It's out already! Sweet! I've been loving Animal Crossing since the GameCube!

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

mmm... Stardew Valley

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

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.

My friend code: 28135603545

Friend requests sent! It seems I need the help of 5 friends to unlock an area.

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.

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!

Adam, it's the difference between smelling cigarette smoke, and smoking a fine cigar.

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.

I've never played this, but I'm aware of it (only slightly). Thanks for the heads up! I'm definitely grabbing it.