Upon looking at the cover of the Hamsterz Life box, my first instinct is to smack that hamster silly. It's knitting and apparently doing a better job than I. There's nothing worse than an uppity rodent.

Let's back up a bit, though, to see how I came to have that look at the knitting hamster. My daughter likes going to pet stores to look at the animals. She always has been interested in the mice and hamsters, but she will never have a real one for a number of reasons: She has a puppy, I refuse to take care of any more live pets and her grandma would freak if anything even remotely resembling a mouse was in the house. Given all of this, it was worth it to have a look at Hamsterz Life and see if a virtual rodent would satisfy her need to care for and play with a small rodent.

A young person named Hammy greats me as I begin the game. I think it's a little girl — it kind of looks like a little girl, except she has hamster ears. Given that the game appears to be aimed at a young child, I was really surprised at the amount of reading involved as Hammy teaches you about caring for hamsters. If you want your child to actually learn about hamsters, you're going to need to be around while they play unless they're already a reader.

After the intro text, I get to choose my hamster. There are a few different breeds, as well as two or three color options per breed. I have to say that I had never heard of the majority of these breeds, but then I also haven't studied hamsters. You can choose between Campbell, Golden, Djungarian, Cutie and Baby. What I want to know is, where is the teddy bear hamster I keep seeing in the local pet store?

Just to be wild, I pick a Djungarian hamster and make it white. I'm told that my hamster is, "very graceful and naive like a high-class lady." Um, OK ... that's kind of an odd description, but I can work with it. Since I've always enjoyed the "Pinky and the Brain" cartoons, I have to name my hamster Snowball. Let's hope it doesn't decide to try and take over the world.

Hammy admonishes me to be kind to my hamster, to not poke it and to pet it to make it a happy hamster. With those parting words, I'm on my way to hamster parenthood.

I can easily check the status of my hamster from the touchscreen. From there, I learn the hamster's name, species, owner name, Tummy status (full at the moment), Body status (clean for now), how long I've had the hamster, a picture of the hamster, along with access to a list of words learned and friends.

I have a number of ways I can interact with Snowball. There's a Food menu, Care menu, Toys menu and Pattern menu, as well as options for Outing, a bell to ring to call her and a little "Play" icon appears when she wants to play with me. I can give my hamster regular food, water or treats that I've acquired. I need to brush her regularly to keep her clean, as well as use a little broom to clean her cage. I can even pick her up in my virtual hand and pet her with the stylus.

I can touch the little "?" icon at any time to access any of the numerous tutorials. There are tutorials for Food, Care, Toys, Pattern, Words, Play, Outing, New Hamster and Owner Info. I was a little confused on Pattern at first, but it turns out Pattern means the cage configuration, accessories in the cage and any outfits my hamster might be dressed in (or have available to change into). As with the introduction to the game, there is a lot of reading involved if you're going to make use of the tutorials.

When I started, it was obvious that there's only one save-game slot. I'm thinking it's good that there's only one kid wanting to play, or I'd be looking at an additional cartridge. I was curious about the New Hamster option, so I checked out that tutorial. Apparently you can adopt up to six hamsters in a given game but can only have one out to play with at a time. You swap your active hamster through the Outing option.

Along with the standard pet care options (like attention, food, water and cleanliness), I also have to see to my hamster's education. I don't know how smart a real hamster is, but a Hamsterz hamster can learn to recognize words and phrases. You'll be teaching the little furball using the built-in DS microphone.

When you are ready to teach your hamster, summon him or her with the little brass bell. My initial options are Speak and Teach. While I'm trying to teach Snowball one of the feeling words (using the microphone), she asks me questions with a little thought bubble. The language is not necessarily geared toward a younger child. Snowball asked me how to convey she was feeling proud, and I can pick one of three responses from a list. It's not that the questions are super hard by any means, but some of the translations feel a bit rough, and I'm not sure that the younger player will understand what the hamster is asking — given that they can even read the text in the first place.

There isn't a money system in Hamsterz Life, so your upgrades are primarily going to come from playing the mini-games. Unfortunately, you can only access these mini-games at your hamster's whim. The hamster pops up the "Play" icon and chooses the game. If you hamster doesn't feel like playing, you're out of luck. You can choose Outing and let your hamster out of the cage. You will see tiny gift-wrapped packages scattered around the room. You also can get items for your hamster from those packages, if your hamster chooses to go investigate the package. You can nudge her in that direction by picking her up and putting her down near the package, but it's still up to her to actually open it.

I like the idea of Hamsterz, and the little furballs are certainly cute, but the implementation leaves me scratching my head. Under owner information, someone tell me why on Earth the game would want to know the owner's blood type? Is the hamster planning something nefarious that I should know about?

I'm not sure how long the game will hold an older child's attention, but it has too much reading required for a very young child to follow. I think limiting play of the mini-games to when the hamster initiates really restricts how long the game is going to keep anyone's attention. My daughter is interested in our virtual hamster for short spurts of time, but I don't know how much playtime it's going to get in the long run. I don't know that I feel Hamsterz Life is worth the just under $20 price tag on its own, but when I weigh it against not having to think about a real hamster, the value definitely evens out.

If your child really wants to take care of a hamster, and you really don't, give Hamsterz Life a look. The graphics are cute, and the music is perky. I think it will meet your hamster needs.