Petz

Where now for the virtual pet genre? Doggy games have been near enough every mobile game publisher's best friend in the last year, and while new efforts like Disney Dogs are still coming out, we can't help thinking the genre needs to move on.

How? To other animals, of course.

Gameloft has been quick to diversify with Petz, which starts you off with a gateway pet – a puppy – before leading you on to the harder stuff, such as hamsters, rabbits, cats, turtles and parrots. The twist is that rather than choose a single pet to care for, as you progress through the game you accumulate one of each, resulting in a menagerie of animals to manage at once.

One thing's clear: Gameloft has put a great deal of thought into the structure of this potentially-confusing game. For instance, new pets are introduced at regular intervals rather than all at once, gradually ramping up the complexity of having a house full of animals.

Petz is about more than the usual groom/feed/wash virtual pet mould, too, although those things are included, as is the ability to buy toys for your furry friends to play with. The game takes place in a 2D house, with each pet having free reign to roam, as well as their own private space where they bed down for the night.

You control a disembodied hand, able to pick up and move the pets, as well as stroking them and calling them to you. And for those that are wondering, yes, they do also poo on the floor, requiring you to hover overhead and press the '5' button to clean up the mess.

As you play, you unlock new parts of the house. First up is the garden, where you can pick vegetables and feed them to the pets to build up their skills. Although, you only get one carrot, one lettuce and one tomato per game day, with each veggie increasing a particular skills.

What skills? Well, each pet is rated at swimming, obstacles and climbing, with these abilities being used in the game's competitions to win you money. We'll get to those in a bit.

The pets don't all get on, as you might expect. For example, when we pitched a cat into our harmonious household, it immediately got chased by our dog. This is where you have to step in, grab the aggressor by the scruff of the neck, and chuck them in the bedroom to cool off.

By the time you've got four or five animals, keeping a lid on fights while also feeding, watering and stroking your pets is quite a task – with status bars for each animal showing how good a job you're doing.

Cleverly, to stop things feeling overwhelming there's a notebook which you can consult every day, to see what tasks you've yet to accomplish.

Meanwhile, much of the game feels like an extended tutorial, with clear 'do this next' prompts and arrows. Experienced gamers might find this a bit irritating, but we felt it helped get to grips with the chaos. You're also drip-fed rosette awards for doing things well, which is a neat design element that makes you feel that you're on the right track.

Although pets act differently with neat animations, they're also treated as similar beings, which can lead to surreal sights (for instance, a hamster leaping over garden sprinklers, or a rabbit swimming happily across your pond).

Other major game elements are the shop and stadium. The shop enables you to buy new animals (you'll be sent a virtual letter when a new one's available), as well as their habitats, food rations and toys. In part, this is paid for by your daily allowance, which varies depending on how many pets you own. However, to buy the cool stuff, you'll need to head to the stadium.

This heralds a triathlon-style relay that sees three of your pets competing in individual swimming, obstacle and climbing events. They're all simple one-thumb mini-games, and good fun if you can suspend your disbelief long enough to watch a rabbit leaping over gym equipment and trampolines.

Relationships come into play here, too – if you put your cat and dog in consecutive events, you'll lose time as they growl at each other, for example.

We've covered the basics of Petz, but the fun is in the game's longer term depth as you build up your pets' skills and sweep all before you in the stadium. Not to mention unlocking the full range of animals and toys, from frisbees and balls through to remote-controlled cars that your hamster can drive around the house (another surreal sight).

The mobile market might be stuffed with virtual pet games, but Petz is a thoroughly enjoyable and worthy addition that'll delight animal lovers, although the hand-holding elements might make it more suitable for younger mobile gamers.