Each virtual world for kids offers different features, and Littlest Pet Shop VIP's bring their own unique take on the online experience.

The Stuffed Animal

The huge-eyed cutetastic stuffed animals are just the right size to accompany kids to bed at night and play with during the day. Made from sturdy fabric and tight stitching, they look and feel like they'll hold up a long time.

The Online World

LittlestPetShop.com offers easy access to all its activities through a dock-like menu across the bottom of the window. The commands are as follows:

• Map: By clicking on one of the squares on the map, your pet is taken to that location. Once there, you can click on different points of interest. Your pet will go to those places and sometimes interact with the objects there, like building a sand castle at the beach, etc., similar to the interaction of the old "Living Books," but the pet actually moves around the environment. Movement can be a bit slow as you watch it move from one point to another, though. Some points also bring up minigames instead of just an animation. This also gives one way to purchase items like food, clothing, and furniture from stores in the village and elsewhere.
• My Stuff: This shows you your inventory. Here, you change clothes and otherwise use the stuff you bought.
• My Pets: This lists all of the pets you've bought and registered under your account.
• Feed Pets: If you don't feed your pet, it will be sad. From the food you bought, feed your pet to make it happy again. If you're not sure, click the heart to get a visual status update.
• LPS Post: The LPS Post is your daily newspaper. It shows up as soon as you log in, and it's always accessible. It lists upcoming events, new games, a list of high scores on the games, and the pet of the day and home of the day.
• 
• Games: This section includes a selection of a couple dozen single-player minigames. I found them to be choppy and sometimes frustrating on my iBook G4/1GHz, but newer computers should be able to handle the animation just fine. My 6-year-old found the games to be an appropriate challenge level.
• Decorate: Your pet has a home that allows you to decorate the interior, yard, and garden. By bringing your pet into the house, it can interact with furniture, like jumping on the bed. The garden offers interactivity, requiring kids to rake, then dig, plant, water, and fertilize the seeds bought at the garden center. These plants must be watered daily, though, or they'll wither. While offering a simple challenge, it penalizes those who can't play regularly. That said, the garden is one of my 6-year-old's favorite spots.
• Shop: Choose from the Supermarket for food, Pet Boutique for clothes, Department Store for outdoor and indoor furniture, and the Garden Center for garden supplies. Furniture prices can run a bit high, but you can always play more games to earn more "Kibble," the LPS coinage.

Gold Members

By "adopting" 4 or more pets, you become a gold member and have access to additional bonus areas, much like the add-on packs of some role-playing games.

Overall

The game is text-heavy enough that you'll want to make sure your child can read if you're considering a LPS VIP as a gift. The site offers a guest access trial to get a feel for the site, which we consider a big plus. Unlike other online worlds, this site seems to emphasize individual play over interaction and chat with other pet owners, which will appeal to some but will be missed by others. This is what makes LPS unique: while other kids' virtual worlds offer limited "safe" chat, LPS abandons chat features completely and works more like a game collection that changes every so often. For my kids, this was no problem, since they don't like the safe chat systems. In all, it's a decent world with enough to do to keep kids entertained.