I don't know if you care or not, but I have always liked these 101 Pets games (and pet sims in general) and have all of them on my 3DS so I decided to let Pokemon X rest a bit to play this new one.... And it's basically the best one so far! It really feels like an upgrade to Dino Pets (the previous 3DS entry) so I thought I could share my totally biased and fantastical impressions with you guys once more.
The game is very similar in looks and structure to Dino Pets (because they're obviously made with the same engine), however everything about this entry feels more polished... Graphics rely much less is bloom (thank god for that), music is generally much nicer (there's still a few completely out of place jazz fanfares reused from the previous game though) and gameplay is far more interesting.
In the previous games to take care of the pet you had to play minigames to earn money and buy food items and stuff... Taking care of your pet consisted mostly in selecting options and waiting for the action to be done, with very few activities being really interactive.
This time around they changed that completely, you will still have to navigate menus and select options to start a task, but now everything was transformed into a minigame. Feeding, sleeping even (gasp) going to the bathroom are minigames now... And they work pretty well!
Petting and bathing your pet is still the same stylus rubbing affair as in the previous games, but the new interactions are pretty nifty.
To feed the penguin you play a 2D, less savage version of Fruit Ninja, to make it sleep you need to rock your system slowly from side to side until the sleep bar fills, using the bathroom.... Well your penguin does that alone, but you must cut pieces of toilet paper for him while you wait, he will want specific amounts of paper squares. Even the vet "virus buster" minigame got an upgrade by limiting your ammo, making the game more interesting.
The contests from the previous games have been replaced with dance show offs that also work several times better: instead of scribbling on the screen and hoping your pet does the right trick you play a game of simon with dance moves by tapping buttons on the screen. The penguin starts with four dance moves and you unlock more the same way as the tricks in the other games, by drawing their symbols in the screen over and over until the penguin learns them.
The shop from the previous game is still there even though you can't win money freely from minigames, to get money you must gain experience by soing stuff and level up the penguin. In the shop you can buy clothes, decor and the usual stuff... But you can also get upgrades for the care and non-care minigames.
I still have to play all the minigames, but they seem nice so far. You start with a skiing minigame where you must turn around tiles to make a path. Next come a picture puzzle game and a pairs game (where the cards start to move if you take to long). There are other 3 spots for more minigames.
Ok well that's all I have so far. I'm really happy with this game, it really feels like the series is evolving with each game... Oh and no, there's no 101 penguins to choose from, just 3 penguins with a few customizable variations. Guess the nave just got stuck and is too late to rename the series.
Edit: two things I forgot to mention:
The 3D is better implemented and less laggy and the game itself is much lighter in size than the previous game.
Edit 2: oh, and the pet itself seems to be smarter and is more interesting to watch this time: instead of walking aimlessly through the place like in previous games, the penguin will interact with the stuff around it.
Edit 3: oh wow, the toilet paper minigame is variable, this time it asked me to roll out 14000 millimeters of paper in less than 30 seconds. Lol that's nice.
It's pretty nice to see the series evolving. The first two were almost direct ports of a series of PC games.
From what I see in images, every 101 Pets game for PC was almost an exact copy of the previous game with a different animal plastered in.
Starting with the 3D series, the games have been gaining more personality of their own and are separating from their original counterparts more and more.
I unlocked the next minigame! It's an infinite bobsled race where you must reach certain distances/collect an amount of gifts/evade other penguins, depending on the current level. It works pretty well. Even if it's a little on the slow side.
Also, one of my current "missions" (evade 100 combined penguins in any level of the bobsled race) has a reward that looks suspiciously like a part of a Batman costume, that alone gives the game extra points for me
I like the skiing game, it's a weird choice for the "first minigame" because it's quite complex but I find it fun.
Oh and I finally unlocked the next minigame, it's a hidden object game. It works pretty well though it,s a bit on the easy side.
This game really has a little bit of everything
Edit: oh hah, I thought the gramophone was just decoration, but it turns out that the penguin can interact with it to change the background music.
Edit: aaaand the final minigame!
It's a game of rotating a 3D object to fill a shadow in the background, the first six levels were pretty easy but the concept itself is quite refreshing.
This is basically the best collection of minigames in the series.
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Topic: 101 Penguin Pets 3D
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