I'm A Tiger... GRRRR! (Neopets Voice Activated Kougra)

Member Name: DemonicSmurfette

Product:	Neopets Voice Activated Kougra
Date:	15/06/04 (698 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Cute, Nice tie in

Disadvantages: Boring, Relatively expensive for the fun it provides

I may be an adult, but I am addicted to the internet site aimed at children, Neopets. My boyfriend, a Neopets Widower, finally gave in to my constant demands for a Neopets toy for Christmas, although what I really wanted was a Blue Kougra plush toy. Instead I got a Neopet Voice Activated Kougra. It?s really not the same thing at all, but at least my boyfriend tried, bless him.

To those not familiar with Neopets, a Kougra is very like a cartoon styled tiger. The toy Kougra is extremely cute, with big ears that waggle, large eyes, and great big paws. It has a lovely white tummy, stripes and a cute little tuft of hair on its head. It looks very like the pet on the Neopets site, in fact it?s even sweeter looking. It comes in two colours. Orange looks like a conventional tiger, but I was bought the blue Kougra as that is one of my pets on the Neopets website.

Before you start thinking how lovely and cuddly the Kougra sounds, I have to warn you that it is actually made of hard plastic and is only around 4 inches in height. In fact, it?s very different to the 10 inch soft toy I originally asked for. The bonus with this pet though is that it is interactive.

The main feature of the toy is that it responds to noise and movement with up to 30 sounds and varying head movements. There is a sensor on the bottom, which detects when the toy is picked up. The amount of noise made is reflected in little lights on the Kougra?s cheeks and there is a button on the left paw which is first used as the Try Me button, so you can have a small trial of what the Kougra does before you buy and it also provides different reactions when used in the proper play mode.

With all these sensors I?m sure you are wondering what wonderful things my Mystery Island Kougra doe

s. Well, to be honest with you, not a whole lot. Firstly, the head moves from side to side with the ears wiggle in a comical manner. This is cute and adorable for the first five minutes. The Kougra also makes various catlike noises to tell you what mood it is in. Picking it up and speaking to it softly will get the response of purring and happy sounding meows. Speaking loudly or ignoring the pet will eventually provoke the response of unhappy yowling and hissing, with furiously waggling of the ears and head shaking. The sensors are definitely sensitive to noise, with the toy responding to a loud noise from several feet away.

If you put any two Neopets voice activated toys together, in a similar way to Furbys, they will interact by making noises to each other. However, this is where the similarity to Furbys ends. There really is very little you can do with your Kougra to make it enduring fun. You have the choice of getting it in either a good, neutral or bad mood, you can count the different noises to see if there really are thirty and you can pick it up and put it down. That?s it.

I can?t say I am particularly enthralled with Kolgate the Kougra (my name for him, because he is minty blue). For around 15 minutes he was fairly enchanting with his cute noises but after a little while I was thankful for the off button. There just isn?t enough to keep my interest in the way that my Furby or Tamagotchi did.

Obviously I?m not the target age for Neopets toys, despite my addiction to the site, so I let my three year old play with the Kougra. He was interested for quite sometime, around 20 minutes. He didn?t understand quite what it was all about but enjoyed the noises and head swivelling. However, after the initial fun he left poor Kolgate yowling on the floor and went to play with something else. H
e will
ask for it to be turned on occasionally but it is far from his favourite toy. Full marks to Neopets though, as they have constructed something that he hasn?t broken or damaged and can be wiped clean easily with a damp cloth.

The target age for this is between 4-10 years. Having a friend?s 6 year old round I let her play with Kolgate too. She picked up the skills, such as they are, needed to use the Kougra properly very easily but again there was not enough to entertain her. She got bored within about an hour. So it doesn?t just fail with adults and toddlers, but also the very target age that it is aimed at.

Having taken me half an hour to remove all the screws affixing the Kougra to its base I have to say I am very disappointed with it. It is very cute and adorable but it fails to provide very much entertainment beyond this. It is simple enough for a child to use certainly but not interesting enough to keep their attention for very long. For £15.99 I expected this to be more than a sweet looking display piece, which is what it is now, 6 months after Christmas. Unless you see this going for a very cheap price, I wouldn?t recommend a Neopet Voice Activated Kougra to even die hard Neopets fans. It?s a well constructed toy, but the lack of features means it has a limited shelf life. Distinctly average. ***




The voice activated pets also come as Kacheeks, Myncis, Scorchios, Shoyrus and Unis. They include their own batteries and are available to buy from The Entertainer for £15.99.

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