My only complaints are you really have to stay attentive to your foal or it will easily fall ill, which is a pain, and I haven't figured out yet if wireless play is really necessary to unlock some features. She handles all of the chores and even manages the different competition tracks, better than me sometimes! Unlike the PC and DS versions, the Wii and PlayStation 2 versions of the games are adventure games, so instead of taking care of a virtual pet, the player plays as a dog or cat who lives in a southern half of a village called Pawville, on a large island.There is a learning curve with this game, but it is also a lot of fun once you hit the straight-away! Even my 4-yr-old sits and plays this game. The player goes on an adventure to stop an evil wolf named Ivlet from causing chaos on the island, and eventually destroying the world. There are various other characters, such as Victor, a friend of the player character, Gertrude, who runs the medicine shop known as the "Drug Store", Kenneth, who runs a Zoo, Stanley, a carpenter, and many others. The Wii versions of Petz Dogz 2 and Petz Catz 2 (Catz and Dogz in Europe) were originally released in Japan under the name Kitten And The Magic Hat (Catz 2) & Puppy And The Magic Hat. Jacob Kaufman composed the soundtrack for these games. The game is based on The Dog Island, in which the player controls a dog or cat through environments while completing tasks. Before the game starts, the player is asked to choose the animal's breed, gender, and finally, name, all of which have no bearing in the game itself. The player can walk, run, creep, and push rocks as locomotion.
Throughout the game, the player faces a variety of hostile animals, such as snakes, gorillas, bats, and others, who will hurt the player if they tread too closely. When an enemy attacks, the bubble indicating their mood above their head changes. The player starts out at 3 HP, which is upgraded at certain points in the game up to 8 if all of them are depleted, the player has to start over from the last save point. The player can stun enemies by barking/meowing behind them, which can be held down for a longer effect (in the dog's case, it will turn their bark into a howl), or by throwing pebbles against them. Bubbles appear above friendly non-playable characters as well to indicate that they need the player's help for a task. The player can explore 14 locales in the game, including the beach "Dolphin Coast", lake "Lappy Lake", forest "Whisker Woods", and so on. Not all of them are open for the player at the start, requiring specific tasks to be completed first. While the player will visit every area at one point in the game, many parts are optional and can be opened by skills obtained later in the game.
Once the player earns the Warp Ring from Arvin (the player character's father) they can warp between six locales for free through a magical stone normally used for saving. Each area has its own hazards independent from the hostile animals, such as a poisonous lake in Sky Heights, overheating in Inferno Cave, and tornadoes in Lonesome Park. Some areas host zoo animals that can be challenged for mini-games, including soccer and sprint, to make them return to South Pawville's zoo, where the player can challenge them again. The game is tightly knit as compared to The Dog Island South Pawville acts as a central hub that connects all branches of the island.