Can you believe concept of digital pet has been around since 1986? Apparently, the first one showed up on the Mac too! According to Wikipedia “The concept of raising artificial creatures in a video game originated with Puppy Love by Tom Snyder Productions, released for Macintosh in 1986.” Personally, I never jumped on the Petz or Webkins bandwagon, but I now can say I have had my first experience with a virtual pet. And of course it was on the iPhone!
Infinite Dreams Inc. gives everyone this opportunity for $0.99 with their new app iQuarium. As their second release into the App Store, iQuarium is marketed as more of a “responsibility” than a game. Upon download, you are the owner of a frisky little Parrot Cichlid. Its home is right inside your iPhone -- a virtual aquarium with bonuses and upgrades built in. Your fish can thrive or suffer within its environment based on your attentiveness. Playing with the fish by swiping or tapping your finger on screen keeps it happy and health. Feeding it once a day will help it grow. On the other hand, failure to do so for periods of five to seven days will cause it to get sick and eventually die. The fish is surprisingly lifelike and the tank graphics are photo-realistic. The entire app interface is top-notch.
iQuarium is not a game like Fish Tycoon or other business management titles in the App Store. However, you will be awarded with tank upgrades for being a good owner. A point system resides within iQuarium that will grant one point every 10 minutes (even if the app is not running). I had fun launching iQuarium every morning to see how many points had accumulated over night. Points are more like a scoreboard than funds because items are unlocked at certain intervals without depleting your score. So when you reach 420 points you can enhance your tank with a bubble filter and your points remain intact. Eventually, with good care, you will unlock rocks, backdrops, plants, and the like. However, this takes a long time. It took me about five days to reach the point I’m at in these pictures.
In addition to being a digital pet app, iQuarium is actually a pretty nice mood relaxation app as well. Just prop up your iPhone on your desk and you’ll have an aquarium to watch all day long. Why Infinite Dreams didn’t enable landscape mode is beyond me, but for now, a tall tank is what you’ll have to live with. It would also be nice to have more sounds activated. As of this writing, the only sound is heard when tapping the glass. Hmm, not even the iPod library can be played? These are features that I think are obvious oversights in development. But hey, there are always future updates.
If you haven’t had any history with digital pets, iQuarium might be the place to start. In its current state, we give it our 4-Dimple rating.
iQuarium gets our AppSmile 4-Dimple rating:
