If you read my article last week, you already know I'm a fan of the Animal Crossing series. I'm no stranger to Animal Crossing - I've played every main game in the series, from the original on the GameCube and the somewhat lackluster Wii version to the fantastic DS and 3DS versions (for the record, the handheld versions are my favorites: they seem to have an element of charm that just isn't there on the home console versions, possibly because you can take them on the go and play wherever and whenever without being tied to a console and a TV).

Back in October when I found out Animal Crossing Pocket Camp was coming out, I knew I had to get it. Fast forward to the beginning of December and the game has been out for a few weeks, giving me plenty of time to play it, so I thought I'd share some quick thoughts on it.

Animal Crossing Lite: The Game

I can appreciate the work put into Pocket Camp - the lines of dialogue from the animals can be amusing and the graphics look surprisingly good for a mobile game. Collecting fruit, fish, bugs, seashells, and furniture can be fun, but it doesn't really have enough to sink your teeth into for longer than a couple minutes. I feel like the game just doesn't have enough enticing content to make me want to come back for more every chance I get. Maybe that's a good thing? Since I don't constantly feel the need to play the game, I don't waste very much of my time playing it. If you want a game that keeps you coming back for more, check out The Simpsons: Tapped Out; I find myself tapping away at it every time I get a break between classes and homework (probably more than I should). If Pocket Camp was as fun as The Simpsons, it would be so much better.

It Takes How Much Steel to Make a Stack of Crayons???

My biggest complaint about this game is the way they implemented furniture. In full AC games, furniture is bought at your leisure; you only use one currency to get furniture and as soon as you pay for it, it's in your pocket and you can do whatever you want with it. In Pocket Camp, furniture has to be built and each piece of furniture requires a different type of material, some requiring more than one type of material, as well as the regular in-game currency. Some of the crafting materials include steel, cotton, wood, and paper.

After you come up with the materials and money, both of which can be gotten from animals who ask you to bring them certain things from the world, you have to wait for the furniture to be built, sometimes twelve hours or more. Of course, you can also use the game's premium currency, leaf tickets, if you don't have enough money/materials to build something, or if you just don't feel like waiting for it to be built.

Something else I want to mention - above I said in other games in the series, you can buy furniture at your leisure. That's somewhat true in this game, but in order to get animals to come to your camp, you have to build four pieces of furniture that particular animal likes. If an animal wants you to build a certain type of couch, they won't come stay at your camp until you build it, so it feels like you have to get the furniture, unless you don't want any animal friends staying at your camp.

I realize this is a free mobile game and we can't expect them to give us the full Animal Crossing experience without some type of wait or microtransactions, but at times it just feels ridiculous. When you have to use thirty pieces of steel (why steel, of all things???) and 1,280 bells (the in-game currency) to build a stack of crayons, and then wait an hour for it to be done, you can't help but feel like they're just trying to get you to spend real money. As I said above, an hour wait time isn't that bad considering you have to wait as much as twelve hours or more for other items.

Final Verdict

I'm sure most people saw this coming: just about every mobile game these days is loaded with microtransactions, and even some paid games on console/PC have them as well *cough* Battlefront 2 *cough*. While it feels a bit greedy, the game overall isn't bad and can be fun in short bursts. With the recently released temporary Christmas event, there are even more items to get, but unfortunately, the update also brought along another crafting material to have to collect in order to get the Christmas items.

In short, if you come into this game knowing what to expect (a mobile game), you'll have fun with it. If you expect it to be a full Animal Crossing game on your phone, you will likely be disappointed. I say give it a shot - it might end up being one of your favorites.