Burrowing your way onto iOS devices (reviewed on iPad here), comes Tunnel Town, a spinoff of the popular National Geographic Animal Jam franchise. Colorful bunnies from the Animal Jam world have been whisked away to a strange new place, and you must help them build and dig a fantastic new home! This game is similar to other simulation titles such as Farmville, Viva Piñata, or Animal Crossing (with a little bit of Dig Dug thrown in for good measure).

Controls are entirely touch screen related, as you can drag and drop bunnies and tap to select where they should dig. The game has a good tutorial to get you started, so you won’t have any trouble figuring things out. Make underground rooms for your bunnies to live in, and locate gems to place your bunnies over so they can mine them for money (they even use cute little jackhammers). Use the gems you collect to buy food, new bunnies, furniture, and even wallpaper and flooring to decorate your burrow with.

As you complete objectives and feed your bunnies food, you and your rabbits will level up. Higher levels let you perform more tasks and buy more items in the shop. And when your bunnies are at a high enough level, they’ll be able to breed. Of course, the way you breed them is a bit different. Place two bunnies on the dance floor, and after a while, an egg will appear that you can tap to hatch it into a new bunny! Granted, it’s not very realistic, but hey, it’s just a kids’ game. Activities like breeding and mining for gems can tire out your bunnies, so to refill their energy, you can place them on certain furniture to let them rest, like beds and chairs. Or you can feed them food grown from your garden on the surface.

Tunnel Town is free to play, but every activity you do in the game, from growing food, mining gems, and breeding takes real time to complete. So it’s best played in short bursts. You can speed up the timed activities by using stars you earn, or you can buy more stars and gems with real money. But if you’re patient, you can enjoy this game without having to spend a single dime. Tunnel Town is a fun little diversion for kids and the young at heart, especially for those who enjoy playing titles like Animal Crossing.

Kid Factor:

Tunnel Town is great for kids, with cute and colorful visuals, easy to learn gameplay, and plenty of ways to express their creativity by building and digging a home for their new rabbit friends. Reading skill is helpful for the text and menus, and light parental supervision is also recommended since you can buy things with real money in the shop, and share and gift items via Facebook.

Tags: Game Reviews