Tamagotchi
Reviewed by Cynthia A. Sorrels
Published by Bandai Digital Entertainment

Age Group: Age 2 to 5, Age 4 to 8, Age 8 and Up Type: More Fun Price: $19.99 US

Description:

Is there anyone who hasn't heard of the Virtual Pet craze started by the (sarcasm ON) versatile creatures called Tamagotchi? They've been banned in many public schools as nuisances, inspired love and hate websites dedicated to them and probably spurred both the US and Japanese economies into growth.

Anyway, here we are with the computer version of Tamagotchi, and it works in much the same way as the egg-shaped keyrings do (see what I mean about versatile??) After installing the program, hatch your egg and begin caring for the alien who appears. It needs food, discipline and fun (although not necessarily in that order) and without them will wither and die...or at least return to its alien pals much sooner than it would normally!

Each day is equal to a year for your Tamagotchi, and one of the big advantages over the individual hand-held units is that you can turn it OFF so it doesn't wake you at 3 a.m. to complain of poop in its room! Additionally, the computer version features a "care center" where you can leave your little friend for up to 72 hours, but be prepared to pay a lot of attention to it if you're actually gone that long.

Features:

• Has voices and sound effects.
• Watch your little friend grow.
• "Care Center" means you get away for up to 72 hours.
• Screen saver helps you keep an eye on the goonie.
• Print snapshots and email them to friends.
• Includes 3 games: the Egg Shell Game, Right-Left Game and Gotchi Ball Game.

Technical Aspects:

We had no problems with installation or running this program on our Pentium system or on our 486-66. The animations ran quite nicely and there was no noticeable difference in how the games ran or reacted.

Reports and Conclusions:

My 4 year old daughter got so excited over the Tamagotchi I installed that I put one on her machine as well. All three of the kids have gotten a kick out of playing with, feeding, cleaning up after and fussing around with "Mikey." The games are extremely simple and the little creatures really aren't demanding most of the time. They have certainly gotten a huge kick out of it, anyhow!

One other advantage I can see for the PC version over the hand-held model is that the one in the system won't be dropped or broken. And when your pet returns home, you can just hatch and start a new one. At some point in the future, maybe you'll be able to put two of them together, but not for now. We've actually had a lot of fun with this one, myself included!

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