Originally due for release on November 22, 2017, Nintendo seems to have released the new smartphone game, Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp, one day early. The game is available in North America, Europe, Canada, and Japan right now for download on iOS and Android devices. It’s free to download, just like Fire Emblem Heroes and Super Mario Run. This entry in the franchise tasks players with building up a campsite with craftable furniture and helping out visitors as you go.
The animals around your campsite in Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp will ask for help fishing, bug catching, fruit-collecting – you know, the usual stuff from other games, sans delivering furniture and stuff. Completing tasks for them will earn the player some money or crafting materials. Materials are then used to order custom furniture for the campsite. The delivery process can be expedited with Leaf Tickets, earnable through regular play or purchasable via micro-transactions.
It wouldn’t be an Animal Crossing game without giving players the option to visit each other. Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp offers the opportunity to check out other players’ camps and chat up the animals staying there. Decorating your own camp with a certain critter’s preferred items will allow you to host them at your own site whenever you want. You don’t even have to keep things that way in order to keep inviting them!
Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp requires a constant Internet connection to play. In-app purchases range from $1 to $40, depending on the item and amount. It takes up 348 megabytes, probably more with future updates. It’s got generally positive reviews so far, though it tends to suck the battery dry. That’s to be expected with the kind of game it is and the amount of playability it offers. Now, the real question: does the game complain that you are not playing every single day? Well so far it hasn’t even been out a day here, so we’ll have to wait and see about that.