Gamescom '11: Hands-on with Kinectimals for Windows Phone

Kinectimals is damn cute - almost excessively so. Within minutes of touching the Kinect version, even the most cynical of souls - the people who are very swift to point out the dangers of petting a lion cub, for instance - will have to fight back ‘aahs’.

What’s impressive is that this Windows Phone-exclusive version of Frontier Developments's pet-’em-up is looking just as stone-heart-meltingly effective as its bigger cousin.

Kinectimals is essentially a fantasy pet game, where you’re given the choice of picking from a range of viciously cute big cats like panthers and tigers before rubbing them behind the ear and virtually stroking their (presumably) warm, soft fur.

All this is true of the Xbox original, of course, but what catches the eye most is that there doesn’t appear to have been many corners cut in bringing the game to the smaller screen.

The look of the cubs, for instance, is absolutely spot on. While the fur effects have been dialled back a bit this time around, there’s still a distinctly huggable nature to each of the cubs on offer.

Meanwhile there’s also an island to explore and games to play with your creatures, although our short hands-on was limited to just the one location

Your tiger reacts according to your taps and swipes, which means stroking behind the ear will cause it to rub up against your fingers while stroking its belly fur means lots and lots of happy noises.

It’s far too cute.

Kinectimals for Windows Phone also comes with a transfer link-up option with the console release, allowing for owners of both to transfer across their pets from either game.

So if you have a completely pink panther (literally), you can get the QR code from either the phone or console editions and scan it in via the Kinect sensor/handset. Immediately your creature will then appear on the Xbox 360, ready for even more petting.

Kinectimals for Windows Phone will be out "this fall".