For those of you who never played Corner Shop or Corner Shop 2, let us introduce you to the cutest game you will ever play. The Corner Shop games are all about building, running and upgrading stores in your tiny Tamagotchi-populated town. There are 13 new shops in Corner Shop 3 - including an ice cream parlor, a day spa, a day care center and a party planning business.

Corner Shop 3 aims to be more “entrepreneurial,” but the shop minigames we saw looked like the same old awesome games we’re already addicted to. For example, the ice cream parlor has you taking orders from Tamagotchis about how they want their ice cream served. We used the stylus to move an ice cream bowl back and forth beneath the pump to build a super-tall ice cream sundae, decorated with chocolate sprinkles and a cherry. A similar game is found at the decorations shop, where we used our stylus to polish and deck out a house key with glitter. Our customers gave us a three smiley-face rating each time (the highest you can get) and with our newfound wealth, we immediately went off to spend it.

The money you earn from running the shops usually goes towards decorating your character’s room in other Corner Shop games, but in Corner Shop 3 - you get an entire park! The park can be decorated with gardening sections and fountains and stuff, but rather than just dropping cold hard cash and having them magically appear, the park gives you a whole new set of minigames to upgrade your pride and joy. We tried out the gardening minigame where we spend money on seeds and used the stylus to plan the seed in a gardening planter and then cover it with dirt and water it. After backing out of the minigame, we got to see our seed grow in the planter that now appears in our park.

After a long day’s work, you can retire to your clock tower in the beautifully decorated park where you can customize your Tamagotchi helpers with new clothes and accessories.

All in all, it’s the same super-cute addictive game we know and love - with more of what we want. So try your best to hold out ‘til summer when Tamagotchi Corner Shop 3 hits the shelves.

Apr 16, 2008