Petz Countryside and Petz Beach are the latest releases in the Petz series, allowing players to take care of their Petz in new environments and befriend exotic animals like pandas and penguins!
In both games, players move to a new town where the villagers’ lives revolve around their Petz. You meet the mayor of your new home, who shows you the ropes and leads you in the selection of your own adorable puppy to take home!
Both Petz games offer a great selection of puppy breeds and colors to pick from. Choose wisely, because you’ll be getting quite close to your pet over the course of the game!
Once you’ve picked your Petz and given it a name, the games let you bond with your dog through a number of activities. First of all, you’ll need to make sure that your pet is well-taken care of. This means always making sure your pet has just as much food and water as it needs, and that you always play with it and keep it clean!
Both Petz games also make great use of the technology available in the Nintendo 3DS. Petz can be trained through vocal recognition, and can even be taught to understand facial commands!
Players move through Petz by leading the puppies around town on a leash. This can be done either in a close-up mode, or a handy zoomed-out mode that allows for quick movement! A map also makes it easier to find out where you need to go next.
To pay for the items you’ll need to take care of your pet, you’ll need to do quests for people around town. They’re essentially small errands, usually consisting of delivering packages to other townsfolk or finding special items, in return for coins and gifts.
You can also teach your Petz special skills, just as sniffing out items, like mushrooms and seashells, and barking to scare fish and insects out of hiding! To snatch an insect, players move the Nintendo 3DS downward, as if they’re throwing a bug net. While fishing, players lift the system to catch the fish in a bucket!
These types of items can either be given to townspeople to fulfill quest or turned in at the Collection House or a special area that displays fish and insects in return for coins! In addition to paying for necessities, coins also can buy items to customize an adorable look for your pet or decorate your home.
Obtaining and running these items around town to the right person is fun, but can sometimes get a bit repetitive. However, if you’re working toward buying just the item that’ll complete your Petz’ look, it’s totally worth it!
Also, every reward you receive for completing a quest comes as a gift and must be unwrapped. When bringing packages to other people for a quest, the item must be selected from your stock of items and placed in the right slot. Though both of these are simple processes, They’re oddly time-consuming ones when repeated over and over, sometimes becoming frustrating.
As you progress in the game, you’ll earn Happy Points, which open up new areas in the village and make a wider option of items available for purchase, and more people will appear to offer more quests!
There are also some fun seasonal changes throughout the game. For example, toward the end of October, jack o’lanterns grace the town, and the mayor hosts a Petz costume contest!
The two games differ in a couple of ways. First, Petz Countryside takes place in a more rural area, full of green grassy fields, dirt paths, trees and a cool, flowing river. On the other hand Petz Beach has a more tropical seaside feel, with sand and palm trees by the ocean.
Owning each game will also give players the chance to unlock different Petz! In Countryside, you can obtain special pets like bears, pandas and lions. In Beach, you can take care of polar bears, penguins and dolphins!
Throughout both games you’ll encounter 28 breeds of dogs and six breeds of cats, with 50 types of animals available across both games.
We recommend Petz Beach and Petz Countryside to gamers who can’t get enough of dogs and animals. While gamers of all ages will adore the precious animals featured in the game, the gameplay will appeal primarily to younger fans, and would-be pet owners who don’t yet have a dog or cat of their own.
Even when the gameplay gets a bit repetitive, both Petz games irresistibly portray the animals you befriend. They dogs are detailed and realistic, with lovable behavior that makes it tough to put the game down. If there’s one thing that’s great about these games, it’s the Petz themselves!
Curious about this game? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below, and share your favorite game titles with us at Sweety High! Also check out more game reviews below!
Disclaimer: Sweety High received free copies of Petz Countryside and Petz Beach for review.