Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp

 iOS
Metascore
72

Mixed or average reviews - based on 31 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 20 out of 31
  2. Mixed: 11 out of 31
  3. Negative: 0 out of 31
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  1. GameGrin
    Dec 14, 2021
    70
    Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp is a fun and cute game for everyone willing to either pay up or be patient. Expecting this game to give you more than a decorating sim is simply a mistake.
  2. 148Apps
    Nov 29, 2017
    70
    There's not a whole lot about Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp that is surprising. It's a pretty run-of-the-mill, freemium crafting game, but it just so happens to be made by Nintendo, which means it has pretty amazing production values. You'd probably be pretty hard-pressed to find a more pleasant-looking game like this on the App Store, but it shouldn't be too hard to find something a bit more interesting.
  3. Pocket Gamer UK
    Nov 22, 2017
    70
    Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp is a simple and effective time-killer that doesn't push its free to play elements in your face.
  5. Wccftech
    Nov 22, 2017
    70
    Animal Crossing Pocket Camp is definitely Animal Crossing, but it’s also definitely a mobile game. Not bad for twenty or thirty minutes a day, but it won’t keep you plugged in for hours like a proper Animal Crossing game would. Then again, for the low-low price of free-to-start, it’s really hard to complain about the investment.
  6. Cubed3
    Mar 26, 2018
    60
    Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp has a lot going for it and does a lot right. It has some elements that looks really promising and can take the whole franchise in exciting new directions in the future. However, a lot of the soul of the franchise has been removed by becoming too punctual and predictable. The player knows exactly everything that is going to happen at exactly every time of the day.
  7. CD-Action
    Feb 8, 2018
    55
    Pocket Camp is worse than main renditions of Animal Crossing in every aspect. Nintendo took a great franchise and taught it nasty mobile habits. [01/2018, p.51]
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  8. Nintendo Force Magazine
    Jan 7, 2018
    55
    Is it something I can see myself playing for a long time? In all honesty, no. [Issue #31 – January/February 2018, p. 21M]
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  9. games(TM)
    Dec 31, 2017
    50
    Lacks the part, but doesn't have the soul. [Issue#195, p.75]
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  10. Edge Magazine
    Dec 10, 2017
    50
    Somewhere, Animal Crossing has mislaid its soul. [Issue#314, p.116]
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  11. Metro GameCentral
    Nov 26, 2017
    50
    The Animal Crossing formula is pared down almost to the point of inanity on smartphones, as the cynically-contrived microtransactions leave a bitter taste.
  12. Gamer.nl
    Nov 22, 2017
    50
    This is not the relaxed, goalless Animal Crossing you know, this mobile version is just about money making. Very disappointing.
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  1. Ars Technica
    Nov 23, 2017
    This isn't Animal Crossing. This is a scam. Nintendo should be ashamed for attaching such predatory practices to one of its most family-friendly properties, and nothing short of a full-scale redesign will fix the FarmVille-level rot within this shiny-looking game.
  2. Eurogamer
    Nov 28, 2017
    Animal Crossing has previously shined as a portable game, but this stripped-back mobile spin-off provides none of the same charm.
  3. Glixel
    Nov 30, 2017
    The Nintendo mobile game feels like an Animal Crossing game and an extension of the franchise, but like my hometown, it’s changed—and that’s not always for the better.
  5. Kotaku
    Dec 3, 2017
    Pocket Camp doesn’t feel like it’s about those quiet, simple moments. It’s about my time and my money, and the way the game keeps asking me to spend more of each. It’s manipulation and materialism. I’m being drawn into this just to accumulate stuff, and to optimize the ways I can earn in-game money to pay for more stuff. Maybe at it’s heart, Animal Crossing was always about that, and in this stripped down state I’m seeing it clearly for the first time. I liked pretending that it wasn’t.
  6. Polygon
    Dec 14, 2021
    Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp never gives me a clear reason to keep building my campsite or paying off loans to get a marginally bigger camper (the game’s other, slightly smaller, customizable space). The only concrete goal is inviting more villagers over after they ungratefully ask you have specific items in your campsite. Even for a series that revels in simple pleasures, this is a bit much.
  7. The Verge
    Nov 22, 2017
    Pocket Camp changes things, and ultimately shrinks the experience, but it also keeps just enough of Animal Crossing’s essence to make it work. And the shift to mobile adds something important. Animal Crossing is a game best enjoyed as a daily habit, and there’s no better place for that than on your phone.

Awards & Rankings

95
#95 Best iOS Game of 2017
2
#2 Most Discussed iOS Game of 2017
18
#18 Most Shared iOS Game of 2017

User Reviews

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User Score
6.8

Mixed or average reviews- based on 99 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 54 out of 99
  2. Mixed: 25 out of 99
  3. Negative: 20 out of 99
  1. SkittleDork7
    Nov 26, 2017
    5
    It's Animal Crossing, so it's fun. However, this is very watered down. It's fun, don't get me wrong. However, it's too simple and feelsIt's Animal Crossing, so it's fun. However, this is very watered down. It's fun, don't get me wrong. However, it's too simple and feels repetitive. I do like it, but I can see why people wouldn't. If you're a super-fan of Animal Crossing like me, I'd say check it out for a day but just go back to New Leaf or Gamecube.… Full Review »
  2. Pixelparrot
    Nov 22, 2017
    10
    This is a great mobile game!
    It's charming, addictive and just adorable.
    The customization system has improved alot! It's super easy to edit    This is a great mobile game!
    It's charming, addictive and just adorable.
    The customization system has improved alot! It's super easy to edit your camp.
    If you have played an animal crossing game before, you know that it's kind of difficult to edit your house. Here they have fixed everything.    … Full Review »
  3. Techbane
    May 31, 2018
    3
    The differences are subtle and sinister in nature, but this isn't the Animal Crossing you know and love -- it's FarmVille wearing a cuddlyThe differences are subtle and sinister in nature, but this isn't the Animal Crossing you know and love -- it's FarmVille wearing a cuddly animal friend skin to mask its avaricious intents. There's no world generation, no actual player interaction, no unique animal populations, no creative outlets for town tunes or clothing; instead there are a series of resource harvesting zones with regenerative timers to deliver things to animals (for which you have limited storage space; expandable with premium currency) to earn materials to craft furniture (and wait for that to be built, or remove the wait with premium currency) to impress other animals and get them to move in. Your one and only creative outlet is furniture arrangement. You can trade resources with friends, but only by offloading things you don't want into market stalls; you can't post or field specific resource requests. K.K. Slider makes his appearance as a limited-availability talking prop obtained for $12.50 of premium currency, with all of 3 lines of dialogue and no music to play for you. There's even the classic "pester 5 friends to access the premium zone" system (or just pay premium currency for every visit).

    Animal Crossing was never about powergaming so it's hard to look at all the wait timers and say they ruin everything on their own, but once you strip out the random generation, exploration, and creativity aspects and constantly needle players about how their lives can be improved by just paying more money (even in the incidental dialogue of the animal characters), you've corrupted what was once an enjoyable unwinding activity into something far more hypocritical and transparently capitalistic in nature.

    TL;DR: It's literally FarmVille with an Animal Crossing skin. AND NOW LOOTBOXES!    … Full Review »
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