Nintendogs Lab & Friends

8.8
Great

Gameplay	8.0	"Nintendogs puts a uniquely DS-twist on the old virtual pet fad and..."
Graphics	8.0
Sound	7.0
Value	7.0

By Daniel SR

Don’t give me that look. No, Spunky! Don’t… Awwwww! Who’s the cutie? Who wants another point in their review score? How can I say no to that face? Come here - good girl!

Don’t pity me. It’s a scientific fact no one can resist puppies. The gaming magicians at Nintendo know this. These are the folks who let Donkey Kong grab air on the NES and brought 150 pocket monsters to our Game Boys. Nintendogs for Nintendo DS is the latest product from that dream team, and if Spunky’s ability to negotiate is any indication, it could be Nintendo’s most adorable schoolyard hit yet.

Make no mistake, Nintendogs isn’t the first to simulate puppy love. We’ve been killing and cleaning up after virtual critters as far back as our primary school days. What separates Spunky from his tamagotchi forefathers lies in the game’s execution on the Nintendo DS hardware. It’s Nintendogs unique use of voice recognition and touching that makes it feel so natural you could be fooled into believing this was the sole game the DS was designed for.

In a Pokemon-esque marketing move, Nintendogs arrives in your choice of three flavours of dog: Lab and Friends, Dachschund and Friends, and Chihuahua and Friends. The only difference between each version is the breed of pups in the starting selection. Each cart actually features all the dogs, but you’ll need to put in the hard yards to unlock the rest of the breeds.

Once you’ve grabbed a version you can pick your own photorealistic pup from the kennel. And to individualise your choice, each parcel of cuteness has its own breed, gender, colouring and personality. From here you will quickly become acquainted with the touch and voice elements used to interact with your new slobber-machine. The stylus and touch screen are used to throw toys and stroke your new pet. Using the mic, you can name and call your pup by voice, and most importantly, train it to respond to everything from ‘sit’ to ‘moon the screen’.

After the brief tutorial, life with your nintendog is completely free reign. You can choose to do everything from walk your dog, train it, feed it, groom it, play with it, or enter it in a contest. There are no rules and no objectives, only the vague premise that the happier your dog is the more it will do. The consequences for ill treatment are surprisingly modest. Your pal will retain its wet puppy nose till the end of time and never die - at worst your pup might run away from lack of attention. If not fed, your famished K-9 will forage for a hotdog in the garbage. Call it typical Nintendo wholesomeness, but for owners both results are a lot less irritating than the alternatives.

Thankfully, there’s satisfaction to be gained even from mundane actions like feeding and grooming. Walking will increase your dog’s stamina, and a well-drawn route will open access to parks, gyms, new shops and items lying on the street. Training your dog with new tricks stands as the best use of the DS mic yet. However, it’s the frisbee throwing, agility and obedience contests that prove the most challenging and varying staple of your daily routine - and the hefty monetary rewards only accentuate this. Besides paying for food and water, cash is essential if you want to pamper your pooch. You can purchase new toys, new collars and ribbons, renovate your room, or even buy more dogs.

Watching a group of puppies tackle and jump over each other in the park can melt even the most cynical hearts. This is what Nintendogs does best. All nintendogs are well rendered and fluidly animated, and this photorealism adds a thick coat of charm and believability to the game. The AI too is impressive, and there’s a fishbowl like appeal to sitting back and watching your pups play together. While it is a pity the environments are bland and uninteractive, it does emphasise the dogs as the stars of the show.

Complimenting the look and personality of each individual dog, each breed has its own distinctive array of barks and whimpers. Toys squeak and balls thud with appropriate realism, and the outdoor cacophony of bird twitters and car engines add a subtle sense of atmosphere. The music loops with cheerful enthusiasm, but remarkably won’t get on your nerves.

It’s unfortunate that, like Animal Crossing for GameCube, Nintendogs functions best as a game played in brief spurts or a couple of times a week. The game limits excessive play by restricting owners from entering contests more than three times a day, teaching a pup too many tricks a day, or even venturing on a walk more than once every half hour. For casual players this won’t be a problem, but for hardcore gamers your range of daily activities will quickly become limited.

It is worth noting, again, that touching and talking in Nintendogs feels like the most natural extension of the Nintendo DS yet. This is the purest example of a product that couldn’t function on any other hardware, and this is the reason it triumphs. A lack of motivation for extended play may rightfully turn away regular gamers, but it remains an experiment worth trying. It’s when you engage in the simple pleasures of teaching your puppy to rollover using your own voice, or scratching behind its ear to reward it for the perfect frisbee catch that you’ll begin to understand what makes this game so special.

Who can resist a puppy?

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Reply

On 5 May 2009, 01:40PM Posted by simcharles

Hahaha I called my dog f*ggot... He's a good boy! He can do a handstand! lol