My OperaN+ Review: My Little Flufties
By seaempty. Sunday, September 30, 2007 1:59:55 PM
My Little Flufties on the DS is being sold as a “life simulation” game aimed at 3 to 8 year old children. The DS has seen that there is a definite market for such games, with Nintendogs being a prime example, and the benchmark that all such games should be measured against. Flufties has taken a more simplistic approach, and is more a modified Tamagotchi, than a fully-fledged game. N+ were given a chance to raise their own little Flufties. Read on to see how we got on.
Flufties are little creatures who live in a nice wooded environment, complete with food and water supplies, washing facilities, and entertainment. There are 5 Flufties you can choose at the start of the game, and it is your responsibility to raise one of these creatures, and keep it healthy and happy. It’s a simple process: a chart tells you the needs of your Flufty, and when they are low in one area, it’s up to you to satisfy that need. If it’s hungry, feed it. If it needs a bath, direct it to the nearest shower. If it’s bored, play a game with it. Each Flufty is different in appearance, but have the same, generic personality. I went for the rat that looks like a cat, and named him “Ratcat”.The beast is born, and takes a while to get used to its surroundings. Once it wakes up, it’ll be understandably hungry/thirsty/icky, and your first task is to get it some food, water, and a bath. To make your Flufty move, you have to use the stylus, and touch the area that you want it to go to. You may be mistaken for thinking that you have done something wrong when you first attempt this, as your Flufty doesn’t move. Don’t worry, it is moving. Just very, very slowly. It really is painful, and it’s as if there’s a generous layer of treacle on the ground, and your Flufty is struggling to walkthrough it. The actual area that you can explore is quite large, but you might as well make yourself nice and comfortable whilst playing Flufties, as it’ll take you a long time to get anywhere. Your Flufty does grow up, and thankfully gets faster as a result, but for a game that’s supposed to be relaxing, it’s an infuriating aspect to the game. As your Flufty gets older, it does get more mobile and walks around faster, but until then you’re stuck with one of the slowest animals known to man.
Once your Flufty has reached its destination, you will be signalled that it interact with the object. If it’s near a slide, for example, a ball icon will appear on the bottom of the screen. Selecting the icon with the stylus starts a nice little animation of the Flufty playing on the slide, and making cute little noises. The same thing happens if you are near food, water, the toilet, or the shower. That’s the basis of the game: you shepherd your Flufty around the area, keeping an eye on its needs meter to make sure it’s kept happy. The area is so bland and dull that it’s not much fun spending time with you Flufty. There are no new areas to explore, the environment is all the same and never changes, and there’s not a great deal to interact with. As the game progresses other Flufties will appear, but your Flufty can’t play with them, talk to them, or do anything except clumsily get in their way.Flufties does have some mini-games for you to play with your Flufty, and these can be found by walking around the area. With the slow pace of your Flufty, it becomes a chore to go and play the games, and once you have eventually reached one, you will go away disappointed. You can choose from 5 games: a balloon-popping affair in which you have to burst balloons with the stylus, a mole-bashing game where you have to poke moles with the stylus, a fishing game where you have to catch jumping fish, a hopscotch game, and a hide-and-seek game. Flufties is aimed at 3 to 8 year old children, and the games are incredibly easy, apart from the hide-and-seek game which is virtually impossible thanks to the “any slower and it’d be walking backwards” speed of your Flufty. There are different medals to be won by completing the mini-games, and by rewarding your Flufty for its good performance makes it happier. The mini-games do serve a purpose and the skills they learn by playing them, make them stronger. Once your Flufty has won all the medals, become the strongest that it possibly can, it’s probably time to set it free as there’s not a great deal else to do.
My Little Flufties is clearly not a game for adults. It’s being marketed at a specific age range, but I don’t think that should be used as an excuse for producing a poor game. Graphically the game is ropey, with some fairly basic animations and bland environments. The mini-games are poorly designed and lack any kind of originality. There is no depth to the game, and although having up to 5 Flufties under your care at one time does make for some sort of challenge, it’s not involving enough to make you actually care about them. The best thing about My Little Flufties is the music, which appears to be the only part of the game where any real effort has gone into. Its orchestral score is relaxing and makes playing the game a little more bearable. Nintendo managed to create a rich and rewarding pet sim in Nintendogs that could be enjoyed by all ages. Flufties is a very basic game, and even someone between the ages of 3 and 8 would struggle to enjoy it.N+ Summary
Game: My Little Flufties
Developed by: Lexicon Entertainment
Genre: Sim
Players: 1
Release Date: TBA
Rating: Pegi: 3+
Supports WFC: No
Video available: N+ Video Vault
N+ Points
N+ Nice, relaxing music
N+ Easy to understand
N+ Can have 5 different Flufties in the game at one time
N- Points
N- Poor graphics
N- Lack of depth
N- Slow walking speed of Flufties
N- Badly designed mini-games
N- Dull environment with little to explore
(42%)
