Littlest Pet Shop 3: Biggest Stars

What It Is

Littlest Pet Shop 3: Biggest Stars is the latest game in the popular Littlest Pet Shop series of games from EA. The game is part virtual pet game and part mini-game compilation where kids can customize their pets then help them train to become the best gymnasts, ice skaters, models, fashion designers and more.

Why It’s Fun

The combination of the two game genres—virtual pet and mini-games—gives kids the freedom to play their favorite styles of game as much as they want. I’ve heard from parents who have said that their kids spend hours in the virtual pet areas taking care of the pets and never even enter the mini-game competitions. For the kids who enjoy the competitions, they have 10 mini-game challenges where they can play with their pets. Regardless of which mode kids enjoy the most, they all seem to love the insanely cute pets.

Who’s Going To Love It

It’s safe to say this game is going to appeal almost exclusively to the kids who play with Littlest Pet Shop toys. In other words, kids who are not interested in LPS, are not going to want to play this game. The game-play and difficulty is designed for young gamers (ages 5 to 10). However, there is a lot of reading involved so kids that can’t read, will have a difficult time understanding the game without someone else helping them.

What To Be Aware Of

The game is sold alone or packaged with two exclusive Littlest Pet Shop figures.

LPS3: Biggest Stars has two game slots so parents buying one game for multiple kids in the same household will only be able to allow two kids to play and save their own game at the same time.

This is a single-player game with a two-player wireless option where two people can play together on two DS units with a WiFi sync.

Replayability

Virtual pets need constant care, such as feeding and cleaning, so kids will be able to return to the game over and over to interact with the pets in this area. Most kids will be able to play the mini-games through to completion in a few days, however, they can play the games again using a different pet.

Fun Scale

3 out of 5

It has to be fun or it wouldn’t be on Time to Play. But some games are more fun than others so here’s our scale: 1 is fun, 2 is a lot of fun, 3 is great, 4 is awesome and 5 is out-of-this-world!

Video Game Information

Littlest Pet Shop 3: Biggest Stars
Publisher: EA
Rated: Everyone

System: Nintendo DS
Genre: Virtual Pet
Players: 1

SRP: $29.99 and $34.99 (Bundled with two exclusive toys)
Launch Date: Holiday, 2010
Date of Review: March 2, 2011

*Rating determined by the ESRB