'TouchPets Dogs' Hands-On Preview
Thursday, October 1st, 2009
This week we got our hands on ngmoco's TouchPets Dogs, a title I admittedly didn't have much interest in throughout most of its development. I fully admit that I felt that I was completely outside of the demographic that virtual pet games appeal to and I think a good part of our readership likely feels the same way. However, the latest build of the game, combined with the full realization of the cool things that are going to come out of the remarkably full featured social network they have built in to the game has transformed TouchPets Dogs in to a completely different animal.
The core gameplay has remained largely unchanged since our first looks at the game earlier. The way your dog interacts with objects along with the various animations associated with each interaction seem very refined, and at times border the edge of the canine uncanny valley, if such a thing exists. The touch gestures to interact with your virtual dogs feel very natural and the way they romp around playing with the various toys and objects can be somewhat eerie at times with how much the in-game dogs act like puppies would in real life.
Since we last saw the game, one of the big additions is the resource management aspect. Your dog obviously needs to eat, and buying food requires spending puppy bucks. Puppy bucks are earned by keeping your dog happy by petting it, teaching it tricks, and fulfilling its other needs. Puppy bucks also can be used to buy new clothes for your dog along with accessories required for the various dog career paths previously discussed in the other previews.
