3D Animal Avatar Games
Two things that children are guaranteed to love are video games and animals. When they are put together, children find themselves lost in a new and exciting world. Walking into a video game store is often daunting when looking for this type of game. Mindlessly picking a game that has an animal on the cover can result in a bad experience. However, a few series have proven themselves time and time again.
Viva Pinata
A rather new series, Viva Pinata has a simple goal: fix up a garden and attract animals. As the name of the game states, the animals in this game are bright and colorful pinatas. While each of the games are slightly different, the goal is pretty much the same; attract as many different types of animals as you can to complete the database. What you will find out is that by planting certain plants and trees different animals will come, creating an ecosystem. However, just like in the real world, some animals will prey on weaker ones so you must always keep watch on your gardens.
Animal Crossing
This Nintendo game is just as fun as it is addicting. You are moving out for the first time and find yourself moving into a small town. You are asked at the beginning of the game for your name, gender, and the name of the town you're heading to (which is how you name it). Once you get there you pick out a house given to you by Tom Nook, a store owning raccoon. You must then make friends with all the different kinds of animals that live in the town and perform small tasks that they request. This is all done to help pay off the debt that you acquired by getting the house. There is no real goal for this game, but there are tons of activities such as fish catching and bug collecting to fill your time. One of the most innovative parts of this game is that it syncs with the game machine's internal clock so that the day, time, and season in the game is the same as the real world. The original GameCube version was adapted to the DS as "Animal Crossing: Wild World" and the Wii as "Animal Crossing: City Folk."
Harvest Moon: Animal Parade
Harvest Moon, a farming simulator, is actually the oldest series on this list. In this particular version of the game, you come to a town that seems to have lost its wind. As it turns out, you are asked by the Harvest Goddess to find and ring the five magical bells to wake the Harvest King from his slumber. This is all asked of you to complete as you try to fix up your old ranch, try to court an available bachelor or bachelorette (you pick your gender at the beginning of the game), and even raise a family. This version of Harvest Moon not only allows you to collect a ton of farm animals (including an ostrich) but to go out into the wild and make friends with a large variety of animals. When its "heart meter" increases to a certain point the animal will come and ask to live with you as a pet. You can then bring the animal along as you complete your chores and tasks and even teach it tricks that it can compete with in the town's Animal Festival.
Tags: Animal Crossing, Harvest Moon, this game, Animal Avatar, Animal Avatar Games, animals When