It started with tamagotchis. They were cool. Then came SimCity and The Sims. Those weren't too shabby either. Recent years have brought us Catz and Dogz. By now, they're getting old, but still okay. However now there's Baby Pals. What the heck!? Seriously, a simulation game focused on digitally taking care of an infant? Did it have to go this far? I guess so.

Published by Crave Entertainment and released late last year, Baby Pals brings an eerie and disturbing addition to the digital genre. Developed for the DS, the game tries so hard to make the babies look real, but instead, some of the images are just weird. To make it worse, they don't even attempt any type of censoring during the bathing and changing mini-games. There has been another baby-care game called, Imagine: Babyz which was published by Ubisoft.

Like most simulation games, it's a "whatever you want to do" type of game. There are a few modes that you can unlock after spending time and playing with your baby, however they don't differ much from the basics of Baby Pals. The routine games work well on the touch screen, but I can't find them holding anyone's attention for an extended period of time.

In the end, it's not a game I'm going to be picking up. I don't mind the genre, but genres have their limits too. I just had to post about it, because they took a concept too far. If you want to have a go at the taking care of a baby, then find a relative who needs a night out and is willing to let you take care of their infant. If you don't have a relative with a baby, just wait until you have can have kids; you'll get plenty of experience points in the baby care department then.