"They're so adorable, and the game isn't a waste of my time. Too bad I'm being sarcastic."

Released in August 2005, Nintendogs is a very unique game. Similar to the Tamogotchi concept, you are required to raise a young puppy into an old friend. With detailed graphics, things to unlock, and many different things you can do with your Nintendog, this game takes the Tamogotchi concept and completely revolutionizes it, adding a level of realism to the way you raise your pet. The only problem is: they're virtual pets. People say that you have to have a cold heart not to be charmed by these "adorable" puppies, but if you think about it, they're not puppies at all! They're simply a collection of pixels on an LCD screen. I don't have a cold heart, but how could somebody be charmed by an electronic screen? I'm not denying that Nintendo did a good job making this as realistic as possible, but that doesn't change the fact that it's still pixels on the LCD screens. I have two dogs of my own. I can brush my hands through their fur whenever I want, and they love me for it, and that's much better than any game.

At A Glance: Nintendo did a good job trying to cover all aspects of raising a canine from a young puppy to a smart old companion. It is a simulation game where the simulation is raising a dog. I admit that just about every aspect has been done well. You can choose from 6 breeds of dog, ranging from a small Chiwawa to a strong Golden Retriever. You must buy the canine as a young puppy, and raise it to be a lofty life long friend. The dog never changes physically, though, so you'll be playing with a puppy forever. You must put extra care into the dog to get it to turn out well. Otherwise, it will ignore every command you give it, start biting people, and you'll have to put it to sleep (just kidding). But you seriously have to raise it well, including training the dog, teaching it verbal commands with the microphone, feed and provide water to the dog, walk it, and almost every other aspect to raising a real life dog. If you turn the game off and don't play it for a while, the dog will continue to grow, even if the DS is turned off, so you must frequently play Nintendogs to correctly raise your dog.

Game Play: This is a great simulation game, but it is nothing more than a simulation. If you really want to experience affection and cuteness of a canine but don't want the commitment, dedicate your time to an animal shelter, at least those dogs will love the attention.

There is a very large amount of things you can do with your dog. Weather it be simply spending time with it, tossing a tennis ball at it, teaching it Frisbee, walking it around the neighborhood, teaching it tricks, the possibilities are almost endless. Of course, you can't teach it "hide your ugly face", which is a command I taught my REAL dogs to bury their faces under the couch, but all of the popular commands can be taught, such as sit, roll over, lay down, speak, etc. Each dog has a distinct personality. One Nintendog may learn a trick easily, but it could take longer for a different Nintendog, it all depends on the breed and the personality.

There are also contests that you may enter your Nintendog into. There are 3 different types of contests: obedience, Frisbee, and an obstacle course. There is a shopping mode where you can spend some money to buy new supplies, you can walk your dog in a virtual neighborhood, and there is also a neat feature called Bark Mode. Bark Mode uses the Nintendo DS's wireless abilities to find other Nintendogs to play with. There are new breeds of dog and lots of new toys and bonus accessories that you can unlock, so there is a lot of things you can do before you can raise your dog into "Championship" status.

All in all there is a decent amount of things that can be accomplished before nothing else can be accomplished, but this shouldn't take too long. After you finish, you can raise another dog, but the lasting appeal isn't very high.

Graphics: The graphics are well above average. I can't say their superb but they're definitely worth noting. There are so many good animations that each dog makes to add to the realism. Even when a dog is simply laying down, there are realistic breathing and tail wagging animations. So for the dogs, the graphics have been done great. However good the dogs may be, the background graphics are not very good. Some graphics seem to be flat pieces of paper as opposed to true 3D objects. Also, the background graphics has a bland white overcoat which gives them a foggy look, and personally I don't like it. Still, though, the graphics are good for a DS game.

Audio: Each dog has its each unique yap to it, which is usually pretty close to the yap that that breed of dog actually makes. There are not many different yaps for each different dog, though. The background music is pretty simple. Simplicity isn't always a bad thing, but in this case there is definitely room for improvement. One thing that bugged me is how you can hear cars from inside your house, but you can't hear them when you're outside walking your dog.

Concept: This is the biggest problem with this game. Personally I couldn't really care weather or not what happens to my virtual dog. I would much rather play a traditional game such as Mega Man or Final Fantasy. Traditional games keep me hooked. I am interested in the story, and I can't wait to get to the next level. Nintendogs on the other hand, has not caught my interest whatsoever. The only reason why I started playing it is because I see advertisements for it everywhere, and I was curious. And for the record, I borrowed the game from a friend, I didn't buy it. If my Nintendog got hit by a car and died, I would probably be like "oh, well", and then start a completely different game, that's how little this game has caught my interest.

Graphics: 9
Game Play: 4
Sound: 6
Story: 1
Fun: 4
Overall: 4/10

Final Thought: For what it is, it's a good simulation game for puppy raising. Parents might want to get it for their kids if they keep nagging to get a dog, or even a cat, to see if they can take care of it correctly. People who abuse the word "cute" should definitely get this game, while death metal loving trench coat wearing troggs should stay away from it. Rate yourself at where you stand in between those two extremes, then make a judgement as to weather or not the game is for you. Personally I'd rather spend time with a real dog, or play a more traditional game like Mario or Zelda for my gaming fix.

Reviewer's Score: 4/10, Originally Posted: 09/06/05