Take care of Ginger by bathing, and getting dressed. Help Ginger get ready for bed with the best bedtime routine. Developed by Outfit7, as the little-cousin sidekick to the global “Talking Tom & Friends” franchise, Ginger is a fluffy orange kitten who is just small enough to think that toothpaste might be a toy and that every sock is a sleeping dragon. Unlike the recent sequels, which provided an entire neighborhood, this app boils the virtual-pet formula down to one cozy bathroom, one sleepy kitten and dozens of micro-activities of about the right length for a preschooler's attention span — around 30 seconds of sheer magic.

The invariably grating “talk-back” trick is still there, but Ginger's voice is pitched half an octave above Tom's, and she speaks in mispronunciations. Say “spaghetti” and he'll say “puh-sketti,” a subtle tactic that encourages children to learn to pronounce properly without feeling corrected. Parents can also activate an optional 30-second recorder that records the child's voice and Ginger's response.

And a tiny quest system lies hidden within the bathroom mirror. Tap it and a series of picture cards flips, with the cards illustrating things to do like “Brush teeth for two minutes,” “Blow out five candles,” or “Find the hidden rubber duck.” For every card completed, jigsaw pieces are won, which gradually form into one of fifty “dream pictures.” Once a puzzle is completed you can peek inside Ginger's sleep; the screen fades to indigo, the kitten snores and his thought bubble becomes a playable micro-scene — maybe, for instance, a rocket craft of soap you can guide through cotton-ball clouds.

Mini-games are started with everyday objects not from a menu. Yank the toilet-paper roll and it becomes a motor skills challenge: swipe just quickly enough so that the paper unwinds but not so quickly that it rips, then laugh as Ginger snickers at the pile on the ground. That birthday cake on the windowsill is a breath-powered candle race that innocently coaches children to exhale steadily — good preparation for real-life tooth-brushing.

Graphically, the game leans more toward soft gradients, rounded edges and a storybook atmosphere, as compared to cartoonish. Ginger's fur is custom and shines just a bit when clean, clumps together when wet, and fluffs into individual strings while drying, a micro-detail that is the bane of grown-ups everywhere. The music theme is based around a single lullaby that mutates into calypso at bath time and pizzicato strings at mini-games, is all performed on real acoustic instruments, so separate won't mind hearing it through the bedroom wall.

In conclusion, Talking Ginger works because it knows scale. It doesn't try to be open world or a cinematic saga, it just asks, “Can we make brushing teeth fun for thirty seconds?” and does that little magic trick five dozen knowable ways. Whether you're three and enchanted by soap bubbles, or thirty and sneaking a sip of sweet milk at supper time, Ginger's amber eyes and infectious giggle are a gentle reminder that the smallest thrills are those closest to home—and one whisker's distance of a litter box aplenty.

By Jerry | Copyright © GameHubX - All Rights Reserved