Customer Reviews

Catz 5

5 star:		(34)
4 star:		(12)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Catz 5 was what I wanted most for Christmas this year. I got what I wanted--this game is pure FUN. I've been playing it nonstop ever since. Very much like Catz 4--except new mini-games, new breedz, are the big changes.

If you've never heard of catz or dogz (or any of the series), then you must know now! These games are about taking care of cats or dogs, raising them, feeding them, training them, and breeding them--basically it's like taking care of an animal around the house (except you don't have to scoop any litter or take any walks). =P It's the perfect gift for girls aged 8-13, or people who are cat/dog fanatics.

The scenes (places for catz to play in) in this game are pretty much similar to the ones in Catz 4, except now they have a Salon (umm...I think it wasn't in Catz 4 but I haven't played on Catz 4 for years), fantasy castle, AsianTemple, and a Haunted mansion. Yes, you can still design your own scenes for your catz to play in, and you now get to design your carrying case (w/ a paint program) for your catz! The scenes in this game are:
The Adoption Center
Backyard
Beach
Family Room
Fantasy Castle (new)
Haunted Mansion (new)
Kitchen
Salon (new)
--
Arabia
AsianTemple (new)
Circus
Snow Scene
South Seas
Wild West

To get items in this game for your Catz to play with, you must defeat little miniature games that are in scenes, such as tic-tac-toe (as silver-girl said, it takes about 3-10 times to mark an X in your area), rock paper scissors, Simon says, obstacle coarse, and scarab crunch. Almost all the items in this game are old ones from Catz 4. Thank goodness in this game you can hold unlimited items in your carrying case, unlike in older versions of games where you have to hold a maximum of 9. That's one of the reasons we're all glad for this game.

A female cat in this game can have a litter of 1-4 kittenz. They are almost always mixed breeds, really if you have to different types of catz. There are 15 different breedz of catz in this game -- Alley Cat, B+W Shorthair, Calico, Chinchilla Persian, Desert Lynx, Egyptian Mau, Honey Bear, Japanese Bobtail, Maine Coon, Orange Shorthair, Persian, Russian Blue, Scottish Fold, Siamese, and Tabby. You can't cheat anymore with your computer calendar to speed up the birth of your cats' kittens. Usually it takes babies to be infants 2-3 days, and kittens in 7 days. Then it takes 3-4 days to become adults. They grow up so fast...*sniff*

You still have the screensaver, in this game also. But what I HATE is that you need the CD in order to launch it (like the review that person wrote who only bought this for the screensaver). Don't bother buying this for the screensaver either; it's nothing really. It's just your catz playing with random items.

Please do not buy this if you already have Catz 4 and you expect a lot out of this game. If you want the extra stuff, I say go for it. It's not much different than Catz 4--just more breedz, 4 more scenes, and mini-games which you play to earn new items.

Well, that's my review.

Just a friendly warning to all CDR/CDRW/DVDR/DVDRW drive owners. UBI Soft as a "feature" on their PC software that prevents installation from any drive with write capacity. Why they feel that's a valid anti-piracy measure, and why they don't mind blowing off an entire segment of the market, is entirely beyond me, but that's not the point here. Call UBI Soft tech support BEFORE buying this or any other PC game from them, and check to make sure whether or not you will be able to install. Software (such as Chessmaster 9000) doesn't come with a warning on the box (in "some" cases, they claim -- I haven't found a single box that does), nor is there a warning on the Amazon product pages (short of reviews like this). One could speculate that they're perfectly happy to let people buy their software knowing some won't be able to install it, but I'll leave their motivation to give no warning to consumers to your imagination.

UBI Soft's tech support has said that this "feature" extends to *all* of their PC titles. So fair warning, particularly to folks with laptops where DVD/CDRW drives came standard, ask before you buy. Perhaps if enough people have a problem with this flawed policy, UBI will smarten up. "Flawed" because limiting installs to drives without write capacity isn't going to slow a determined game cracker/pirate down, it's only going to prevent normal consumers from being able to install the game. Worse, they don't find out until they've opened the package and tried to install, which in some cases is enough to prevent a return and refund from the seller.

I'm certain this game deserves more than 1 star, and suspect it will see some good reviews from people who are able to install, but I can't give it more than a single. That's a commentary on UBI Soft and their "feature", not about the game itself.

In this game you can adopt your own Catz at the adoption center. Once you do that, you start taking care of them! Remember to feed them, play with them, and wash them every day! Be cautious, don't mistreat them, or they may run away! You will know they have ran away if you come to select them and there' s a big, red RUNAWAY across his/her picture. When you click on them, something will say, "Your pet has run away! Wait and they may come back!" However, one of my pets ran away and they never came back.

Your petz will remain kittenz for 3-4 days, and then the day will come when they grow up! They can then have kittenz! To have kittenz, you need a male and a female pet that LIKE each other. If they don't like each other, you will have to take sprays at them with the love spray or play some love songs so they will fall in love. You will know when they have fallen in love when they jump to the middle of the screen and a big red heart comes up saying they are expecting kittenz. What you have to do then is (if you haven't already) take care of your petz, come back the next day, and the next day, make sure to play with your petz! They should then have kittenz the next day.

When your petz have kittenz, you need to take the female out at the right time, then the playscene will turn into the nursery playscene, and a certificate will come up showing your new kittenz. Name them, click OK, and you'll be in the nursery where you can visit your Kittenz whenever you want by taking out the mother Cat, and you'll automatically go to the nursery. You cannot take out or put back Petz in the nursery; not even the father. I think that's kind of weird. To exit the nursery, just go to a seperate Playscene. They will come out of the nursery in about 7 days.

In Petz 5, the different places you can go with your Petz are called Playscenes. Here are all of them...

Back Yard
Beach
Family Room
Fantasy Castle
Haunted Mansion
Kitchen
Salon
---------------
Arabia
Asian Temple
Circus
Snow Scene
South Seas
Wild West
---------------
Editor
Custom Scenes
---------------
Desktop

Be careful not to adopt too many Petz, even though it says you can have as many as you want, if you adopt too many, one of your existing pets will be deleted. Also, if it says the sound won't work when you start it up, then go to...
(:C)
Program Files
Ubi Soft
Studio Mythos
Petz 5
Then delete the file setupapi.dll

I hope this review helped!
-Somebody

Although I have never played any of the Catz games I decided to get Catz 5 and it is brilliant! Heres why: (1) Litterz. You can breed your catz and dogz to get litterz of 1-4. You can make all sorts of different colour combinations and they can look really cool. (2) Playscenes. There are lots of Playscnes to look round and you can find secret items in them and play games. You can also find host character there which your petz will interact with. (3) Breedz. There are plenty of breedz to choose from each with their own distinct look and personality. Some of the breeds are fussy, some are smart some are bullies - it's cool to see how they interact with each other. I think the bad things about catz 5 are that you have to play games to get toyz and they repeat themselves so you keep getting the same ones :( The other thing is the weather. I saw it snowing out the kitchen window and went out into the garden - and it was sunny. =( Overall though this is a really fun game with plenty to do - if you like virtual pets you'll loooove Catz 5 :]

Catz 5 is a brilliant game! There are five new breedz, and they are quite cute! Well, most of them. Also, there are weather changes, along with day and night! You can also visit new areas, and there are mini games! You win toys from these mini games. Your catz can also have litterz! Unfortunately, there are some flukes. When my catz have litterz, all of the kittens but one don't make noise when they leave their mother! I find this weird, but I don't yet know if it happens all the time. Another fluke is when you try to feed your catz, the food dish bounces and falls. Your catz never get to eat! This can be solved, however, by bringing your catz to the Desktop. The food doesn't bounce around there. Also, you can pick toyz up right from the playscenes in the beginning, such as food and water in the Kitchen. If you don't pick them up, though, the next time you load the game, they are gone. So far, it doesn't look like you can win them back either! Another problem that I have is that when you win a toy and put it in your supplies case, yet don't take it out and into a playscene before you quit, it doesn't register you won the toy and you have to win it again; quite annoying. However, despite these errors, I still feel this is an excellent game that is worth buying.

I kind of like the fact that you play games to get toys and items, it adds another level to the game, which makes it more fun for older kids. My only problem with it is that I didn't even start out with a food bowl, so I had to play games until I got one, and that the games might be too hard or confusing for younger players (for instance, tic-tac-toe is impossible, it seems. I have to try three times just to get a square marked).

The game seems to crash too often (played it yesterday for maybe two hours, had a crash about three times). It also wouldn't let me import a cat with a kitten from Catz 4.

But I like the idea of litters, I like how the bath cleans up the "paint" you can put on your cat (not that I have a paint can yet...). One of the nice things about the new toy method, is that you always have all toys with you (well, all the toys you've won or found). It was always so frustrating to have to go back and forth from the toy closet just to get all the items you wanted into the kitchen, because you could only hold a small amount of items. It was also too easy to lose the treasures you found in Catz 4 (shells, bones, that sort of thing), and this new method fixes that.

We had the original version of Catz installed with Win98. The kids and I loved it, and so did my mom. The kids are now 8 and 12; Mom is past retirement age. :-) The original version would not run on Win XP so I purchased Version 5 of Catz and Dogz, and WOW! What a difference. Of course the upgraded graphics make a difference, but even had we not known the original, this is still a purchase I'm glad we made. The critters are adorable, the games are easy to use, and when both are installed the Dogz and Catz can interact. There are tons of extras with the games (many new environments and toys, there can be puppies and kittens, more info about your adopted animal)and so many fun things you can do while "interacting." (like teaching your petz tricks) These animals are the next best thing to real you can get! (maybe better....no litter boxes...lol) And mom still loves it! And so do the kids and I. Mom is a computer "newbie" but the games are easy enough that she can use them with no problem. They are definitely 2 games that I'd recommend to others. The animals seem so real, and they will definitely make you laugh. If you're wondering whether to give them a try, go for it! I truly think you'll be glad you did. (btw, if anyone comes across a version of Oddballz that will work with XP, I'd love to know about it)

I recently got Catz 5, it is great!!! The profile comes up when you click on the pink or blue cat/dog icon thing next to your petz name. Most, or all of the old features are included you just have to find them (which may or may not be good :-\) The only bad thing is, is that you need to win most of the toys and you always get toys you already have, I want the Christmas tree and I only have the lights and ornaments!?!? and you barely see weather features, and in the rooms where there are windows and you can see the rain/snow, you go outside and it's sunny...Other than that it still is a good game, and I still give it 5 stars because it overall is a good game!

I recieved this game in the mail yesturday, and I just cant stop playing it! This is the best version of petz ever! The graphics are updated and they look awesome! Weather effects in this game also make it fun. Playing mini games is the best part and when you win you get a prize(toys) There are also litterz! What everyone has been waiting for! Pick up a copy of petz 5 today!!

Dogz 5 was the first version of the Petz series that I ever bought, and now I have Catz 5 too. So I have never played any of the previous versions (although I did download a demo of either Dogz1 or Dogz 2, but I don't think that really counts :P).

I'll start with the things I like about the game. For one thing, the little pixels are so kyoot. They're pretty easy to care for. Fun to breed and see what fun mixes you can make. If you decide you don't want some, or you simply have too many cats, you can e-mail them to someone who does want them and can give them a good home. There are some really awesome fansites with different breeds (wildz are awesome, by the way) and playscenes and hexed pets for download.

I just like the game overall.

But there are still cons. I loathe the mini games and just the idea of the mini games. The game sometimes crashes right before the heart pops up when two pets mate. I don't like the nursery.

That's about it, or all I can think of at the moment.

(...)