Pet Care

Genre: Misc.

Players: 1

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Review:

Pet Care is a game released on Nintendo Switch in 2019 that was clearly designed with very young children in mind. In fact, Pet Care is so simple I hesitate to even call it a game, as it’s closer to a toy like those Fisher-Price “See ‘N’ Say” toys where you pull a cord and an arrow spins around and you get a sound clip like “the cow says moo”.

Now, I am not a young child, and I am not a parent, so I am clearly not the target audience for this title. However, I try to keep an open mind when reviewing a game, and ask myself how well the game caters to its intended audience.

The presentation here is simple and works well enough for what it’s trying to do, but doesn’t do much more than that. You have colorful, cartoony images of various animals on a grassy background, three cartoon plates with various food items on them, and a lighthearted acoustic guitar theme playing in the background… and that’s about it.

As for the “gameplay”, players look at the animal that pops up, and try to select the food that’s appropriate for that animal. Get it wrong, and you get to keep trying until you get it right. Do this a dozen or so times (getting gold, silver, or bronze medals for each answer), and that’s it. That’s the entire game.

Okay, so before I get to complaints, let’s talk about expectations. Again, this is clearly a game intended for the youngest of children. I can’t very well expect it to have a depth and complexity of a game meant for an older player. However, as a game meant for a young child, I can at least hold it to a standard of what I’d ideally like to see in a game like this for a youngster.

Firstly, let’s talk about the interface. This game doesn’t work in docked mode. It doesn’t tell the player this, it just lets you frustratedly try to push buttons on your controller until you realize it. You can only play this game using the touchscreen.

Next, let’s talk about this game’s potential value as an educational tool. There is no audio to accompany any of the foods or animals to teach a child what these things are. No words written on-screen to encourage a child to learn to read. There aren’t even animal sounds – you literally get less educational content in this game than “the cow says moo”.

You could argue that this game teaches kids what foods different animals like, but even then its value is questionable. For example, players are meant to pick the steak for the dog. Well, yes, dogs do eat meat, but as a pet it’s probably healthier to feed your dog, you know, dog food. And you feed the moose the… hang on, isn’t this game called Pet Care? Why are we teaching kids that a moose is an animal you can have as a pet?

I suppose it may seem a bit silly for me to go this in-depth into a review of what is essentially a $1.50 child’s toy. However, I’m sure there are parents out there wanting to make good choices for their kid, and I want them to be able to make an informed decision rather than wasting money, even $1.50. So if you’re a parent considering getting this game for your child, know that it technically works, it doesn’t have any inappropriate content, and is about as simple as it gets… but it is lazily-designed, doesn’t play in docked mode, and its value as educational software is dubious at best. You’d probably have better luck finding a game for your kid on a Smartphone, so go ahead and skip this one.

tl;dr – Pet Care is a game designed for very young children, where players match animals with the kind of food they eat. Even for a game meant for young children, this game is lacking. It can’t be played in docked mode, is lazily designed, and makes for a very poor educational tool. Even at $1.50, this game is not worth it.

Grade: D-

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