Tamagotchi: ‘Round the World — For my own peace of mind, and to make sure we’re all on the same page here, I feel like I should start this off by stating that I am, generally, pro-cute. I like cute boys, and cute shoes, and cute couples. I also like puppies and kittens and assorted other fuzzy baby animals. And for the most part, I like games that are cute, too. So when I say that Tamagotchi: ‘Round the World is just a little too cute for me, please understand that to mean that this game is very cute.

I missed the original Tamagotchi craze — I believe I was a few years too old. So, Tamagotchi: ‘Round the World (by Namco Networks America) is my introduction to the series. My thought, frankly, is that it’s not for me. But it might be for you, AppCraver readers, so let’s take a look.

The objective of Tamagotchi: ‘Round the World, from what I can tell, is to complete assorted missions, which consist of things like getting a little fruit to grow (I think it’s a pineapple, although it falls from a tree, which is…not right) so your character can eat it. To do so, you take actions like performing rain dances and, ahem, answering the call of nature.

Performing the rain dances is actually sort of fun. You have to have good reflexes and timing — hit little bulls-eyes on the screen as they appear and pop them at the right moment, and properly follow the path of stars along rainbows (I said this game was excessively cute) to keep your Tamagotchi dancing and the rain falling. Other activities include playing rock/paper/scissors with the vegetation and shaking palm trees.

The issue with Tamagotchi: ‘Round the World is that it’s just not that entertaining. I found myself feeling like I could have better spent my time painting my nails or picking lint off a sweater.

It’s entirely possible that kids would like it; the colors are vibrant, the music is lively, and the tasks seem relatively simple. On the other hand, Tamagotchi: ‘Round the World seems to be fairly repetitive, so I don’t know how long it would hold a kid’s attention. I can’t personally imagine that kids would like it six dollars worth; there are better, cheaper options out there for children, in my opinion.

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category: Games, Kids Games