My Talking Tom Friends 2: Top tips you need to know to get started

The heart in the top-left corner of the screen indicates your progress. Each time you fill it up, you advance a level, and sometimes you’ll unlock a new feature in doing so. That could be a prop, activity, or game, or even a new friend, complete with their own house.

The good news is that collecting the hearts you need to level up is both easy and fun. All you have to do is help your pals meet their needs and wishes. Look out for the little speech and thought bubbles above their heads - the picture contained inside tells you what they’re after. So, if Angela has a knife and fork in her bubble, take her to the picnic table and feed her. Or if Tom has a guitar pictured, take him to his house and rock out!

You can also earn hearts throughout the night once your friends have turned in, either in their own beds or while having a sleep over.

Usually, by the time the sun rises, you’ll have levelled up after earning hearts throughout the night.

On the left side of the neighbourhood, there’s a row of buildings, each of which provides different goods and services. Some of them can be used to help your friends’ needs; others have fun activities to do. From left to right, they are:

The Plant Nursery is where you can sow seeds. Simply drag a seed packet from a shelf to one of the planters to make your plants grow. Water with the can by dragging it over, or give it to one of your friends to pour. If it needs fertilizer, do the same with the spray bottle. Once a plant is fully grown, drag it to one of the friends and they will plant it.

The Supermarket offers up food and drink, so drag the items off the shelf and into the cart, or simply tap them. Then, when you’ve got everything you want, tap the register to pay. Your items will be transferred to the picnic table outside.

If one of your friends wants a new look then head over to the Clothes Store. Just drag an outfit to a character—or vice versa—or tap on a friend and then the attire you wish to dress them in. All of the outfits you purchase are stored in the closet at your friends’ houses.

Lastly, the Health Centre offers lots of fun interactive features, ranging from a massage chair to an X-ray machine to doctor’s uniform for the friends to try on.

Welcome to the park. Spanning from the plant nursery to the basketball court, here are some of the outdoor activities the friends can enjoy here.

It’s always picnic weather in Tom’s new neighbourhood so, whenever your friends are hungry, tap the picnic table or drag them to it. To feed your pals, drag the food items off the table and into their mouths, or simply tap on a food item.

Want to play in the fountain or make a wish? Then flip a coin. You can also drag one or more of your favourite friends into the water so they can splash around.

The playground offers lots of fun, including balancing on the rail. This can be done by dragging a character onto the apparatus. If they’re feeling daring, they’ll try to walk along it. Otherwise, they’ll just sit and kick their feet. Last, but not least, you can also play with toys and mini-games in the park, but there are so many of them in My Talking Tom Friends 2 that they get a section of their very own (read on to find out more).

By tapping the button on the bottom-left of the screen you can access the props you’ve unlocked so far. Tap on a prop in the menu to zoom in, then tap on the prop itself to get the selected friend to play with it. Or you can drag a friend onto a prop, and sometimes they’ll even start playing with a prop without any prompting.

Once a friend is interacting with their prop, tap the game-pad button over their head to launch that prop’s mini-game. The six props available in the launch version of the game are:

The Ride-on Mower: You can trim the grass or clear away snow. You can highlight an area to clear by holding your finger on the screen, and the mower will move towards it, but also make sure to collect the coins that are lying around. You can also open boxes for more coins.

The RC Car: In this racing mini-game, you steer and control your acceleration with the same thumb or finger. But your car also steers automatically, even if you don’t.

Hold your finger on the screen to increase the throttle. You can go full speed around most corners, but on the right-angle bends and the hairpins, you’ll need to slow down. As you approach those tighter bends, take your finger off the screen for just a second before accelerating around the corner.

The Marble Maze: A prop with two game modes and two control systems. In Hole mode, your goal is to get the ball to a hole. Bug Mode has the same objective but with added bugs. Be warned, sometimes you have to squish one to get a key.

The default control system is tilt controls. Simply tilt your phone, or tablet, as if it is the marble maze. Or if you prefer, you can enable touch controls and move the ball with your finger.

Paper Planes: Tap on the blueprint board to choose which design you want to use. Follow the guidelines to fold your piece of paper into a plane. When it’s finished, tap the Throw button. Now comes the really fun part. Use your finger to lift your plane up, then swipe to the right as fast as you can to throw it. A quick tip: the best angle for launch is 45°. During its flight, you can tap the screen to lift the nose of your plane so that it keeps flying forwards. You can also collect more fuel by flying into the blue stars.

Kite Creator: Start by selecting the shape of the kite you want. Next, use your finger to guide the scissors along the dotted line before using paint brushes to colour in your chosen design. After that, add some stickers and accessories to the string. Then return to the park to watch a friend flying the kite you created.

Skateboard: Hold your finger on the screen and move it up and down to guide your skater. Skate as far as you can while collecting coins, all without bailing into any of the obstacles standing in your way.

To access mini-games in My Talking Tom Friends 2, tap the game-pad button below the big heart in the top-left corner of the screen—this opens a menu screen featuring all of the mini-games, including the ones linked to props—or, access the same screen via the games console located on the bench to the right of the fountain. The remaining mini-games can also be accessed via the game environment:

Street Art: At the basketball court, there's a wall intended for street art. Tap the wall, or drag a character to it to start painting. You can start with a stencil design, or opt for a “blank canvas”. Each design is made up of several stencils, which you use to build your picture one layer at a time.

When you start a new stencil, a suitable colour will be selected for you, but you can change it at any time if you choose. Spray over the stencil until the next one is highlighted, then tap on that to start the following layer.

Football Training: This mini-game is a series of challenges where you have to score a goal while collecting coins and avoiding obstacles. Simply tap the goal, or drag a character to it, then tap the game-pad button above their head to go to the training ground. Every time your character reaches the ball, the action will freeze, at which point you’ll need to draw a line to direct your kick. Your character will do their best to follow this path. You can take as many kicks as you need, so it’s worth dribbling through the coins on display before taking a shot on goal.

Rock Stars: Tap the guitar in Tom’s house, or drag a character onto it to start the game. A Jam Session involves Tom, Angela, and Hank, and is a bit easier than a Big Show. Select a Big Show if you want a full-production rock extravaganza featuring all five friends. To put in a perfect performance, wait for the arrows to pop up above each band member, and swipe in the direction indicated. In Hank’s case, there’ll be two dots instead of an arrow, so tap the screen twice to make him perform a flawless drum fill. Swipe to the right when the big arrow pops up, and the whole band will give the song a big crescendo.

Basketball Court: To shoot some hoops, you can tap the basketball court, or drag a character to it, then tap the game-pad button above their head. In a 3-shot contest, your goal is to score 3 out of 3 attempts.

If you select Free For All, you can shoot as much as you want. To shoot, simply swipe up towards the hoop. Don’t swipe too hard or fast; accuracy is more important than power or speed.

Makeup Mirror: give your character a fierce glow by selecting a friend to send over to Angela’s house. You can choose between blusher, eyeliner, lipstick, or mascara (mascara is for the girls only). Use your finger to apply the makeup to the correct part of the character’s face. If you want to remove any makeup, then tap the cotton pads and use your finger to wipe the makeup off.

Tap the check mark when you're finished and your character will now have a glamorous new look.

The Vivarium is a creative mini-game where you build structures in the sand, and is accessed inside Hank’s house. Tap the hammer icon on the left to choose from a wide selection of structures to form the foundation of your sandpit construction. Then, drag them onto the sand to add them; you can also stack items on top of each other. Tap the bucket to add toys to your structures, and tap the lizard button to add a variety of cute critters. If you want to remove an item, then select the spade. If you want to start over, simply move the bomb to the sandpit.

As if there wasn’t already enough fun to be had in the neighbourhood, the friends can also take a day trip to the Water Park. But keep an eye out for the bus; it runs on its own schedule. When it does show up, drop everything and get all of the friends on board. If you want to, you can move the friends to the bus stop, where they’ll sit and wait.

When you’ve arrived, drag each friend into the changing cabin and they will put on their bathing suits. Once you’re all ready you can do the following: use the water slide (drag them into the elevator at the bottom); swim in the pool or use a floatie, make a splash and dive off the diving board; sit in the lifeguard chair; use water blasters, beach balls, bubble wands; or use the ice cream factory then kick back in a sun lounger. Simply drag your friend to each item to use them. When you’re ready to head home, tap the bus.

Additional destinations will be added in later updates.