Dr Cares: Family Practice is a unique take on the time management genre in that it builds an entire storyline after each level and allows you to make choices that will affect how the story unfolds later in the game. I don't think I've ever encountered anything like Dr Cares Family Practice before and I'm not really sure what to think of it. 

 

First off, it feels like it's targeting a much younger crowd, probably more tween girl than old lady such as myself so that's probably where a lot of the disconnect was coming from. There were full-on songs in the game, nothing I recongnized, of course, but they all had that pop sound going for them, and I wouldn't have thought twice if it were on the radio. 

 

There's also a lot of hugging and kissing throughout the story. The main character, Amy, and her boyfriend are constantly touching each other, which was super cute in the beginning but got old very quickly. Enough already. We get you love each other, get a room! 

 

 

Anyhow, I've never played the other Dr Cares games, but I didn't seem too left out. There are A LOT of cut scenes, so you quickly learn everyone's relationship to each other. There's Amy, the main character and her boyfriend Jack. Then there's her grandfather, her best friend Lisa, and Crystal who seems to run the clinic. Then, of course, there is the estranged mother, Alice, who makes an appearance in the very beginning of the game before we go back to a flashback. Clearly there's a lot of animosity between Amy and her mother, Alice, and their story is what the game seems to be centered around. 

 

As far as the gameplay in Dr Cares Family Practice goes, there wasn't anything too earth shattering there. It was pretty much your classic time management game where you have to serve customers, but in this case they were orphans who wanted riding supplies or help with their ponies. You need to bring the kids their items or check on their pony in a timely manner or else the kids get upset and you lose major points. 

 

 

There are a lot of mini-games scattered through the game as well. For example, when you go to bandage a pony's leg, you need to drag the bandage across the leg a few times, or when you need to get burrs out of a pony's hair, you need to brush the hair and click on the burr to remove it.

 

I think calling these "mini-games" is a bit of a stretch though... it's really just clicking on things. There's not much "play" to the game and it does get boring rather quickly. I mean, I get what they were going for, but I think actually having to play some kind of puzzle or game would be a little more entertaining than what was presented. 

 

 

Dr Cares: Family Practice is available in a Collector's Edition that includes all your classic goodies including extra levels. The game also includes a pet room where you can purchase pets and decorate their rooms with items. There's also a trophy room where you can work on getting trophies by accomplishing certain things throughout the game. 

 

Overall, I have to hand it to the developers for this one, Dr Cares: Family Practice is pretty unique. It plays like a tween show on the Disney channel. It wasn't really my cup of tea, but I can see the appeal and I think my horse crazy 11 year old niece would absolutely love it.

 

If you or a horse loving family member would like to play Dr Cares Family Practice for free to see how it fits into your gameplaying library, you can play the game up to 60 minutes for free by clicking on the install button above.