I got this coupon in the mail for a discount on a used game, and they didn’t have much used games in store so I grabbed a copy of Nintendogs +cats.
Seriously, though. That was my choice. My reasoning was that I wanted a game I could pick up and put down at random intervals, mainly so I could play at work. My daughter had the original game a few years back and I found playing with the puppies to be quite relaxing.
How do I go about describing this game to you? Well, in layman’s terms it’s a virtual pet. You feed it, bathe it, walk it and play with it, then it gets hungry, thirsty and dirty and you start over again. The game relies on touchscreen controls, as well as the camera and microphone, so in essence you can touch and talk to your puppy, and it can see you and recognize you as well, this makes an ever greater bond between you and the virtual canine (you can also use the pedometer to “walk with your dog”, but the rewards you get aren’t that great and it has the frustrating habit of rounding your steps DOWN by the thousand). I still smile when my pup turns to face me when I call her name, or notices I’m staring. It is all very relaxing, almost therapeutic, and the puppies are just delightful to watch. Nintendo really knows how to exploit the ages-old bond between homo sapiens and canis lupus.
Now, in gamer’s terms… meh, it’s hardly even a game! Everything in the game is so organic I was never certain whether I did something wrong or my puppy was having an attitude with me. Did I lose the race or did the dog lose it? Did I mispronounce the command or was the puppy distracted? This doesn’t ever get to the point of being frustrating – I mean, c’mon, puppies! – But it does make me wonder. You can teach your dog tricks, which is really cute. However, you need to say the commands out loud, which, even if you’re not embarrassed to do in public, isn’t feasible because it won’t hear you over the slightest background noise. Playing outside is the reason I bought a handheld system in the first place! Also, when you first take them for a walk they start off with a lot of bad habits you can gradually break by tugging at the leash and giving them a treat if they settle down, I mention this in the videogame part because you really need to pay attention while on these walks (or else your dog will do horrible things like rolling in puddles, chasing birds, humping your leg and eating roadkill). Not as relaxing as I wanted.
The most game-like portion are the competitions, there’s flying disk, lure chasing and obedience trials. You need to practice with your pup at home and it needs to gradually get better. So no matter how good you are at flicking that disk off your touchscreen, reeling the lure in or how well you enunciate your command, your pup will suck for a while. And when it’s gotten good, sometimes it just fails (again, you never know if the game’s not responding or if your puppy is trolling you). As a reward for winning a competition you are granted access to a more advanced competition, when you beat the last one you get an item your pup can wear, like a cheesy-looking crown or a medal, nothing awesome. This can only motivate you so far.
I also want to discuss the use of AR cards. You can use them to watch your dog and take pictures of it, and if you print an AR card image enlarged to fit a letter-sized page, the dog will be pretty close to the size of a real dog, which is really neat. Too bad you can’t do much with the dog in this game mode. The obedience competitions force you to play in AR mode, so not only do you need a quiet place so your pup can hear your commands; you also need a bright place to place your AR card and plenty of room to move around. I haven’t gotten any far in these competitions simply because it’s such a hassle.
Everything else flows too organically. Progress in general is measured in “trainer points” you gain when you take care of your puppies, which you have to do anyway, so in the end it’s only a matter of time until you start unlocking things, like accessories, toys and more breeds to adopt. In addition your pup will constantly pick up junk on walks that may be recycled and exchanged for rare items (that you unlock with trainer points). I hadn’t even beaten all the competitions and I think I have all the endgame content.
Speaking of endgame content, besides the fact that you get it for practically no effort, it’s not really gratifying. There’s a secret breed that is actually a robot puppy. Now there’s a dog that does everything just like every other breed, but is made of shiny plastic! Great job at holding the suspension of disbelief! Ugh. Besides, it’s ugly. There’s also a sci-fi house that also makes everything look fake. After I spent a fortune on it I went and bought back the default home so it feels more like pets in a house instead of cartoons.
The game puts the StreetPass and SpotPass features to good use. Whenever you tag someone with the game, their mii and pets come over and show up on your game on occasion, you can also share pictures from the game, but since AR pictures are also allowed, gratuitous penis shots are always a possibility. They also send special guests over SpotPass on occasion, normally former US presidents and their pets.
The graphics are amazing and the dogs have great detail, the backgrounds are pretty plain, but get the job done. The menus are very elegant and intuitive, except at the beginning after you choose your first puppy, then you have to wait until it gets used to your house before you can do anything with it. ANYTHING! When I bought the game, before I wiped the save, it had a mangy, dirty dog running around that hadn’t even been named! Apparently the previous owner got tired of waiting for a menu to appear. The sound isn’t great though, some of the breeds’ barks sound like adult dogs instead of puppies, and the Siberian Husky has a weird echo to it. Other sounds like panting, drinking and eating (generic to all breeds including robopup (I know, weird, huh?)) seem to have been captured in a studio using props, and while they do the trick over the speakers, they sound awful on headphones. The music is definitely Nintendo-grade. My biggest issue, though, was battery usage. Apparently since this game constantly uses every single piece of hardware on the handheld (well except the motion sensors), my battery would last, say, about half as much as with other games!
The verdict: Buy the game if you’re into virtual pets, time-wasters, or want to fully exploit every feature the system has to offer. Don’t buy the game if you are expecting challenging gameplay, any kind of rewards, or can’t devote time to it. Also, the game is definitely not for little kids, it requires patience and dedication.
