Little Friends: Dogs & Cats

Little Friends: Dogs & Cats is a bit of a wasted opportunity. Too few content, too little gameplay, for a game that could have become the new Nintendogs.

Little Friends: Dogs & Cats is a great virtual pet simulator for children but I feel sadly it doesn't cater for much more than that. It's adorable and there's nothing better than some doggo's in a game but my play-time felt shortened by some of the restrictions. It has a lot of potential but with no real originality I just felt something was missing whilst I was playing it.

Little Friends: Dogs & Cats tries its best to be the Nintendogs sequel that Nintendo is too scared to give us. It gets a few things right, like the variety of activities and the huge amount of customization available. Unfortunately, the lack of detail when it comes to control options and taking care of your pet makes this an experience with very little staying power.

Little Friends: Dogs & Cats is a game that will appeal to animal lovers who miss the days of Nintendogs. While it does have some adorable breeds and some cute customization options, it won’t appeal to those that want to take care of their pets for long periods of time.

Little Friends: Dogs & Cats does well to fill the pet simulation void on Switch. Strongly inspired by games that warmed the childhoods of many, it has also managed to shrewdly create its own identity with features that were arguably missing from the Nintendogs titles. Unfortunately, the frustrating give and take when using the Joy-Con and the disappointing limits of touchscreen controls really hamper the experience. Paired with a progression system that takes more away from the genre than it actually brings and the absence of any real element of replayability, there's not much backing up the areas where Little Friends excels.

Overall, Little Friends: Dogs & Cats has some fun to offer, and what little it does offer is well executed. The visuals for the various dogs and cats are nice, and pretty realistic looking, but the other visuals like those of the houses and parks are simplistic and basic. The gameplay draws you in at first since it is so simple, accessible … and downright adorable. But I can’t see many players coming back to play it on a regular basis. There just isn’t enough of a game here to warrant a big commitment.

Little Friends: Dogs & Cats allows the player to live a simulated experience of raising a pet. It is a shallow one, clearly aimed at kids, but it can work as an idle game if you’re after this kind of experience.

​Little Friends delivers on its promises, but its failure to do more to capture my attention left me mildly disappointed. The dogs and cats are adorable, and there are many outfits to buy and customize. But after the daily feeding and watering of your friends is over, the gameplay becomes a little rote. Perhaps a more laid back player will find this charming game amusing enough to occupy their sparse free-time.

Adorable they may be, but having a virtual dog or cat was an already old idea that somehow has even less features and charm on newer hardware. Proof that not everything needs to come to Switch.

We have seen this formula done before time and time again and while this isn’t a bad thing per se, it’d be nice to see new features and things to do that could make the pet sim subgenre more exciting. Little Friends brings back great gaming memories and is definitely a good game for children, which is likely what its main audience is. This is a game I will likely find myself returning to every now and then just because I can turn off my brain and not have to think about much of anything which makes for a simplistic and relaxing time.

Little Friends: Dogs & Cats invites comparisons with the Nintendogs series with its structure and overall presentation. However, once you’ve enjoyed petting your fill of digital 'good bois', you’ll be left marvelling at how little there is to do even compared to that most lightweight (though fondly remembered) of Nintendo offerings.

While the puppies might be adorable and the kittens mischievous, the games lack of features and broken motion controls make it more frustrating than enjoyable. Once you’ve done everything once, you’ve done everything, and even the cute little critters running around make it difficult to recommend.