Game: Hatch

Hatch is a wholly charming, visually polished virtual pet simulator that will quickly take over your phone and heart.  Its Disney-quality opening film sets the standard for the colorful, crisp, and youthful aura the rest of the app successfully maintains.  The adoptable creature of Hatch, the Fugu, is a low maintenance, easy-to-please sphere of joy who exists solely to love and be loved by its owner—you.  It's easy to be swept up in Fugu euphoria, enchanted by the adorable face that erupts from an egg and the gorgeous, interactive world that surrounds it.  But this delight withers as the few ways to interact with your Fugu and its world become repetitive, its lack of growth becomes dull, and your time with it becomes more memorized patterns than playful discoveries.The beginning of your Fugu-owning journey, though, is engaging and whimsical.  We learn from the app's opening film that "long before dogs or cats were domesticated, man had another best friend."  That friend was the Fugu.  Although they are somewhat doglike in appearance, Fugus were born from eggs that would appear almost magically in a nearby river.  Upon hatching, the Fugu became completely loyal to the person that fed and loved it, remaining their companion for life.  As Fugu eggs became precious, fought-over commodities, fewer and fewer floated downstream until the Fugu simply ceased to exist. "That is, until today—for some unknown reason.  A young Fugu-fan named Max has stumbled upon a rare Fugu egg in the forest and wants to share it with you.  Although he's too young to care for a Fugu alone, he knows all about their history and care and will gladly share this knowledge if you allow him to play with your new pet when you're away.  Max acts as Hatch's mini-guide to the world of Fugus, announcing things like birthdays and providing items via his shop.