Nintendogs - Mans best friend (Nintendogs: Dalmatian & Friends (DS))

Member Name: Romeo123467

Product:	Nintendogs: Dalmatian & Friends (DS)
Date:	15/09/07 (987 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: The ability to look after your very own Puppy =)

Disadvantages: The story line needs improving

I first got this game as a christmas present in 2006, and let me just say it really made me smile =) As an animal lover, Nintendo opened my heart to the wonderful world of looking after animals, and the fact that most of the game is 3D makes it so much better than the old fashioned 'Tamagotchis'. After looking around various stores and online sites, The cheapest I could find this game was £12.99 (On Ebay).

Gameplay:
Using the touchscreen on the Nintendo DS console, You can play with your nintendog, train by entering thier own voice, Teach them doggy tricks (Each individual dog can learn up to 14 tricks), Pet them gently (Pet them too hard and they'll bite lol), Walk it and collect presents along the way, and finally you can wash your puppy untill it sparkles. I really enjoyed doing that =].
Using the microphone that is built into the Nintendo DS, You can create voice commands that the virtual puppy will understand and (Assuming its properly trained - Trust me its worth it) follow. Your dog can be taken to the park where it can practise disc catching skills and go to the gymnasium to practise agility skills (Not my favourite part of the game, but everyone has thier opinion). You can also go to visit the discount shops to buy supplies for your puppy at lower prices. Finally, You can also enter your dog in disc competitions, Agility Trials, and obedience trials - There are 5 levels in each competition.

Taking care of your puppy:

You can feed your doggy Dry food, Canned food, or natural food, give it a water bottle or milk carton, treat it with a jerky treat or a dog buiscuit, and wash it with shampoo brought at the supply store or discount store.
Your puppys huger can be measured with ratings of Famished (Feed it quickly!), Hungry, Normal and Full (Feeding a puppy at this level will waste food). His/her thirst can be measured with ratings of: Parched, Thirsty, Normal and Quenched. Even your dogs coat hygiene can be measured lol proving Nintendo have left nothing to memory. It can be measured in ratings of : Filthy, Dirty, Normal, Clean and Beautiful. As time passes without being fed or cleaned, the dog's hygiene will decline and hunger will climb, and just possibly, your dog may run away. It hasn't happened to me yet, But Im trying it lol I know it sounds rather cruel..I even tried letting it die, but it seems Nintendo havn't included that feature nor have they included being able to let your puppy age, Something which I think would have been incredible to watch.

Walking your doggy:
As your puppy gets more confident when you take it for walks and play with it, and also feed it well, it will be able to travel further around the map allowing you to collect more items, visit the discount store, Gymnasium and even meet other dogs on your walk.
Certain items that you find Allow you to get more dog breeds on your game, such as The Firemans hat: Dalmation; Jack russel, Book: Jack russel terrier.

Training your doggy:
Training includes agility, catching skills, or a new trick. Ive found that all training is based in the same way; The more you do it, the better your dog will be at it, and the more often you do it, the more likely your dog is to stay that way.


Information on Bark Mode: (My favourite feature =)).

Nintendogs supports a link-up method through the Nintendo DS's built-in wireless networking capabilities. A player can link his or her system with that of another person who owns a copy of Nintendogs to let the players' puppies play together. This is called "Bark Mode". If connected with a player who has a dog currently not in your kennel that dog will become available to you. In your music section you can find a white record that you can record your own message on. You can use this to say something to the other player. If you give away a present you cannot ever get that item back unless you find it on another walk sometime, or if you get another in a trade.

Dress up -

In Nintendogs you can dress your dog up by buying accessories or finding them on walks. The accessories can be sold for some money at the second hand shop. the accessories include collars, bow ties, hats, and some offbeat items such as antlers and a lions mane.



Dog Breeds available in Nintendogs: Dalmation and friends (Without using bark mode)

-Beagle
-Golden retriever (I personally love this puppy. They are so soft and cuddly ^_^)
-Yorkshire terrier
-German Sheperd
-Boxer
-Dalmation (Hence the games title, or can be unlocked in other versions by obtaining the Fireman's hat).

Playability and enjoyment: I give it a 5/10 - Its not all great
Addicitiveness: Ermm .. not so good to be quite honest. I got bored after 1 week.3/10
Originality: Thiers nothing original about a game where you own a pet lol 5/10
Graphics: Amazing... truly amazing. 10/10 The 3D graphics are incredible.
Sound: Hearing my puppy bark just melts my heart =) 10/10
Difficulty and complexity: Its quite difficult for a childrens game. 4/10
Value for money: Excellent! Even if It was a christmas present lol the price tag was left on...£29.99. 8/10
Longevity/Expected longevity: It lasted a week before I got bored. You might be different lol 3/10

Overall, I recommend the game for all animal lovers! =)

Summary: A great game