The Sims 2 Apartment Pets Preview

The original Sims 2: Pets was a million-seller hit for the Nintendo DS, offering gamers the chance to raise pets and accessorize them in fun ways. Now, EA is prepping the game’s follow-up, The Sims 2: Apartment Pets. The game will offer more pets, more customizations, and improved graphics over its predecessor, as well as some fun new minigames. Aimed at the younger market, Apartment Pets is poised to offer a fun and casual experience for fans of the series.

The Sims 2: Apartment Pets gives you the chance to raise smaller animals within an apartment setting, including birds, hamsters and snakes as well as dog and cats. You’ll also be able to clean and groom other people’s animals in a pet care business through a series of minigames. One game had you trying to get a dog to dance around through a touchscreen minigame where you had to tap an arrow button at the right time, kind of like DDR with the touchscreen. You’ll have several different ways to interact with other people’s pets, as well as your own.

Customizing your pets is another big factor in the game, as you’ll be able to outfit your pets with a variety of accessories to make them more interesting to look at. These include myriad clothing options like cowboy hats and themed outfits that you can buy with money earned from your pet care business.

One of the biggest new additions is an improved 3D navigation system, allowing you to rotate and zoom in around your 3D polygon-based apartment. The game looks surprisingly good, with nice details emerging as you get a closer look at your customized objects.

Sims 2: Apartment Pets is a nice casual DS title that will appeal to fans of the original Sims 2: Pets as well as the tween audience. Look for it to release later this month.