Cats & Dogs: Pets At Play

We've already shown just how bad the cover of a game can look, but take a moment to browse through the gallery on the right.

Did you see that artwork? It looks like a bargain bin greeting card from Happy Shopper circa 1992. It's almost offensively poor.

It's also absolutely no reflection on the quality of Cats & Dogs: Pets At Play's content, which is a totally competent, if uninspired, pet life sim.

You know the drill: pick a breed, care for it, enter competitions, win money, and buy ridiculous accessories.

Having given your dog or cat a name - I called mine Will Smith - there are a number of activities you can engage in to keep your cherished little num num num happy. Ensuring it's hydrated is a simple menu choice, whereas feeding it requires you to draw a circle on the screen and mimic shaking the food into a can.

You have to keep your pet clean and healthy by brushing and washing it, again through simple gestures on the touchscreen. Purchasing better quality consumables and items keeps the meters displaying cleanliness, hunger, and hydration levels high for longer periods of time.

Next it's time to take your pet for a stroll. Herding cats is - contrary to the popular saying - a very easy task involving a laser pointer directed at where you'd like them to go. But keeping your dog under control is a nightmarish feat executed by jerking a floating leash.

Avoiding piles of leaves - that are bad for some reason - while out with your pup is a near impossible task, but it's worth the effort with either species to pick up the money and gifts strewn about the colourful streets. Here you'll earn money to buy better supplies, or you might just happen upon them on your constitutional.

Competitions have you throwing discs and navigating obstacle courses, again all through very basic inputs. Only the very top level tournaments posing any sort of difficulty, but the trick-learning sections are much tougher, forcing you to memorise the exact swipes needed for a long list of commands.

But getting to all these activities takes too long, with load screens between almost every action you perform. Often it feels like you're keeping your pet satisfied more than you're actively playing with it.

Though the animals move convincingly, their models aren't very realistic. Worse than that, some accessories you've spent hard earned money on don't fit your pet properly.

It's not as fully featured as Nintendogs + Cats, and it's not as thoughtfully produced. However, if you've exhausted Nintendo's first-party release and want a change of scenery, Cats & Dogs: Pets At Play is a decent alternative ideal for younger players.