Nurture and entertain your virtual feline friend in an engaging and customizable pet care experience
Nurture and entertain your virtual feline friend in an engaging and customizable pet care experience
Pros
- The game is very colorful, offering players a wide array of backgrounds, sound effects, clothing options, and more. Tom himself is adorable and has a lovely personality with which you will want to interact.
- A wide array of mini-games that are bound to keep you entertained. You can also play these mini-games with your real-world friends.
- The ability to talk to Tom and have him repeat what you say in a funny voice will keep your kids entertained for hours.
- Tom can look like whatever you want him too. Indeed, this customizability is a blast.
Cons
- The game is designed for kids. If you aren't a kid, you'll probably get bored, fast. Indeed, many of the game's functions - including the language it uses and its games - are all relatively simple and will offer adults no real challenge.
- The game offers in-app purchases despite the fact that it is obviously geared towards children. This means that adults will either have to monitor their kids' use of the game or have a long talk with them ahead of time to ensure that they don't make any purchases.
- The game's subscription service is the only way to access some of the game's content. Good luck telling your children that they can't have it. However, it does offer some very useful features for the purposes of using the game, so it's understandable that they will want this feature.
- While it's great that you can play mini-games against your friends, you can't actually play all of the games - just two. This leaves you feeling like you aren't getting the most out of the game.
My Talking Tom is a virtual pet app designed by developer Outfit7, which has developed an array of these types of apps.
Tom is a cat who, like any virtual pet, requires constant attention and care. This means that you have to feed him, make sure he has enough water, regularly take him to the bathroom, make sure he has enough rest and manage his mood. This isn't an exhaustive list, but it gives you a pretty good idea of what this game asks of you.
Of course, like any virtual pet app these days, the game offers much more. It has a slew of mini-games, including adventure, puzzle, action, and sports games. You can actually play some of these games with your friends who are also on the app, a relatively rare feature when compared to other virtual pet games. Unfortunately, those games are limited.
You can change Tom's clothing and take him on a wide amount of in-game adventures. You can also make him dress like a variety of professions, including policemen, superheroes, and more.
One of the cooler features of this game is that you can talk to Tom, and he will repeat everything you say in a silly, goofy voice. This is a great feature for kids.
The game is free to download but does offer in-app purchases. There is also a subscription service, and that service is the only way to access some content.
Pros
- The game is very colorful, offering players a wide array of backgrounds, sound effects, clothing options, and more. Tom himself is adorable and has a lovely personality with which you will want to interact.
- A wide array of mini-games that are bound to keep you entertained. You can also play these mini-games with your real-world friends.
- The ability to talk to Tom and have him repeat what you say in a funny voice will keep your kids entertained for hours.
- Tom can look like whatever you want him too. Indeed, this customizability is a blast.
Cons
- The game is designed for kids. If you aren't a kid, you'll probably get bored, fast. Indeed, many of the game's functions - including the language it uses and its games - are all relatively simple and will offer adults no real challenge.
- The game offers in-app purchases despite the fact that it is obviously geared towards children. This means that adults will either have to monitor their kids' use of the game or have a long talk with them ahead of time to ensure that they don't make any purchases.
- The game's subscription service is the only way to access some of the game's content. Good luck telling your children that they can't have it. However, it does offer some very useful features for the purposes of using the game, so it's understandable that they will want this feature.
- While it's great that you can play mini-games against your friends, you can't actually play all of the games - just two. This leaves you feeling like you aren't getting the most out of the game.
Pros
- Good clean fun for younger gamers
- Educational and amusing in one!
- Plenty of different animal characters to get to know
Cons
- Can be a little bit boring for older gamers
- The tasks become repetitive and boring over time
My Talking Tom is an interactive game from Outfit7 that is aimed at younger children. The player can pet, feed and walk Tom, but the selling point of the game is the ability to talk to Tom. The cat repeats whatever you say in a silly voice, a concept that enthrals, entertains and charms younger players!
In the game, players can raise Tom from a kitten to a full grown cat, teaching him to use the bathroom, feeding him and stroking him. Players can also customise their Talking Tom, changing the colour of his fur and clothes, accessorising him and customising his home.
So popular is My Talking Tom that it has grown from an app to a game in its own right, and even to a television series in which Tom is voiced by actor Colin Hanks (son of mega-star Tom Hanks). Tom has been given a range of friends, from Angela, the stylish cat, to Ben, the typical-annoying-best-friend dog, each of which have their own personality, preferences and atmosphere. There is branded Talking Tom merchandise available to purchase and fans have even made their own Talking Tom clips of music videos and short skits.
The game has no real back story and there are no quests or missions: the whole premise is centred on the player's relationship and rapport with their Talking Tom. The tasks that need to be performed can become monotonous after a while, but young players, who are still learning, often thrive on the stability of routine and repetition.
NB: In later versions of the game, the chat feature was upgraded to take into account the older users for whom Talking Tom and Talking Angela had great appeal. One mother was alarmed by the seemingly suggestive and uncomfortably knowing conversation that her child was having with the game and posted an alert on social media, wondering if the game had somehow been hacked by paedophiles: this was patently not the case. Setting the game to child safety levels disables the conversational features, leaving the interactive pet to simply repeat whatever is said to it, usually in an amusing tone of voice, while older uses can indulge in some friendly banter by unlocking this feature.
Pros
- Good clean fun for younger gamers
- Educational and amusing in one!
- Plenty of different animal characters to get to know
Cons
- Can be a little bit boring for older gamers
- The tasks become repetitive and boring over time
