Dog's Life

"Unique... Yet hideously unoriginal and repetitive."

Throughout time and space, mankind's history has been riddled with bad attempts of copying great games and an endless supply of unoriginal titles that make washing dishes at Denny's that one summer when I was 14 seem exciting. First person hack and shoots with demons and nekkid chicks; RPGs with wide-eyed, blue-haired Japanese chicks with perfect bosoms and bouncy... smiles... and no plot; over the top detective wannabes searching for their father's killer and instead asking people for sailors (well okay maybe that was original...); and even supped up Geos, revving their engines to win a jackpot... so their owners can buy seat covers to match their sweat-stained wifebeaters. In short, some times you just need a break from mainstream marketing ploys and frankly... all the fabulously flawed flops out there.

But, once in a while when you hide under a rock for a long period of time, that special bug comes along and crawls up your sleeve, down your shirt, into your pants, and lands a place your happy zone (your Nintendo socks with the Donkey Kong embroidery). Dog's Life is a fresh take on the adventure title. It's by no means great. It is by no means revolutionary or even new. What it is, however, is unique. Unique not because of its interior, but in its combination of everything that already exists. What do I mean by this? Well, for starters it is a free roam environment where you set off to save your girlfriend. Heard that one right? What about... collecting things and challenging opponents to mini-games to win objects that make you stronger? Yeah I'm pretty sure that one is out there somewhere too. Oh I know! Crapping on the ground and barking at mailmen?! o_O What? Oh, that's right! I forgot to mention that you play as what the back-of-the-box says, "a plucky pup" named Jake. That's right kiddies, you play as the friendly neighborhood dog.

Jake's job is to rescue his pedigree love from the evil clutches of the dog pound. Not to mention help any townsfolk who is in need of your doggy like services. Mini quests range from building snowmen, rescuing lost dolls, and playing tug-o-war with big bad bully dogs. Over 40 species of dogs in the game, most of which you can control if you beat them in one of several minigames. This game is pretty open ended as far as what order you play the games in but the puzzles themselves get pretty repetitive. Fetch this. Bark at that. Dominate the neighbor's chihuahua and use it to infiltrate the enemy base. Rip the cat to shreds. Eat a chicken. Same old same old.

The game uses "Smellovision" which lets use sniff out special items. This however is not unique, as you see it in games like "Wolverine's Revenge". Same concept, you even sniff out footprints in both games. Dog's Life though, won't keep you playing as long as Wolverine would, though. Let's face it, the life of a dog is appealing, but after several straight hours of playing you want to take a break and log online to write a review on it just because one of your favorite review sites doesn't have one. Or you might want to find cheats for this since finding a decent walk-through is like searching for the correct lyrics to Nirvana's "Teen Spirit"- not impossible.. but very difficult and probably not going to be perfect. In fact just forget about Nirvana, I don't know why I brought them up anyway. Think dog. Dog. Doooooog.

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 06/06/05