STRANGE sounds were leaking out of my bedroom. Yowls, eager barks, cars honking, gibberish exclamations, scratching of furniture, meows... and hysterical laughter.
My room didn't turn into some suburban zoo.
I was just having quite a bit of fun playing TheSims Pet Stories while sprawled on my bed.
It's the second release in TheSims Stories line from Electronic Arts, the spin-off which has been designed for casual laptop play.
As a casual player, I was so uncommitted to my game that I didn't realise my Sims character was fighting a Musical Fountain-like leak in her bathroom.
So it was quite a shocker that I actually whined in anticipation of getting my paws on Pet Stories to review.
If you are a lazy gamer, play in the directed Story Mode instead of the open-ended Free Play Mode.
ALICE IN BLUNDERLAND
In the Story Mode, you're Alice, who is about to have her home repossessed. Will her Dalmatian win a cash prize at a dog show to save their home?
Or go on to play Stephen, whose bachelor life is turned upside down by a spoilt cat.
Each story has 12 bite-sized segments to complete.
In the Alice story, there was a furious amount of gibberish talk when I got to the part of the plot where Alice stood in her black undies in front of said home while having, well, a catfight with the bitchy real estate queen Diana.
There are auto-pilot bits, so the fur starts flying the moment you greet Diana. But you get to choose if you want to give her a hard poke or bellow at her to get lost.
And oh, the black undies? Optional. You can fight in your formal wear too.
Or morph your face for fiercer brows and a bigger mouth.
But while the in-game storylines are amusing, they're now barely at the level of sophistication where they'll merit a separate review.
I actually prefer playing in the Free Play Mode. It's hysterically funnier, since I'm bound only by my fevered imagination.
The customisation means you're more invested in the characters you've created from scratch.
And the characters I most enjoyed creating are the ones who are fond of scratching themselves and furniture - pets. They're so much more adorable to tinker with than the usual hunk.
Fat haunches and cheeks? Check.
Button nose and pert tail? Check.
Lovely how kitty lets out a meow as you're customising her.
Actually, the meow could have come from my neglected real-life cat sulking at the foot of my bed.
I spent so much time fussing over the Sims pets' appearance that I almost didn't put them into play.
But you've got to, if only to enjoy yelling, along with your Sims human, when doggy destroys the brand new bed. Or watch moggy yowl along to music from the CD player.
TRAINING
You can't control your Sims pet, but you can train them via the human. So do a lot of scolding as well as hugging.
Talking about control, my little laptop handled Pet Stories quite neatly.
It's unlike The Sims2, which needs a higher-end computer to run smoothly because of 3Denvironments and real-time activities.
So it's worth taking Pet Stories for a walk. It will leave you purring.
