Pet Shop Hop

Downloadable Trial at PlayFirst Games, the makers of Diner Dash, click here for page.

Here's their description:

Running a pet store isn't all cuddly kittens and adoring doggies. It takes keen business sense, shop upgrades, animal selection, and a lot of stamina to grow your modest pet shop into an exclusive boutique. Take over your family's business and save it from being gobbled up by MegaPet Superstore!

• Over 50 levels of game play
• Many different cute animals to sell
• Add vet-certification, living environments, and accessories to increase profit

While this was created by the same developers who created the Diner Dash series, this game is completely different. I know Diner Dash is popular with a lot of addicts, I'm simply not a fan of click and drag type of gameplay. I prefer the click-click-click type if it's an action game of that style.

That being said, I am truly enjoying Pet Shop Hop. there's a little click-dragging, but all in all it is a SOLID game. Granted, I haven't made it incredibly far yet, and can't seem to get "Expert" hardly at all since the first few levels, but I'm still really having fun with it.

The graphics are beautiful, for starters. The game is very colorful and while it is cartoony, it's not CORNY at the same time.

It does get difficult at times to meet goal, because there is simply SO MUCH TO DO! Not only are you serving customers throughout each level, you are also feeding and bedding the pets, (which of course is different for each type, i.e. puppies get newspaper and dog food while fish get clean tanks and fish food), as well as upgrading "orders" to make a bigger prophet and make goal by adding tanks, cages, collars, colored rocks, vet checks, etc. to the pets and extras already requested. This creates a lot of running which makes the customers more impatient--you get the point. I'm hoping if there is a sequel in the making that they make for less "screen scrolling" (where you move your pointer to the edge of the screen to move it over) mostly because of the fact that you can't see the birds' food and bedding needs without scrolling over and it'd be nice if some of the buttons for the cage and tank options were a little bigger for easier fast-clicking.

All in all, it's a great game. The gameplay is smooth and the game itself is fully addicting. I can't stop playing it. Comment with your opinions!

Great Casual Game Sites

Since this is my first post, I thought I'd start with a simple list and short review of some of the best pages to find, download, and play casual games. When I find new ones around the net I will be sure to let you know. None of the games from these pages include any malware whatsoever and you have the freedom to buy any game from the page itself so you don't have to deal with third-parties.

GameHouse Games
This is admittedly my personal favorite. They have the best quality games on the net and all the downloads are directly from the site (meaning they do not require the company's special software to download like RealArcade and BigFish do). They have free 60 minute trial downloads for most games as well as online-only games AND a list of 43 unlimited ad-based games available for download (listed under downloads then extended play). They also offer a fee-based membership ($19.95/month after a week free trial) for unlimited play on all their downloadable games, which means you get to play anything you download as if you purchased each, for the price of just one, and can cancel at any time. They also add new games every week so even if you don't go premium, it's still worth it to grab a free membership ID for the emailed updates.

Reflexive Arcade
This is my second favorite, only because it isn't as organized as GameHouse. It actually has a lot of the same games as GameHouse, and THEN some. I am still amazed at how many games this page hosts. It too, has direct downloads of all the trials as well as online play, but doesn't offer any ad-based unlimited downloadables like GameHouse does. Basically, if I run out of games I want to try from GameHouse, I download from Reflexive for some fresh games.

Big Fish Games
This is my least favorite, mostly because there is no direct download from the site. All their downloadable games include the company's program to download and install with. While it still contains no malware, it is simply inconvenient. They do, however, have very high quality games so I feel it still deserves to be on this list.

That's it for now. I will be posting full game reviews starting shortly and will be sure to include a link to the page where you can get the games for yourself. Always remember, if you enjoy these games, PURCHASE THEM! Using pirated software only discourages developers from making high quality software because they aren't getting paid what they should be for the work they do. While I'm in no way a supporter of the RIAA standards and rules blah blah, I DO believe in paying for quality merchandise. I'd rather keep developers making the good stuff than to wind up with nothing other than cheap knock-offs left to play!