First look at ngmoco's Touch Pets: Cats iPhone

Now you too can live out your dreams as the neighbourhood crazy cat lady thanks to ngmoco and developer Stumptown Game Machine's Touch Pets: Cats.

It's a follow up too predictable to believe, too unlikely to comprehend, and so rife with potential naughty jokes that making it through a full preview is an exercise in self-control. Yet there's more to Touch Pets: Cats than these components.

The difficult task of bringing life to virtual cats has been tackled with the same care and quality as Touch Pets: Dogs,and for the half of humanity that favours felines over canines, there's much to look forward to from this intriguing game.

The question at hand: how to handle the nuanced personality of cats in a game? Unlike dogs, whose playful personalities lend themselves easily to gaming, cats range from quirky to aloof to downright nasty. The solution is to drug your kitty with catnip. This in-game currency can be used to fuel your cat's playtime and get it moving about the house.

It's also useful for recharging furniture around your house with coins. Tapping on a piece of furniture shakes free coins that your cat can collect, which in turn can be used to purchase new toys and items.

Since Touch Pets: Cats centres around your home, catnip is your means for bypassing the recharge time for your furniture. You're awarded a small amount of catnip with each level gained, but any extra has to be purchased with real money.

While you're limited in terms of how many coins you collect, it's a superior arrangement when compared to Touch Pets: Dogs in which your dog would fall asleep if not fed. Food would appear in your dog's bowl at a set rate, otherwise it needed to be bought using cash. In Touch Pets: Cats, you're always able to play with your kitty because activities aren't tied to in-game currency.

Another area that has undergone significant modification is care-taking. While you're free to give your cat a bath or change their litter box, there's no pressure to do so. Potty breaks may have been mandatory in Touch Pets: Dogs, but they've essential been done away with as mundane tasks here.

Given the nature of cats, the missions that made Touch Pets: Dogs so hilarious have been swapped for hidden item games. Different collections of hidden objects - dog figurines, toy mice, etc. - can be amassed for bonus items and coinage. They sound nowhere near as exciting as missions, although sending cats on firefighting missions would be grossly out of context.

Socialising is also possible, although the ways in which it will differ with cats compared to dogs remains unclear. You'll be allowed to invite friends' cats over for play dates and presumably strike up friendships or romances. Considering the rather antisocial nature of some cats, it ought to be fun seeing how some pets react when put in the same living room.

Even if Touch Pets: Cats doesn't possess the same effervescent personality as its doggy predecessor, the design appears to be a solid one. Just how the game deals with the unique nature of cat behaviour will be crucial when it comes to iPhone and iPod touch later this year.