Video Games: Wild kingdom
Written by Michael Siebenaler | | news@toledofreepress.comA solid set of all ages animal-themed games let you take your portable pals with you on the Nintendo DS where you make your own personal zoo or experiment with wildlife or domestic/international farms.
First, Discovery Kids has released a set of one player games, Puppy Playtime and Dolphin Discovery, which feature Spanish and French languages as well as English (Kitten Corner, Parrot Pals and Pony Paradise are also available).
Dolphin Discovery
Puppy Playtime has over 30 missions for those cute little pups. Breeds include Dalmatian, which can train for fire department work, German shepherd (police) and Labrador (lifeguard). This game has a basic story mode and free play mode, which incorporate some challenging touch pen exercises, as the dogs age through their training. The autosave feature saves your progress as you develop your pups from two months to one year old. The training mechanics work well, but the backgrounds could’ve been sharper and smoother see you can see objects better improving your coordination and skills easier (**1/2, rated E).
Dolphin Discovery features several minigames in a small island setting where you perform tricks with your finned friends including timed jumps, hoop catches and races. Again the touch capabilities are done well and include a bubble ring game where you blow into the microphone. This game focuses on item collection, customization (music, changing colors, etc.) and exploration (planting seeds, taking pictures, etc.). It’s easy to control dolphin through tasks and courses (***, rated E)
Littlest Pet Shop Spring (Electronic Arts)
Littlest Pet Shop Spring
This popular series continues with the fourth installment, based on the toys and animated television show, with 20 pets plus 6 new pets including a fox, bunny, kitty and porcupine. Players can share several items, a wide range of difficulty levels and can have up to three profiles as well as wireless multiplayer options where you can play all the minigames and enjoy the Party Hall that features a customized set of six minigames. The minigames are the main way to earn funds (a.k.a. Kibble) to purchase an amazing variety of items that lead to some fun interactions, pet appearances and other side activities. This pet and related item collection based game features endless accessories and play sets. You can even get a special Littlest Pet Shop character stylus (***, rated E).
My Farm Around the World (THQ)
In this surprisingly affordable and involving title, you can buy or sell animals at the farmer’s market (even when they’re asleep) or grow own farm in America, Africa, Asia or Australia. The helpful icons above the animals could’ve been clearer and the format seems too simplistic at first, but the gameplay really takes hold as you begin your task management and customizations. Daisy the farm girl provides guidance as your learn how to best manage your animals. For example, ducks and turkeys are great for fatting up then selling back while production animals like hens and sheep are best kept on the farm. The task management basically involves a numbers game where you expand when collecting more than two or three of one animal type then developing them to reach certain goals (e.g. getting a tractor when achieving three happy cows).
The appealing animal variety and realistic interactions (you have to clean their messes) create a fun, wide open atmosphere featuring a cache of more eclectic animals that include hippos, tigers, zebras, kangaroos and monkeys. You can also name the animals and customize their appearance. The lacking music (usually heard in the morning with rooster or other prompting sound) diminishes the appeal a bit and developers make a noticeable snafu by including character dialogue mentioning that “the game is boring” to prompt you to use the time speed option. The wireless multi-card play boosts the replay value letting you send customized animals or even suggest trades (***, rated E).
