Whereas Ubisoft’s Petz franchise has
previously been most associated with other virtual pet-style games, the series
of pet games have been branching out quite a bit lately, focusing more and more
on gameplay as well as customization. Petz: Sports for the Nintendo Wii
represents the latest title to show this shift in focus. The game allows you to
not only customize your dog, giving them new toys and outfits, but also race
them against other dogs through a variety of obstacle course-style races.
Petz: Sports offers an original take
to the virtual pet genre and presents a new direction for the franchise. Whereas
previous games would let you teach tricks to your animals and customize their
appearance by giving them toys and apparel, this one adds a new competitive
element to the mix allowing you to race your dogs through 36 different racing
courses, competing for trophies against other dogs.
While the game gives you some
variety in courses, the racing is a pretty simplistic affair requiring you to
shake your Wii remote around in order to make your dog run faster and pressing
certain buttons at the right time in order to get them to jump over hurdles or
sandpits. You’ll be able to zigzag around cones and run circles by waving your
Wii remote from side to side as well. Essentially, the racing all feels mostly
the same, and since you’re basically running in a straight line, they’ll begin
to feel repetitive before too long.
Aside from racing your dogs (or “dogz,”
rather), you’ll also be able to play with them through a variety of mini-games.
You can play ball, jump rope, or dance with your dog in rhythm-based mini-games.
These events also factor into the same Cup divisions as the racing events, with
the races and mini-games divided into a Street Cup, City Cup, National Cup, and
a World Cup.
As far as customization goes, it’s
still as big a part of Petz: Sports as it is in other iterations of the
franchise. You’re able to unlock new apparel items like goofy hats and glasses,
as well as teach your dog new tricks using the Wii remote. As you play through
the game, you’ll also be able to earn Adoption Coins that will allow you to
adopt more dogs to customize and race.
Petz: Sports is a fairly varied take
on the virtual pet genre, giving you plenty to do outside of maintaining your
pet. The mini-games are fun and get more challenging as you go, but the racing
element feels a little lackluster. Since you only run in a straight line and
rigorously shake the Wii remote to get your dog to run through the event, it can
become tedious and fairly repetitive before too long.
Graphically, Petz: Sports is a
pretty good looking game. The dogs have quite a bit of personality to each of
them, which will go a long way with the younger set to which this game is
geared. The environments are bright and colorful and stand out pretty well
against other Wii games.
The sound is also done pretty well.
The sound effects are pretty average fare, consisting of barks, yelps and so on,
while the music is very light-hearted and works well within the game’s
atmosphere.
While the racing element feels a bit
overly simplistic, there is still a lot here that fans of the franchise will be
able to get into.
|
|
Gameplay: 7.5
The game features some very robust customization features and tons of
mini-games, with plenty to do for fans of virtual pet-style games. However, the
racing portions are a bit too simplistic and repetitious.
Graphics: 8.0
The dog models look pretty good, and the environments are bright and
colorful.
Sound: 8.0
Not a whole lot in the way of sound effects aside from the customary barks
and yelps, but the music is cheery and works well with the game’s theme.
Difficulty: Medium
Concept: 7.5
Petz: Sports is a nice start for adding some new gameplay elements to the
series, but certain elements (like the racing portions) could have been executed
better.
Multiplayer: 7.0
You can team up with three of your friends to play the racing portions of
the game on the same system.
Overall: 7.5
Petz: Sports is a solid entry to the Petz franchise, and one that is pretty
fun in sessions with friends. While the racing portions could be fleshed out
more, there is a lot here for younger audiences to have fun with.
