Reviewed: September 17, 2005
Reviewed by: Brendon Hivner
Publisher
Nintendo
Developer
Nintendo
Released: August 22, 2005
Genre: Virtual Pet
Players: 1-2
ESRB: Everyone
9
8
5
8
8.3
Supported Features:
Hating puppies is about the only reason you wouldn’t enjoy Nintendogs, Nintendo’s new puppy sim for the Nintendo DS. With its very lifelike puppy animations and adorable breeds, Nintendogs may be just what you’re looking for. And if you’re not looking forward to this kind of game, one visit to the virtual kennel will change your mind.
What makes Nintendogs so good is that the game literally makes use of the DS’s unique features. In fact, those features are pushed to the forefront, making the title uniquely engaging and quite intuitive. Unfortunately, the game itself is restricting at times, allowing the player only short bursts of real entertainment daily. While seemingly perfect for a portable environment, the limited play is a bummer for long trips or extended time away from a console.
It wouldn’t be fair to label Nintendogs as a “game”, and yet it’d be just as unfair to label it anything else. While it certainly draws comparisons to virtual pets, Nintendogs in reality is much more than that. The concept is pretty basic. Right from the get-go, you are ushered to the kennel where you can purchase your puppy. Each version of the game has different breeds initially available, though all breeds can eventually be unlocked on one version.
From there, the virtual pet similarities begin. You begin taking care of your puppy: bathing him, feeding him, and playing. You can earn money by entering your puppy into competitions. Disc competitions, obedience trials (the most technically engaging), and endurance performances are all available, and each test a different play mechanic of the game.
The gameplay is grossly satisfying, despite being so simple, and this is largely thanks to how you’re interacting. You can train your puppy to learn tricks, and is mostly done via the DS microphone. Your dog can learn its own name just by speaking into the mic. And with each new trick learned, you give it a new command by using the mic. From that point on, speaking that command will make your puppy perform the trick, just as it would in real life. This interaction is also why the obedience trials are so fun, as there is a certain feeling of satisfaction knowing your puppy’s AI is reacting to your voice.
Unfortunately, the best part of the game is also the most hit-and-miss. While Nintendogs generally performs better than other voice-activated games, it’s still far from perfect, as everything you speak to your puppy to learn must be said the same way every time. Even though you may have taught your dog to sit down, the word “sit” (or whatever word or phrase you came up with) must be said exactly as it was when you taught it, making it sometimes a very frustrating chore to make your puppy do the simplest of things. It’s also worth noting that if someone else has trained your puppy with a trick or two, the fact that your voices are different will have an impact on how well your puppy will respond to a command. In some cases, it simply won’t work.
Commitment is another issue. As in real life, a puppy must be cared for, and the game goes by in real time, even when you aren’t playing. Definitely a cool feature, though that also means that if you don’t plan on playing for awhile, your dog will not be cared for in that time. You can put them up in the dog hotel until you return, which is a nice way to get around it all, but forgetful owners may discover their dog has run away if neglected.
The touch screen stuff is all topnotch. Throw a disc or ball with the stylus and it realistically flies across the screen. You also use the touch screen for your other direct interaction sequences. You use the stylus to bathe your puppy and pet it, and your dog will react realistically to the touch. Touch the tail, and he may chase it. Pat him on the head, and he’ll nuzzle your way. You even walk the dog, controlling the leash with the stylus. This is all great, great stuff that wouldn’t be nearly as amusing on a standard screen.
For all the cool interactive stuff to found in Nintendogs, the game is very limiting in that it only allows you to do some things a limited number of times a day. After those activities are through, the game becomes very boring, and you’ll begin wondering exactly what you’re doing from that point on. Each dog in your home (you can have up to three) can enter three competitions per day (and these competitions are pretty short); can only learn a certain amount of tricks in one day, and so on. The more dogs you have in your home, the longer you’ll be able to play, but even then you’ll quickly run out of things to do. The game is intended to last a long time by only allowing the player to advance in baby steps, which seems perfect for a portable game. But since the option to get significant playtime is limited, long trips are out of the question.
Graphically, Nintendogs is far from impressive – on the surface. The backgrounds aren’t anything special to look at, and are very repetitive throughout the game. It’s the puppy models themselves that steal the show though, and it’s not even in their look, but in the way they move. Just like in real life, different breeds have different tendencies, and each and every animation these puppies go through will remind you of a true-to-life dog.
If you own one of these breeds in real life, you’ll likely chuckle when one of these puppies do something you’ve seen your real dog do hundreds of times. And you’ll also notice that each breed in your home has a different personality. Your puppies don’t age, so there isn’t much of a visual hint of your dog’s advancements. The realism in the way these puppies move though is almost bizarre, and is the real technical visual in Nintendogs. In fact, it only helps to further convince you that you’re interacting with the real thing.
For what it’s worth, the audio here is pretty basic. Yips and yelps are the order of the day, and the music is fairly upbeat, but rarely changes to anything new. The music isn’t exactly hum-worthy, but it won’t turn you away either. The fact that the same music keeps looping over and over though gets a little old after awhile.
How much value you get from Nintendogs is purely based on how you view the game and what it does for you. On one hand the game is extremely restrictive in that you can only make so much significant progress in a single, real time day. Quick bursts of gameplay are the preferred method, or at least, that’s what the game was designed around. After a bit of playing, there’s little more to do than mess around with a toy or two, or do some window-shopping.
On the other hand, there are plenty of little things to do while your dog(s) are at home, even if you don’t buy anything. The more dogs you keep in your home, the longer the game goes on, so caring for more than one puppy adds significant time to each play. There are more tricks to teach your dog than what is there in the handbook, and there are plenty of unlockable items to be found or bought. There is also online play added for other players to interact with your dogs.
Nintendogs is a game that makes good on Nintendo’s promise to innovate on the DS, and while the game isn’t flawless, it certainly shows what can be done to make games different if enough time and effort are put into an idea. Yeah, it’s a virtual pet sim, and it’s also a game. Nintendogs lacks one clear point of playing: that is, other than to have fun and Nintendogs certainly succeeds on the fun. If you hate dogs, you probably won’t like this. Everyone else though will get at least some enjoyment out of it. And Nintendogs doesn’t cater to any particular age group.
The game is flawed, sure. You can’t play too long in any one day without becoming bored. And you’ve got to commit to taking care of your virtual pup(s) even after the walking and feeding become tiresome. What’s more, only some of the game’s features – no matter how unique – are any actual fun to fiddle around with after the touch screen and microphone novelties wear off. One thing is for certain though: there isn’t another game out there quite like it.
Some additional thoughts by Mark Smith
I have to admit this was one game I was eagerly looking forward to ever since the demo at the Nintendo press event at E3. I got my copy at midnight on launch day, purchased my Golden Retriever, and was instantly engrossed in a consuming and fairly realistic pet sim. In that first session I named my dog and taught her a few tricks. The next day we went for a walk and practiced catching the disc in the park. Over the next week I walked my dog daily, reinforced her growing library of tricks, and practiced with the disc in the park.
I entered my puppy in competitions and started winning money, buying more food and bottled water (what a spoiled dog), and new toys. Of course the best toys are the ones your pup will find on your walks. The further from home the better the present, so it's good to build up your puppy's stamina as soon as possible. I also practiced the obstacle course which led to more competitions, and then there was the obedience competition that required a good bath and brushing for the best score.
By week three I was pretty much at a loss of what to do. I was bored with the competitions, I was doubling up on chew toys, sticks, and discarded cameras, I had bought a new house, my puppy had played with some other dogs in the wireless Bark mode and exchanged presents. The charm of Nintendogs was actually wearing off faster than owning a real puppy, mainly because the game allows you to train your dog in the fraction of the time it would really take. I was entering championship dog shows faster than real dogs can be house broken.
My daily feedings, walks, and one or two disc competitions were becoming a drags. Perhaps my dog sensed my lack of interest. She stopped catching the disc, or if she did catch it she wouldn't bring it back. We started losing competitions and the money stopped coming in. She started pulling on her leash during walks or refusing to walk at all forcing me to drag her across the screen. Nintendogs only allows for positive reinforcement, so there are no rolled up newspapers or even harsh words.
After a month of virtual pet owners ship I have abandoned my puppy and put the cartidge back in the case. I'm sure I will play it again someday and I wonder how much Jasmine will hate me, how many tricks she has forgotten, how dirty she has gotten, how famished and parched she has become. And then I will give her to the shelter and try again with a new dog. Because at the end of the day, Nintendogs is nothing more than a collection quest; collecting all 20 dogs, and the 200 toys.
The fact that Nintendogs virtually demands you play it daily might make this a great "test" for parents of kids who want a real puppy. If they can keep their virtual dog happy and healthy (and not get bored in the first month) then it might be time for a visit to the real pet store or local shelter.
