Game Review: Purr Pals

By Jinny Gudmundsen

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What Parents Should Know
Parents need to know that if kids neglect these virtual cats, they won't die. The game encourages kids to take good care of their virtual cats over time so that they can win cat shows and thus more virtual dollars to spend on their pets or their virtual home. To win a show, the player has to turn on the DS at least twice a day and care for the virtual pet. Depending on what kind of cat show you sign up for, the game tracks the player's ability to care for a virtual pet over a 1-, 2-, 3-, or 5-day period to determine if you win the show.

Families can talk about whether taking care of this virtual kitty is fun or an obligation. Do you like getting a new virtual kitty or do you feel attached to the first one you bought? Does playing this game make you want to own a cat? Did you notice the Purina advertising within the game?

, the 2005 breakout hit for the Nintendo DS, ushered in a new genre of pet simulation games. PURR PALS is Crave Entertainment's cat version of Nintendogs, but it's a copycat that falls short.

You select a kitten from the 40 different breeds, and then customize it by choosing its markings, eye color, and whiskers. You can also decide if your kitty is female or male, and name it.

Your cat lives in your DS in a three-room abode with a garden where you care for it by petting, playing, feeding, and grooming it.

The game is based on an allowance system. While you start with enough cash to buy your kitten, you will quickly run out of money by buying food and other items for your cat. To counter this money problem, the program gives you a daily allowance, based on how attentive you are to your cat's needs. You can also add to your income by entering and winning cat shows, and by playing the four mini-games provided within the game. Extra income permits you to buy additional cats and to trick out your home and pets.

You interact with your cat by selecting from a menu of icons. Tap the hearts icon, and you can pet your cat by simply rubbing your stylus over its body. Similarly, when choosing to groom your cat, the stylus becomes a brush that stirs up fleas as you stroke it over your kitten. You will also use your stylus to scratch out clumps in the kitty litter box or wind up toys.

Playing the four games can earn you extra money. Our testers' favorite was the Music Game. It combines Dance Dance Revolution mechanics with Elite Beat Agents gameplay to produce a game where the object is to tap on colored circles as music notes cross over them on the way down the screen. The other games are arcade and memory games.

Entering a kitten in cat shows can also win you money, but there is nothing to them. The game simply tracks how well you have taken care of your kitty over a multiple day period. If you are attentive, you win the show and some prize money.

While these kittens are cute, their antics were not enough to sustain the interest of our testers over time. The caring-for routine quickly changed from fun to obligation. Also, the game is buggy, with camera angles that stick your kitten's head into a wall, and screens that freeze up, requiring you to reboot the game.

If you are thinking of getting a cat, this simulation may actually work to dissuade you. Cats are much more entertaining in real life. And the price of this game is a bit high, so you might want to rent instead of buy.

For a better pet sim, check out Nintendogs .