Paws and Claws: Pet Vet Australian Adventure

Sometimes game companies get into a bit of responsible game development and make titles that have a certain educational value. The Pet Vet series is one such set of titles and the Australian Adventure is the latest. I will start off by saying that my hat is off to any developer who makes a reasonably designed title that will get young players into a profession that appeals to them but may not always be available to them; case in point, veterinarian.

In PVAA (sorry it's a long title) you start off customizing your vet and prepare them for adventures in the Australian Outback. Selecting what type of clothing is great, but it does not effect performance in the field. Since we are in Australia, you can count on some location specific critters to tend to. Players use their SUV to drive around the wilderness and locate animals like wombats, kangaroos, koala bears and horses. Assessing what the animal's ailment is will allow you to either treat the animal right there or bring it back to the clinic and begin a more lengthier treatment schedule using pharmaceuticals and surgery.

For each animal you cure and help you are given money, which you can use to improve your clinic, setup additional treatments, add buildings and even begin hosting safaris for profit. Being a vet ultimately means making money, but the other reward is that you get to help animals.

And help them you will; these creatures suffer from all sorts of interesting ailments including worms, salmonella and other weirdo ailments I could never pronounce much less spell. But be warned, the game is for kids, so surgery, gross side effects from medical problems and in-the-field injuries are all "G" rated. No blood, nothing gross, nothing to scare small children but be aware, there is the need for euthanization. Parents be prepared to discuss this sometimes sad real-life experience. This is all overshadowed by the joy a player may experience when they see an animal all the way through a serious ailment and it gets a new lease on life.

Paws and Claws is certainly nothing to get excited about graphically; the environments are drab and lackluster, characters are also somewhat disappointing. All the money clearly went into making the animals look good, and they do look good. Would have been better also, if the developers made more than six animals to find and cure (where's the snakes) and some more varied missions may have helped alleviate the repetitiveness which plagues the game. Some simple audio moves nicely with the game but there are no surprises found in the outback's soundtrack.

If anything, the game manages to create a worthwhile experience as you find animals, identify problems and then set out to resolve that problem whether quickly or not so quickly, there is a certain amount of satisfaction when you see a creature at death's door and you bring it back to a full recovery. The game may not have a great deal of depth to it, but there are some good moments.

Review Scoring Details for Paws and Claws: Pet Vet Australian Adventure

Gameplay: 7.0
Wash, rinse, repeat. The game does not have much going for the missions but the ailments vary greatly, time to use the brain kids!

Graphics: 6.0
It's passable but only graphical love was put into the animals, zoom in on the humans and you will quickly zoom back out.

Sound: 6.0
Wanna hear a dingo yelp in pain when you need to take its temperature? So did I.

Difficulty: Easy
Adults will want the pace to pick up, children may have better staying power since their minds will be absorbing so much info.

Concept: 6.4
There are several animal titles out there where you act as caregiver and vet, this one is decent enough, but needed way more critters to find and help. How many times can you rescue a lost koala?

Overall: 6.3
There are worse titles out there that are in this vein, I just wish the whole experience had been fleshed out more giving the game more depth and varied missions.