By William Bernard
Inspired by Nintendo’s take on pet simulation games on the DS as well as the plethora of copy-cat pet games that spawned after it, Pet Tales by Rivet Games is the first semi-realistic pet simulator on Facebook. While there have been other games out there that allow players to interact with virtual pets, none have the same realistic look that Pet Tales has. Realistic or no, we all know that when it comes to social games, game play is king, not graphics. So how does Pet Tales fair?
Pet Tales isn’t entirely based around playing and taking care of your pet – there is also a light garden management game attached to it. In that sense, the game feels a lot more like Viva Piñata mixed with Nintendogs / cats. The game gives you a park which you must clean up and decorate in order to attract cute fluffy pets to it. You are given one pet, either a cat or a dog, and then begin the park restoration process in full. Tasks include purchasing decorations, pulling weeds, and essentially crafting an aesthetically pleasing and functional park for your pets.
As you continue to play, random animals will appear in your park, depending on how attractive your park is to them. Eventually you might have several breeds of cats and dogs wandering around, and even your friend’s pets might make an appearance. As you gain levels by playing, you unlock more and more items which you can build, which subsequently unlocks more and more pets for you to attract. You can also purchase premium items for your park as well as unlocking particular pet breeds through the games real money transaction system. Most items are fairly priced, so if you are willing to spend you can get quite a bit extra from the game.
Your pet will interact with the park surrounding on its own, as well as the other pets that wander into your park. You can also make your pet directly interact with items or other animals by simply clicking on them. Doing so helps build your pet’s confidence level up, which when high enough will allow you to take your pet on play dates with other pets, visit your friend’s parks, and overall help you level up.
The game does suffer from a common flaw in most sim building / management games on Facebook, and that is that there is a glass ceiling you reach if you don’t start asking your friends for help. Certain structures can only be built with the help of friends, so if you’re more of a solo player, you’ll only be able to go so far.
The most attractive feature of the game however is interacting directly with your pet. This brings you to a zoomed in close-up of your pet, where you are given the option to feed them, give them water, or simply play with them. This is where the game shines, as the technology used to showcase your pet is fantastic. Your pet reacts to you in real time, with dogs barking happily, wagging their tales, or cats purring as you pet them and play with them. The animation is clean and realistic, even down to the fur, and the animals have a lot of personality. While it can feel a little limited as compared to other pet games (which allow you to teach your pet to perform tricks as well as having more robust animations) Rivet Games should be commended for being able to bring such incredible graphic fidelity to a platform such as Facebook.
Overall Pet Tales doesn’t change the formula all too much in the pet caring genre of games. But if you are looking for a more realistic pet simulation than what is currently available, Pet Tales is right up your alley. It differentiates itself through its superior graphics, and while I previously said that graphics aren’t everything, they do make a difference here. It’s much more fulfilling to be able to take care of a pet that looks and acts real, rather than some animated cut-out. Pet Tales is a good step forward for the genre and we hope to see more games take queues from it moving forward.
Click here to play Pet Tales.
[Download the file here Tukko Rating | Pet Tales]
[Tukkolabs]
Tukko Rating | Pet Tales
By William Bernard
Inspired by Nintendo’s take on pet simulation games on the DS as well as the plethora of copy-cat pet games that spawned after it, Pet Tales by Rivet Games is the first semi-realistic pet simulator on Facebook. While there have been other games out there that allow players to interact with virtual pets, none have the same realistic look that Pet Tales has. Realistic or no, we all know that when it comes to social games, game play is king, not graphics. So how does Pet Tales fair?
As you continue to play, random animals will appear in your park, depending on how attractive your park is to them. Eventually you might have several breeds of cats and dogs wandering around, and even your friend’s pets might make an appearance. As you gain levels by playing, you unlock more and more items which you can build, which subsequently unlocks more and more pets for you to attract. You can also purchase premium items for your park as well as unlocking particular pet breeds through the games real money transaction system. Most items are fairly priced, so if you are willing to spend you can get quite a bit extra from the game.
Your pet will interact with the park surrounding on its own, as well as the other pets that wander into your park. You can also make your pet directly interact with items or other animals by simply clicking on them. Doing so helps build your pet’s confidence level up, which when high enough will allow you to take your pet on play dates with other pets, visit your friend’s parks, and overall help you level up.
The most attractive feature of the game however is interacting directly with your pet. This brings you to a zoomed in close-up of your pet, where you are given the option to feed them, give them water, or simply play with them. This is where the game shines, as the technology used to showcase your pet is fantastic. Your pet reacts to you in real time, with dogs barking happily, wagging their tales, or cats purring as you pet them and play with them. The animation is clean and realistic, even down to the fur, and the animals have a lot of personality. While it can feel a little limited as compared to other pet games (which allow you to teach your pet to perform tricks as well as having more robust animations) Rivet Games should be commended for being able to bring such incredible graphic fidelity to a platform such as Facebook.
Overall Pet Tales doesn’t change the formula all too much in the pet caring genre of games. But if you are looking for a more realistic pet simulation than what is currently available, Pet Tales is right up your alley. It differentiates itself through its superior graphics, and while I previously said that graphics aren’t everything, they do make a difference here. It’s much more fulfilling to be able to take care of a pet that looks and acts real, rather than some animated cut-out. Pet Tales is a good step forward for the genre and we hope to see more games take queues from it moving forward.
Click here to play Pet Tales.
[Download the file here Tukko Rating | Pet Tales]
[Tukkolabs]