Preview: Our first impressions of My Talking Tom Friends, out now for iOS and Android

My Talking Tom Friends is the most ambitious of Outfit7's virtual pet games to date. It adopts a sandbox approach to its gameplay, allowing players to do what they'd like, when they choose. They'll also be able to play with all six of the Talking Tom and Friends characters for the first time, including the newest member of the family, Talking Becca.

 Given the popularity of the franchise, it's not surprising that this highly anticipated title racked up a whopping 13 million pre-registrations before its launch.

 With My Talking Tom Friends now finally released and playable, we decided to put together a little preview so you can know what to expect in the first hour or two of the game.

At the start of the game you'll only have two of the characters – Talking Tom and Talking Angela – but you'll soon acquire the rest of the pals as you try out different activities for the first time.

It's a great way to introduce them all and far more interesting than if they just knocked on the door. For instance, you'll find Becca imitating a shark in the swimming pool by making her ears look like a fin, a lovely, creative way for her to make her entrance. The characters are all as expressive as ever so you'll always know how they're feeling.

Once you've discovered all of the friends, you'll not be short of things to do for quite some time. There are a whole host of fun activities to do with them and because there are six of them to look after, someone is always happy to play whilst one of the others needs a nap. The number of mini-games on offer is also very impressive.

 

 

You can play football together, test your skills in a skateboarding runner game, and there's also a rhythm action game for the music fans out there. A personal favourite of these mini-games however is Busy Bugs, which can be found in the sand pit. This game will see players drawing lines for coloured bugs to follow into the corresponding bucket.

However, the bugs can't bump into each other and the different coloured ones will move at different speeds. So you'll have to make sure they're taking a route that prevents them from getting in each other's way. It starts off very simply before progressively getting more difficult with more creepy crawlies moving about, it's good fun.

 

Of course, it's not all about mini-games – as fun as they are. My Talking Tom Friends is all about giving your six new friends amazing lives! You can dress them up and help them play together. Sometimes you'll need to make sure your buddies are eating, bathing and going to the toilet. This is very simple to manage since the game lets you quickly tap on the icon above them and you'll be promptly teleported to that location. Though, if you'd prefer you can also pick them up by holding the screen and taking them to that place.

Doing all of these activities will net players a mixture of coins and bus tickets. The former can be spent on food and other items, whilst the bus tickets allow you take a trip into town. Here you can visit the different types of shops to get new items for your pals to play with, which will allow them to level-up and also unlock more mini-games to enjoy.

If you like the idea of playing a stellar virtual pet game then you can download My Talking Tom Friends now over on the App Store and Google Play. It's a free-to-play game with in-app purchases.