Evaluation
Who doesn't like cute fluffy animals? I sure do. And this game gives you the chance to be a cute, fluffy animal collector. OK, so you're actually a thief who steals babies from their parents. Whatever. All joking aside, this is a really clever and very original game idea with a lot of attention to detail.
The game world, although rather small, is absolutely gorgeous. From the towering crystal clubhouse to the dense, foggy forest complete with a lake and waterfall, it is sight to behold. However, the sound of the game world doesn't quite measure up to the beauty of the visuals. Aside from the pleasant, casual background music there isn't much in the way of sounds in the game. The forest could really come to life with some wind, ambient animal and insect noises, water lapping on the shores of the lake and the cascade of water from the waterfall. But we don't have any of that here and it does bring down the overall atmosphere of such an otherwise beautiful place.
Playing the game brought a smile to my face as I read all the cute introductory story material and then was treated to some great in-game material such as the signs explaining all the grown-up animals and their offspring. The doughnuts and tea was a nice touch and the manner in which you store your cute furry animals on stumps is precious.
I played a couple of times, but was never able to snatch all the baby animals. It did get a bit repetitive and frustrating to continue to patrol the small game world trying to hunt them down, but coming up empty handed on just a couple. Sometimes I could find the parent, but no infant in sight. And, unfortunately, there is a bug where some animals would just disappear when they detect you so that made it harder to complete the collection.
I was a bit disappointed in the grown-up animals that were explained as big and scary and that they would scare you off if you didn't creep around. But I found that none of the grown-ups ever seemed to care I was even there and posed no threat at all. I was also warned not to wander off into the fog and get lost, but when I did go off into the fog, nothing actually happened and I found my way back quite easily. I half expected to be sucked off into oblivion if I ventured into the fog, but no.
Overall, this was a delightful game based on a very clever idea. I really think with some fixes and additional tweaks to the overall game-play as well as some sound improvements, this could be a truly excellent game. The developer is very good at his craft and I look forward to his future endeavors.
Bugs
- Some interact text from faraway animals can sometimes be seen through the clubhouse walls while the initial "Thinking Aloud" text is being shown
- Back side of some rocks are hollow and see-through. When you go into the blue fog and come back.
- The E interact icon sometimes comes up before you can actually interact.
- Some animals just vanish when they spot you, making it difficult to complete the game.
General Criticisms
- Make the scary fog a place you really don't want to enter
- Enhance the grown-ups so they are a threat somehow if you aren't too careful
- Add ambient forest sounds and liven up the game with other sound effects to bring it to life
- The game had no graphic settings and the default motion blur feature really made the camera floaty and a bit slow for me, taking away from the overall enjoyment. Adding graphic level options would have helped.