Littlest Pet Shop (DS) Review
The following review is for all three versions of the games which are Garden, Winter and Jungle. The difference between the titles are explained in the review.
One of the most difficult things in life can be putting yourself in someone elses shoes and trying to think like they would. Some people have a good time at doing it, but for others it can be an extremely difficult thing to do. For my review of Littlest Pet Shop for the Nintendo DS, I had to do my best to approach it from the perspective of a young girl, which is quite obviously the games target audience. To be honest, it’s definitely one of those games that would make a great present for any young girl, but even so, the young adult male in me could also find something to enjoy to some degree.
Littlest Pet Shop is the result of a deal struck between EA and Hasbro to turn their intellectual properties into playable, interactive videogames. In Littlest Pet Shop, players can choose to adopt up to 20 different pets and nurture them to help keep them happy with their environment and their treatment. To mix things up a bit, EA have released three different versions of Littlest Pet Shop for the Nintendo DS. The first, Garden, sees players adopting pets that you’d expect to find in any regular house. The Jungle version allows players to adopt exotic animals like monkeys and frogs, and finally the Winter edition allows you to adopt cold-climate animals like polar bears and penguins. Naturally, the Winter version is the most awesome (opinion not included, of course) and the whole setup is very reminiscent of Nintendogs. There are a large amount of choices available to players and it truly helps players feel like they’ve made and customised their Littlest Pet Shop to their liking.
The game incorporates full 3D graphics, as well as some very nice looking pre-rendered cinematics which are surprisingly rendered really well. The in-game graphics look just as good too, and this was something that I personally found quite surprising for a game that, on first appearances, looked as if little effort had gone into it. However, Littlest Pet Shop has some amazing graphics for the system, with the animals themselves looking incredibly sharp and smooth. This really makes the game a lot more enjoyable to play due to higher clarity, as well as the realistic animations that the animals undergo when moving from location to location.
The gameplay in Littlest Pet Shop can be likened to a simplified version of The Sims or even Nintendogs. The game starts by giving you three pets, and putting you on a train to the newest location of the Littlest Pet Shop. Players are then taken through a tutorial explaining the game and what can be done. Basically, the game revolves around completing mini-games which involve playing with the pets to improve their mood. Players can also use their earned “kibble” to purchase accessories to glitz out their pets and even further improve their mood. If their mood is increased, they are happier, and if they are happier, more pets want to be around them. Once that happens, the player must purchase a train ticket for the new pet to arrive.
It’s a very mundane process, but the simplicity will no doubt make it an attractive purchase to newcomers of video games or at least a younger audience. There’s also an arcade mode which allows players to play the mini-games as they are unlocked without having to enter their pet shop. These mini-games can also be played with wireless multiplayer, which is a nice touch.
The game has a fairly decent soundtrack, with some music being lifted straight from the cartoon series that it is based on. Fortunately, the music is fairly unobtrusive and really doesn’t detract from the game at all. The sound design is pretty well done, with all the pets sounding cute AND like their real-life counterparts too.
Naturally, the game is as long as you make it out to be. Players can spend hours playing the game, ensuring their pets are happy and bringing even more pets into their garden to create the ultimate Littlest Pet Shop. Unfortunately, though, the gameplay isn’t really varied enough to hold anyone above the age of 10’s interest, and although, as previously mentioned, that may be a bad thing for us, it’s perfect to keep youngsters entertained during those long road trips or perhaps even when parents might want a bit of time out.
Littlest Pet Shop was a very hard game to play and look at through someone else’s perspective. On one hand, it’s a boring and mundane watered down version of The Sims. On the other hand, it’s intended audience will no doubt find it entertaining enough to keep themselves occupied for hours. This game comes as a recommendation to absolute fans of the cartoon series, with only a “maybe” for those interested in picking up a pet simulator for their children. There’s just too many more in-depth and deeper simulations available (Nintendogs being one), but if it’s simplicity you’re after, Littlest Pet Shop will not disappoint.
