Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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37 of 41 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
No Ham-Country, January 23, 2007
Fun:4.0 out of 5 stars
According to the Q&A area of Ubi-soft's website, there is no Ham-country per se. They say that the cage is Ham-country because it is a school (you teach the Hamsterz there), a bakery (you feed them from the food menu), etc. I think I would be happier had they just said that it wasn't included in the programming rather than trying to make it sound like the customers are all mistaken. Some people are going around claiming that you have to play the game for 72 hours to get Ham-country. However, I have it from the source that this is false and I don't recommend wasting 3 days of your life unless you truly enjoy the game.
Now, for a review of what is included in the game. I find it cute and my children all find it fun to play in small doses. A few of the mini games could be frustrating for younger children (and Mom), but my 7 year-old is able to tackle all of them. He is a very computer literate child though, so your mileage may vary. All in all, the controls are very intuitive, so there shouldn't be a problem.
You can not buy food and supplies. To get them you have to play mini games (only when the Hamster is in the mood) or find presents. When the Hamster asks if you want to play, you will see musical notes. Go to the main menu (i.e. so the Hamster is on the top screen) and press the button that appears with a musical note in it. If the kids have trouble playing the mini-games to get food and items, encourage them to use "Outing" then "Open Cage" to collect presents in the "bedroom." If your Hamster is hungry or thirsty and you have no food or drink items, I suggest adopting another Hamster. When you switch with "Hammy" the hunger and cleanliness of the Hamsterz will revery to "normal/ normal." That way you can get more supplies without having a tortured and complaining hamster (did I mention they complain?). You can have more than one Hamster, but only play with one at a time and they do not interact with each other.
Speaking of complaining... One of my favorite features of the game is that the Hamsterz will converse with you. My kids love it and it encourages my 5 and 4 year-olds to read. They have already picked up on some phrases like "Good Evening." With that in mind, the breeds all have different dialog accents (Australian, baby-talk, etc) so you may have to explain this to early readers. My kids get the biggest kick out of the voice recognition. This feature is very well done. We have had no problems at all with settings, background noise, or changing settings for more than one user (completely unnecessary for Hamsterz).
The holidays included with the game have strange (often culinary) names, so expect questioning as to why your child doesn't have A holiday from school on "Miso Day" or "Strawberry Day."
All in all, this is a fun "pet" game. My kids love it with or without Ham-country and I let them "take out" their hamsterz to play with and take care of for a half hour a night after dinner. That way, they are getting the most out of the program without getting easily bored. They received it on Christmas and still look forward to Hammy time every night. The only reason I have it less than 5 stars is because I do not care for the misinformation on their advertising regarding "Ham-country."
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22 of 24 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
BEWARE!!!, December 21, 2006
A Kid's Review
Fun:2.0 out of 5 stars
This game has a MIS-PRINT on the box and description!! It says that this has a Ham-Country with a bakery, school, playground, bookstore, etc. THAT'S NOT TRUE!!! If you are buying the game for that reason, dont do it! You will be very disappointed! I have had this game for almost a month, and I have played it for over 40 hours (total time). I raised 6 hamsters, acquired every single accessory, cage, toy, food, and everything else (of which there are generally 6 of each type of item). I played all of the mini-games, and of course I let my hamster explore my "room" every day. I clean up after the hamster, brush it, feed it, etc. The game gets very mundane & boring after a few days but I only kept playing so I could see the "ham-country" which I have now sadly discovered does not exist. I called UBIsoft about this, and they were clueless about the whole thing. Imagine that! I feel like I wasted my money and all my time on this game. It's cute that the hamster learns to "talk" (you speak to it, but it responds with text in a message box), and it's okay that you can play "catch" with the hamster (you throw a ball with the stylus, he catches it and throws it back to you). And most of the required item-acquiring mini-games are tolerable at best, but seem geared toward the pre-school aged children, so except for on the "difficult" setting, they can be done with your eyes closed, pretty much. But your hamster himself doesnt really do anything. He just runs around the cage, plays with a toy sometimes, runs in his wheel, eats, and occasionally sits on his hind legs and says something quirky to you. This is all adorable and fun the first few days, but like I said, the fun-factor diminishes greatly after that. I definitely dont recommend this game, unless you just rent it or borrow it from a friend.
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16 of 17 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Just like my old Hamster, January 26, 2007
Fun:5.0 out of 5 stars
I am a ten year old who recently Had her hamster die.Rather than buy a new Hamster we got this Game.It acts like my old hamster.She looks just like her too.My Hamster has been growing and growing and today I just received a roller coaster.I love the game and would totally recommend it!I like it way better than any of my other games.The hamster game is better than the dog game.
sincerely Mocha
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