Creatures Caves

The behavior in the Petz series is "emergent"--they don't technically learn, instead there are pre-set behaviors which will be revealed the longer you play with a pet. The only kind of learning that occurs is when you teach them a trick, although of course they know all the tricks from the beginning and you're only encouraging the ones you want to see [it has to be--you can't teach a virtual dog to sit or roll over the way you would a real one]. So it's not really virtual life in the same sense as Creatures, but the Petz are still endearing and very fun to play with. (I can provide testament to this--I've owned every game from Dogz 1 to Catz 5)

Personally I would choose Petz 4 instead of Petz 5. Petz 5 removes a lot of the stuff I liked about Petz, like the toy closet--in Petz 5 you start off with a few necessities like the food bowl and have to "win" everything else. Through games like tic-tac-toe and rock-paper-scissors, which are not only tedious, but who "wins" (you or the computer) is in some games completely random. The results of what you win are also random, so you may "win" the same ten toys over and over without getting the things you don't have. There is supposed to be a hack to give you all the toys automatically, which may alleviate that problem.

In Petz 4, everything you need is already provided in the toy closet (as opposed to Petz 5, in which all your won belongings are kept in the tiny carrying case). Petz 4 also allows you to collect the neat souvenirs provided like the coconuts and feathers, which you cannot collect in Petz 5 (which takes all the fun out of finding them). I also like the background graphics in Petz 4 better, they seem more homey, although that may just be me. There are also a few basic elements of the game, like the way pictures are displayed in the frames, that are more nicely implemented in Petz 4.

*Perhaps ironically, you can't collect some of the things you will want to collect, yet if you place the hairball in the supply case (and that is the only way to get rid of it) you will end up with a never-ending supply of hairballs. It bothers me because I'm a bit of a perfectionist, but really, who thought this system up?

The pros for Petz 5 are that it comes with some new breeds, like the Egyptian Mau, Honey Bear and Japanese Bobtail, (although there is a site called Carolyn's Creations which offers these breeds converted for Petz 4, so you can have them either way). Petz 4 doesn't allow your Petz to have litterz, although it does make caring for small kittens easier. Petz 5 also lets you re-adopt runaways, while in Petz 4 you have to hex-edit a pet to bring it back (of course, if you don't abuse your Petz, this is also a non-issue). Petz 5 also comes with the castle, haunted house, nursery for mothers with babies and a salon, which earlier games don't have, although the first two rooms only really seem to exist to house the games you play in them, and the last one is essentially a replacement for the clothes closet in Petz 4 (although I'll admit it is a somewhat nicer replacement, given that it comes with a bath tub, sponge and towel, while in Petz 4 all you get is the closet). The nursery is kind of a pro and con at once--in Petz 4, a mother would come out of the pet door carrying her baby in her mouth, but of course she can't do that if she has four at once, hence the Nursery. The drawback is that in Petz 5 the mother only appears in the nursery, and you cannot have her and the babies in any other playscene until they have grown up. Even if you try to take her out somewhere else the game automatically forces you to go to the nursery. $:\$

In general, Petz 4 comes with all the good features found in Petz 5, and none of the features I found to be intrusive to the purpose of having fun with virtual kitties. The Petz behave exactly the same, the only fundamental differences are in the number of babies, the playscenes, and where and how you get toys for your Petz. Some of the cons for both games can be worked around, but others can't, so it's basically a matter of which features appeal to you more.