is based on the system clock, which can be changed to trigger holiday events, or just pass another day.
In the base game, you have a house and have to pay for it, which you do by collecting bells (the game's currency). You can do all kinds of things like fishing, catching bugs, finding fossils, giving furniture, etc and selling them. You basically work to pay off your loan and then upgrade your house for more space. So you continue to repeat this cycle. It's fun, although it may have some grind to it.
Looks like they're expanding what you can do soon, with gardening coming next. Maybe some depth will gradually come
> Maybe some depth will gradually come
I hope so because right now you can do less things than Miitomo and Fallout Shelter. Fallout Shelter being a good example of a very well conceived, and well updated freemium game based on a traditional single player game.
I decided to dust off Animal Crossing for my 3DS after playing the mobile version.