Nintendogs: Labrador and Friends

"A must buy for any DS owner."

When I first saw this game and played the demo, I was disappointed. To me, at first glance, it just looked like a rip-off of Dogz: Your Virtual Pet. But after reading up on it seeing pictures, and playing the game, I must say it is fantastic.

Graphics: 9/10

The dogs look great! Everything else looks very SimCopterish, but thats understandable considering the DS's hardware. The dogs though, I was shocked by how good they look.

Gameplay: 9.75/10

The gameplay is what really shines. The dogs act like real dogs, nice programming Nintendo! You can do a wide variety of things, from playing fetch, walking around town, entering contests and so on. The only thing I hate is the limitations. You can only enter three contests a day, learn four tricks a day and go on walks every thirty minutes. But I can live with all of those. I just wish there weren't as many limitations, or that there was a difference between Earth days and Nintendog days.

Sound: 10/10

From the upbeat tunes, to all the little barks, yips and growls, Nintendogs has a great mixture of music and sound effects.

Replayability: 8/10

This game has a lot of replayability, except that if you play it a second time, you would know all the secrets that make this game surprising and fun. But with all the unlockables, it will be a long, long time before you would want to start over.

Microphone: 10/10

Wow, this game makes great use of the built in mic. You can call your dogs name, teach him voice commands for tricks, and even blow bubbles through the mic with a bubble blower. That's right, blow bubbles. Genius.

Touch Screen use: 9.5/10

Nintendogs uses the touch screen very well, from selecting items, petting your dog, tapping poop to scoop it up and even guiding the dog on a walk. You can throw toys (including flying discs) and even move the stylus a certain to teach them tricks. But it doesn't go unexplained either. You are provided with a few books in the beginning that teach you all the basics you need to know. However it can occasionally get glitchy. Although rare and not too big of a glitch, it can be irritating.

Overall:9/10

This would be a perfect ten, had it not had such limited things for training and contests, and maybe a wider vareity of items. Nintendogs 2 anybody?

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 08/29/05