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Playfish Keeps Rolling with Pet Society
August 12th, 2008
I never got into the Tamagotchi craze when I was a kid. Why would you play nurse to a poorly rendered fussy little alien? So I’m a bit leery about any pet-focused games on Facebook. But when I heard Playfish was doing a pet game, my opinions changed.
I’ve written in the past of the merits of Playfish’s games. To me, these guys are the Maxis or Valve of social gaming. Bowling Buddies, Word Challenge, and Who Has the Biggest Brain? are all quality applications and Playfish’s Pet Society, the company’s fourth title just released in beta, maintains the high standard. Pet Society combines the cute pet application with RPG elements to create an adorable, shiny, and deep application.
In Pet Society, you are given a creature to decorate and the ability to name your creature. Through beautiful Flash animation, customization is only a click away. Your pet is then placed in a house that you own, and you must maintain its happiness, health, and keep it well fed. These three statistics are kept in bars on the right hand side of your screen, and an experience bar sits on top. You get more experience the more you play the game, and this unlocks new features like more coins.
Initially, the house seems pretty confining. In your inventory, you can use such items as soap to keep your creature healthy and play a ball mini-game to keep him/her entertained. The TV plays clips from the other Playfish games - a very clever touch.
But once you leave the house, the game similarly leaves conventional pet adoption games and becomes something much larger. Your house is revealed to be part of a larger city with many municipal buildings, residences, and trees (full of coins, oddly enough). Navigating the city can be a bit confusing initially, and Pet Society’s beta status means that many of the features are “coming soon.” But it’s fun to step into a planned city that is already beginning to pick up.
The RPG elements become apparent quickly, like many quest-based adventure games you can buy most of the supplies you’ll need in the city. You can buy clothing and house decorations, interact with people in a soon-to-be-built café, engage your pet in competitions (again, coming soon), and interact with your friends in their houses.
You can also buy game money with real money through Paypal. “Reserving” land for your friends is Pet Society’s version of a friend invite, and it’s a clever way to make the game viral while maintaining the integrity of the experience.
Bottom line: it’s the first Flash RPG we’ve seen on Facebook that has major developers backing it. It stands on the shoulders of previous applications to create a clever hybrid that is well packaged and spiffy looking. It may run slow on some computers, and I worry that it doesn’t differentiate itself enough from its predecessors, but it’s definitely a step forward.
Developers: 8 (until they finish those features they promise)
Gameplay: 9
Originality: 5 (only thing I’m knocking them on here)
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August 22nd, 2008 at 5:39 am
hello
i want the game because i think its so so
fun
August 26th, 2008 at 7:07 am
[...] is an established developer of a number of top social games including Pet Society, Bowling Buddies and Word Challenge. The title that seems to be performing best right now is also [...]
August 27th, 2008 at 12:39 am
Where can i play it? It looks cool! But i dont know where ti try it! :@
September 4th, 2008 at 3:57 am
[...] ein eigenes Haustier zu kreieren und zu betreuen – im Grunde genommen wurde einfach nur das Tamagotchi Spielprinzip adaptiert und erweitert. Der Spieler muss also sein Pet bei Laune halten, beispielsweise indem er [...]
September 24th, 2008 at 12:54 am
[...] week, Facebook’s Pet Society - recently launched in beta - makes its debut on the Facebook Top 25 Games list at #10, an impressive starting point. It looks [...]
September 25th, 2008 at 10:20 am
how do i get cheats? im begging to knw how!!!
October 1st, 2008 at 5:09 am
The game was going very well untl I reached platinum level, there is some kind of glitch in the program. At first it disabled my antivirus software and then disconnected the Windows server Now when it loads, it loads very slowly and kicks me off the system every 5 minutes as if there is some kind of Sasser worm in the system. When I visit a friend, when you click the check to leave,the transition becomes distorted and then it kicks me off. PLEASE TRY AND FIX THESE PROBLEMS BECAUSE I LIKE THE GAME VERY MUCH.
October 10th, 2008 at 4:29 am
please i dont wont play pet society on facebook
October 10th, 2008 at 6:10 am
hey plz any body tell me how to play but not on facebook
November 2nd, 2008 at 9:37 am
For those who are interested in the game and are looking for tips and tricks to get the much needed coins and paw points…. This is the post for you…http://ministryofgame.blogspot.com/2008/10/playfish-pet-society-ways-to-get-coins.html
November 2nd, 2008 at 1:26 pm
it is sooooooooooooooooooooooo nice game
November 4th, 2008 at 10:09 am
Any cheats for pet society? How to get more coins and paw points quicker? thx….
November 23rd, 2008 at 5:25 pm
Want to play pet society?Just go at the Facebook.You must sign up facebook.Who sign up you type Pet society at the search at click at the pet society picture and Click application,and just wait the loading.
November 27th, 2008 at 4:07 am
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December 3rd, 2008 at 12:04 pm
how to cheat in doubling the things
December 31st, 2008 at 3:34 am
i donno anything about pet society
December 31st, 2008 at 3:35 am
i think et society is fun because i saw my sister play it:)