Animal Crossing Pocket Camp
Animal Crossing Pocket Camp released a day early on the iOS and Android stores, and as an Animal Crossing die-hard fan, I went through the tedious task of waiting through downloads & error codes. A recurring theme in Pocket Camp.
The tutorial had you complete requests from villagers, craft items, and collect fruit, fish, and bugs. It familiarizes you with timers and storage. You’re introduced to rotating time slots of three hours that change villager locations, items at the Market, and re-grow fruit. In the earlier Animal Crossing titles, there was no need for them due to the understanding that fruit takes 24 hours to grow back on trees. Pocket Camp is essentially easier for new players to the series, guiding them through every detail and action through the game.
Instead of one big map, the areas in Pocket Camp are divided into smaller ‘islands’ that allow you to do different things. An Island for bug catching, a river-side field for fishing, an orchard for fruit, and a beach for seashells and fishing. The Market place is another area with condensed versions of the Able Sisters clothing and accessory shop, and Timmy and Tommy’s furniture shop, stocking three different items during each rotation.
With the introduction of friend-codes, the task of befriending someone is unnecessarily long with having to copy 11-digit codes through the app. Although, I really like the twitter link feature as I can just add my mutuals through it.
In Pocket Camp, your Camper is your ‘house’. An RV you can decorate with paint, special mods, and furniture. In this game, OK Motors, the camper customization spot run by three new Crow(?) characters (whom I would Die For.), is in essence, what Tom Nook was to earlier titles. You can expand your camper and then use the Loan app in-game to pay your debt. I’ve recently upgraded to a two floor camper. You can use the furniture you’ve crafted to decorate the inside of your camper to your liking. I really enjoy this feature as it gives you a more personal space rather than the camp site that tends to change around to fit certain villager’s tastes.
In this Free to Play app, the in-game purchases are mostly towards the Leaf Tickets, in addition to the timed launch promotions they offer. These Leaf Tickets can be used to speed up crafting time, make up for insufficient items, buy special Camper paint jobs, and to purchase the ‘special’ furniture out right now. The K.K. Slider, and Tom Nook chairs. Both priced at 250 Leaf Tickets, are around £5. My aim is to see how long I can go without giving in.
The game is very generous with Bells, Leaf Tickets, and resources, albeit the only thing I seem to struggle with is getting ‘cute essence’ to upgrade one of the amenities on my camp site.
As someone who’s accustomed to the premise of the main series of the Animal Crossing games, Pocket Camp serves as an on-the-go token of my childhood and teenage years. I get to play it in between classes and on my commute to university. Animal Crossing has served as a reminder that we can all slow down in life and be mindful of our surroundings and relationships. I really want an Animal Crossing on the Switch.
