Hatchi 2 Review

Real pets can be a bit inconvenient. Whether it's because you haven't got the space, you're not allowed to have them, or simply because they wake you up throughout the night and you'd really quite like to sleep. Or at least that's what happens to me. Hatchi 2 is a virtual pet that aims to take a lot of the stress and noise out of the whole thing. It lacks variety, but if you just want to be able to occasionally dive into a game and see your pet develop it'll scratch that itch just fine.

Starting out and with a gentle nod to Pokemon, you get to choose your egg from one of three. There's a fire one, an aquatic one, and an earth-based one. Once you've picked, that's your first pet, although you can choose to adopt more over time. At first, each pet is a colorful blob. Evolution after a few days turns them into more of a character, so don't expect to see fast results.

You have to encourage the creature to sleep, eat, and play, as well as wash it at regular intervals. Washing is a matter of 'scrubbing' with one finger, while sleeping just involves you hitting the relevant button and leaving the pet alone. You can pick out food, dragging it to your pet's mouth, to boost its hunger bar.

Playing with the pet is a much more involved process. There's a choice of 9 mini games, each boosting the happiness bar. They're a mixed bag, with some proving more interesting than others. There's an Arkanoid-style clone, as well as a simple match-3 game and a Doodle Jump-inspired title, but there are also less inspiring experiences such as one that simply involves flicking things away from a planet or picking up gold that's falling from the sky. Either way, they're varied enough that you can steer clear of the dull ones.

Where Hatchi 2 proves more interesting is in terms of breeding, but you're often a bit limited without the help of your friends. You can opt to breed your own pets together but it's more fun co-ordinating with friends. While there's Game Center support, this doesn't tie into breeding so you need to rely on Facebook friends to get anywhere.

For such reasons, Hatchi 2 is a slow burner. As a virtual pet game, it does the job and adds more to the series than its predecessor, but in some ways you have seen everything going on fairly early. It's the sense of achievement in acquiring new pets through breeding that will keep you playing, rather than new features.