Critter Camp is a Windows Phone 8 game that is a collection of four mini-games that are surprisingly challenging. Critter Camp's first impression makes you think the game is more suited for your Windows Phone's Kid's Corner.
But after playing each of the mini-games, Critter Camp can be a challenging game for the older crowd as well. There's a few bugs that still need to be ironed out but Critter Camp has the potential of being an appealing game for all ages.
When you first launch Critter Camp you'll need to register with a screen name and password. From there you're logged into Critter Camp's servers and sent to the main menu.
Here you have options to play the game, view the leaderboards, access the game's option and view the about and news screens. Options include sound/music on or off.
The for games are as follows.
Jetpack Jamboree: Pigs of various colors are jet packing on to the screen and your job is to tap/drag them to the corresponding colored landing pad. If the pigs reach the bottom of the screen, the game's over. It sounds simple but the longer you are successful, the quicker the pace gets. It's inevitable to become over run with pigs and only the quickest fingers will survive.
Fishing Frenzy: This is more of a slower paced game but then again, fishing should be more of a relaxing activity. With Fishing Frenzy you are tasked with catching as many fish as possible over three rounds. Just tap the screen in the direction you want to cast your line and as you reel the lure in, any fish that comes in contact is hooked.
Twilight Tango: This is a memory game where you are presented with a series of "arrow" constellations. You have a brief time to memorize the arrows and then repeat the arrow's directions by swiping at the screen. If you get any of the sequence wrong or miss a swipe before the timer hits zero, you lose one of your nine pigs (lives) for each miss. Lose all your pigs and the game's over. Twilight Tango can be very humbling to the point of almost being impossible to succeed at. It felt as if the timer was hooked on Red Bull and zipped along way too fast.
Color Clash: Color Clash appears to be a color matching game where you throw colored paint balloons to the matching colored target. I say appear because the game went directly to the "Time's Up" screen. It's a new minigame so we're suspecting a bug snuck into things.
Each of the four games can be played in single player mode or up to four, real-time players. When you choose multiplayer, Critter Camp will search for other players who are online. I can't comment on the success of the multiple player mode because I could never find any players to compete against. This could be a glitch, bad timing on my part or just due to the game being new and not many know of it.
While there are plenty of glitches Critter Camp has potential. Iron out these issues and I can see Critter Camp having some appeal. As is, Critter Camp is worth a try and hopefully the remaining kinks can be ironed out with the next update.
Critter Camp is a free, ad-supported game for your Windows Phone 8 device. You can find Critter Camp here in the Windows Phone Store.
