Tamagotchi Monster
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| Tamagotchi Monster

Last year we had Tamagotchi Angel. Now we've got Tamagotchi Monster. Which means there's a pattern forming that we really wish wasn't because Tamagotchi Angel would rank quite highly in a chart of most pointless mobile games ever. Basically, it was dire.

And, sadly, Tamagotchi Monster is pretty much identical.

The only real difference is that the screen border is black and your Tamagotchi pet spawns from a bat instead of falling from heaven. Apart from that it's the same tedious, pointless routine of feeding, cleaning up after and playing with your ungrateful, unappealing blob with eyes.

It might be becoming clear we didn't have the best of times with Tamagotchi Monster.

Of course, the Tamagotchi series isn't without its heritage. There was once a time when not having a Tamagotchi pet attached to your belt or keyring would earn you a right kicking in the school playground. The things were a global phenomenon and you might justifiably think that means a game re-using the same concept can't be that bad.

All we can say is that kids used to enjoy playing with a hoop and stick, but if you gave the same toy to a kid nowadays they'd probably hit you in the face with a Wii remote. The same applies to Tamagotchi. In its basic virtual pet form it's just outdated.

And Tamagotchi Monster is really just a basic virtual pet. Once your monster pet has spawned you're given a choice of seven interactions to choose from. A Health screen lets you check on the age of your Tamagotchi and the state of his health and mindset, Feeding Time lets you feed him either pie or candy and Flush cleans the screen of any virtual poos he might have deposited, possibly as part of some dirty protest about appearing in such a bad game.

You can also discipline your pet if he plays up, shake his hand for some reason (it does increase your 'friend points') and turn the lights out on the screen to let him sleep.

Finally there's Play Time, the option you might expect to house all sorts of mini-games that make the experience a bit more game-like. Sadly, though, it doesn't. Instead you're given one game to play which involves dropping stars either to the right or left of the screen and hopefully into your monster's mouth as he flits back and forth. Get four stars in his gob and you win friend points and move up to the next thrilling (and identical) level.

As well as friend points, there's monster power. Your Tamagotchi needs a certain amount of this in order to evolve, but if it reaches the 100 mark through neglect or cruelty, he'll fly off back to where he came from. Which isn't an entirely negative outcome but it does mean you'd need to start all over again.

Far from being an improvement on the previous Tamagotchi Angel, Monster actually seems even lighter on features and any semblance of gamelay than its predecessor. We expect a bit more from a virtual pet these days, and Tamagotchi Monster doesn't deliver it.

Tamagotchi Monster

A very basic virtual pet experience that quickly becomes tiresome and offers very few rewards for looking after your pixelated monster
Score
Kath Brice
Kath Brice
Kath gave up a job working with animals five years ago to join the world of video game journalism, which now sees her running our DS section. With so many male work colleagues, many have asked if she notices any difference.