Baby Pals creeps the hell out of us

by Chris Greenhough { Oct 20th 2007 at 3:30PM }

We presume we are supposed to find Crave's new baby-caring sim Baby Pals somehow entrancing, perhaps even -- shudder -- adorable. So why can't we stop thinking about that scene from Trainspotting whenever we see these screens? Angular, polygonal babies, eyes as dead as the night, somehow not ... quite ... right.

If you haven't already guessed, Baby Pals gives players the opportunity to raise a sprog by taking care of the little one's every need. So you get to feed and dress your weird-looking virtual child, teach it how to talk, crawl and walk, and even play games with it, such as peek-a-boo and patty cake.

Even more frightening than all of that is the thought that this, along with Ubisoft's Imagine Babyz, could sell a significant number of copies to pre-pubescent female DS owners. This saddens us. At best, Baby Pals and its kind are vaguely patronising. At worst, they're derivative, lazy examples of gender stereotyping. With damn creepy babies.

Gallery: Baby Pals

Tags: Baby-Pals, Crave, simulation

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Gaspar @ Oct 20th 2007 5:51PM

Oh, and they were REALLY worried about Dementium?
Btw, the first screenshot in the gallery reminds me of Chuck somehow...

Ethan @ May 17th 2008 1:32PM

This game will be like the anti "think it over" baby doll girls often get in schools. I'm not saying it will cause girls to "want a real one!", But it should have a disclaimer on the title saying "yes, we all love them but babies are always inherently complete bastards. Good day."

I'm not exactly sure if that's a serious suggestion, but it certainly has a lot more place than "don't do graffiti guys" on JSRF.

sergioalb64 @ Oct 20th 2007 7:51PM

See, this is the stuff that makes me reconsider my goal of purchasing every US-released DS game...

CPFace @ Oct 21st 2007 12:23AM

You've reawakened my deep-seated fear of evil robot babies.

Damn you.

Pizza Pasta @ Oct 21st 2007 11:35AM

I love this Game! but I already have a horse.

Pizza Pasta @ Oct 21st 2007 11:35AM

I love this Game! but I already have a horse.

Pizza Pasta @ Oct 21st 2007 11:35AM

I love this Game! but I already have a horse.

Pizza Pasta @ Oct 21st 2007 11:39AM

I'm sorry, I have no idea how that happened.

Ethan @ Oct 21st 2007 5:47PM

Triplets! Ah!

hvnlysoldr @ Oct 21st 2007 7:20PM

Congratulations new blogger, you've got triplets.

Pizza Pasta @ Oct 21st 2007 9:36PM

I'm glad it's only three. Anymore than that would ruin me financially, I would most likely have to become a deadbeat dad.

Maybe that's what this game is going for?

Blast Processing Megadrive @ Oct 21st 2007 11:53PM

At least it isn't as evil and soulless as the PS3 launch baby doll...

That thing was damn freaky...

Kam @ Oct 22nd 2007 3:19PM

Hahaha.. that's hilarious. OH. And I didn't know that you could shape you baby's face and change eye color at the adoption agency. I'll keep that in mind if I ever adopt. "Oh.. no.. no.. May I just clamp this baby's nose down and make his eye color green? Excellent. I'll take it!"

jesus_bon_jovi @ Oct 22nd 2007 8:39PM

GAME OVER: Your Baby is DEAD

dsgirl @ Dec 26th 2007 9:37AM

i got this game for christmas and i got to open it on christmas eve. its a fairly good game, if you like these kind of things. if you haven't bought it and are thinking about it this is how it goes- you get to adopt a baby choose its name a boy or girl eyes nose head and body shape and colour. then you start with a baby at 6 months there are bars that show you if its hungry,sleepy,dirty(needs a diaper change or bath) or it wants to play. everytime you do something with it you get hearts normally between 1-3 and it gos towards buying things like clothes hair styles diapers and toys. when you feed the baby you make the food then feed it. the only weird thing is when you change its diaper you have to wipe off poop that looks like scrapes and when you powder it, it looks like a big like festering scab. other than that its really good. you teach it things as it gets older. i'll update you when i finish the game