Nintendogs Review (DS)

Age Rating: 3+ (There’s an awful lot of reading for a 3-year-old though)

What is it?

An adorable fake puppy that never smells like yucky dog or poos on your nice carpet.

Is it fun?

Yes! So cuuuuuuuute!

Is it worth the money? £27.99

Yes, if you like cutesy sims. Otherwise, no.

Why?

If you don’t like cutesy sims, there’s nothing for you here. The artwork and AI isn’t anything that hasn’t been done better elsewhere. The doggie animation is very good, but not enough to pay £27.99 to see.

If you do like cutesy sims, it’s like having a lovely never-aging puppy that doesn’t break things and you can switch him off when you’re busy without worrying that he’ll scratch the door down.

That being said, you do have to feed him and walk him every day or he gets really hungry and unhappy. And I mean every day, not just every day you feel like playing him. It tracks events across real-time so if you don’t play with him, wash him and feed him for a week, he’ll starve and run away, or huddle in the corner whimpering, waiting for his owner to remember poor little Bobo… Aww…

They’re lovely though – a nice way to teach responsibility and show the kids that they do need to look after things every day without the risk of getting a real dog. You have to scoop his poop and everything! Not the sort of game you can play when travelling though – I’d feel like a right idiot shouting “Bobo! Sit! No, not sneeze… sit!” on the way to work. It’s definitely a casual game. The three-events-a-day limitations mean that you only really get a small bit of gameplay each day. You have to wait half an hour between taking the puppies for walks as well, so small bursts are definitely the way to go.

Good game! Highly recommended for sim-lovers.

Screenshots

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