Care for Facebook Fuzzballs with Fuzzits!

Taking care of a virtual pet is nothing new to the Facebook platform, but developer TnT Games is attempting to grow that niche with a new game called Fuzzits! While still making use of the familiar mechanics of other pet caring games such as Pet Society, Fuzzits also introduces some new elements, from training pets to growing a Fuzzit town. That said, a lot of the game still feels vague and unfinished with a good bit of feedback issues that add to a general sense of lifelessness within the cute little puffballs one cares for. Fuzzits, the characters, are amorphous balls of fluff that players are tasked with taking care of. Some are little puffballs, others more egg-shaped, some have antennae, and others are like cats. Regardless of type, they all follow the same basic rules found in other virtual pet caring games. Players must feed them, pet them, and groom them on a daily basis in order to keep them healthy and happy. So long as this is taken care of, they will slowly grow into an adult. Of course, fuzzits are for more than just looks. They actually have their own town. It’s not much of one at first, but as players come back on a daily basis, they will be able to discover barrels around the map that contain random materials. These are used in two ways. The first is just a sort of collection mechanic that doesn’t seem to do much other than show that you found something rare. The second, on the other hand, involves food items used in recipes. Should the player collect all the items in a recipe, they will attract a non-player fuzzit to the town and their shop will begin construction. Unfortunately, other than the aesthetic value of building out a town, these fuzzits don’t seem to do anything. The developer says that it does plan to add in a sort of reputation/interaction system with these characters, but nothing is really implemented yet. Additionally, players can buy decorations for the town as a whole, but the current selection is somewhat limited, and the placement of items often has some obnoxious clipping (where the top of one object will appear beneath the bottom of another). One of the elements that is interesting with this collection mechanic is that it is affected by the type of fuzzits one owns. Each critter has its own personality type of either nurturing, studious, athletic, or artistic. Depending on the level and type of personality, different items will be found in town. Level does not necessarily refer to the age of the fuzzit in question. Rather, it refers to the creature’s “training level.” As an added element, players can train each of their creatures, over a few hours, in the personality trait that they hold. Presumably, this will further unlock different collectible items to find in town, and once all four have been upgraded to a certain level, a fifth type -- adventurous -- will unlock. It's also worth noting that players can also breed their fuzzits once they reach adulthood. As one might expect, the results will reflect the color schemes of the parents as well as the noted personality traits. While many of the mechanics of Fuzzits may sound interesting, a lot of the game still feels a bit vague and unfinished. For one, the collection aspect is very limited, with only a handful of items to find, and the purpose of training wasn’t made truly clear until visiting the game’s help section. Furthermore, the point to collection is sort of lost with the minimal amount players can do at any given time (we found three). It’s actually gratifying to watch a town evolve as one hunts for “treasures,” so why limit it so drastically? The biggest complaint, however, comes in the form of user feedback and general liveliness within the game. A good example is actually the interaction with the fuzzits themselves. When feeding or petting them, they don’t really react. Perhaps there's a sweet spot, but when using these tools, we pretty much held the mouse button down and dragged around until a sparkle was seen and a coin fell out of the creature, so we must have been doing something right. There is also a general lack of life worth noting. Most of time the fuzzits just sit there staring at the user, rarely moving. At most, they might yawn, but they’re actually very boring to look at. Even the NPCs in town are just sort of there. Nothing really has a personality of its own, and their being piles of fur doesn’t help. The social aspects are a bit basic at the moment too. As it stands, the social elements are similar to early Pet Society in that players can visit each other’s fuzzit virtual spaces and care for one another’s pets for extra coin. Additionally, the fuzzits will gather gold for players to collect on a daily basis, in which friends can partake too. Aside from this, the only other social interaction of notice is gifting, but TnT Games does say that it plans to involve friends in the town area of the game in the future. Overall, Fuzzits is a decent game, but still feels a bit clunky and not quite as polished as it could be. It has some interesting ideas with the personality training and collection aspects, but with limited items to find at any given time, it falls short of what it could be. Even so, this all pales in comparison to the general lack of life and personality the fuzzits themselves have. Sure they look kind of cute, but just watching them sit there the entire time is not exactly entertaining. Regardless, the game is very new, and TnT Games is already planning to roll out improvements and new iterations.

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Care for Facebook Fuzzballs with Fuzzits!

Christopher Mack

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Christopher Mack