Eleven years ago Maxis introduced the world to a life Simulation game called The Sims. In The Sims, you could create a virtual family of 'Sims', give them a home and watch them live out their daily lives in any way you wished. Today, this same series still lives on with The Sims 3 and expansion packs. Last year, Electronic Arts released The Sims 3 on the Xbox 360 console which was pretty faithful to the PC version of the same game and now The Sims 3: Pets has 'pawed' its way onto the Xbox 360, giving the Sims some furry family members to deal with.

My time spent with The Sims series has been quite a long one, dating back to the first game and all of its expansions. Hundreds of hours were spent playing these unique and addictive games. When The Sims 2 came out, of course I had to play that and each expansion as they were released on the PC. When The Sims 3 arrived, I did not have a PC good enough to run it so I had to settle for the Xbox 360 version. The Sims is a series that I will always play and follow and is just one of those games that is great for killing time and having a blast while doing it.

A lot of people were expecting Pets to be an expansion pack for The Sims 3 but things turned out differently with it being a stand-alone game with no need to own The Sims 3 to play it. But if you do own The Sims 3, save files and DLC cannot be used in The Sims 3: Pets.

After being presented with a catchy title screen tune and menu you are given the option of creating your very own family, choosing an existing household or importing one that you have saved or a family downloaded from The Exchange. The Sims 3: Pets character creation can be a pretty detailed and long process if you like tweaking each feature or it can be as short as pressing X to randomise your Sim and their traits. Once you have given your Sim a name, gender, and weight you then have to choose a variety of other features for your Sim like hair, eye colour, clothing and their personality. Traits are used to determine how your Sim will react to certain situations or people and can either be good or bad for your Sim. For example, if your Sim is shy she will not like approaching other Sims as much as she would if you selected a more outgoing trait.

With the traits out of the way, you can choose a lifetime goal for your Sim, this will make them have a focus in their life and many of their daily activities will most likely be geared towards this goal. You can create up to six Sims in your family of which five of those can be pets. There are only two types of pets in The Sims 3: Pets, cats and dogs. Both types of pets have over 20 breeds to choose from as well as a variety of different colours to customise your furry companion.

Once you have settled your Sims into a home, you can make their lives very interesting with the variety of things to do or find within the town of Sugar Maple Coast. The town is a nice size and offers a lot of locations for your Sims to visit for work, shopping or relaxation. The local pool, spa, theatre, graveyards, bookstore, pet store, grocery store, parks, beach, caves and the lighthouse, are just some of the places that your Sims can visit. Your Sims can even stop by the homes of NPC within the game and if you are lucky, they can stay the night. A nice little feature for The Sims 3: Pet's town is that you can make minor changes to each place on the map. You can't change too much but you can give your town your own personal touch.

The two best ways for your Sims to make a living are skills and jobs. You can paint pictures with the artist easel, write a bestselling book, create a Sim robot with the inventor's bench and then send them back in time. Growing flowers, fruit, veggies and plants can be another good pastime for your Sim as well as finishing at the various water locations about town. Most of the items you create can be sold for a profit. If working at home isn't the thing for your Sim, they can find a job in the paper or on the internet. These jobs range from being a cook, journalist, policeman, musician or businessman, just to name a few.

Your Sims and pets can earn karma points when they complete challenges or goals. When you have gained enough points you can unlock Karma power. These powers allow you to do good or bad things to your Sims. For example, you can give a Sim bad luck for a short time or increase their moods with a different power. The pets are not left out, they too can be affected by a karma power. For example, there is one power which allows you to turn your dog or cat into a Sim and back again into their original forms.

Pets can be very useful family members. You can send dogs out to dig up treasures or other items and your cat can be trained to hunt prey. Both of these skills can be improved with use and will get better over time. Your Sims can interact with the pets by talking to them, playing, grooming and teaching them tricks. Pets can get paid jobs around town working at the hospital, police station or at the criminal hideout. Like Sims, the pets can also find a mate and breed. If you have puppies or kittens that you don't want it can be quite difficult to get rid of them, however, there is one option. If you have a friend who also owns the game and you both have an Xbox Live Gold account, you can send unwanted pets to them. The Exchange is available to you over Xbox Live. This is where you can upload your Sims, their homes or any objects you have edited for other players to use. A news feed detailing your activities as well as updates from your friends can also be accessed through the Exchange.

An interesting new feature worth mentioning is the Mystery Journal and ghost hunting. You can get the journal by visiting the City Hall early on in the game. This book contains a bunch of mysteries that can be completed by your Sims and pets. You are given clues to follow until you reach the end where you'll be rewarded with a treasure or prizes. Ghost haunting and paranormal activities will take place at night and either your Sim with the right tools or a cat with a high hunting skill can capture ghosts to make some extra money.

The Sims 3: Pets is a fun game for fans of the series but it is not 'purrfect'. I encountered a few bugs whilst playing the game including a corrupt save file and disappearing pizza boxes. Unfortunately, the corrupt save file resulted in having to restart the game while other minor bugs seemed to come and go at random.