Sit God Damn It! (Nintendogs: Labrador & Friends (DS))

Member Name: Recon

Product:	Nintendogs: Labrador & Friends (DS)
Date:	14/03/08 (358 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Very fun, Unique, Cute, Realistic & good graphics, Good sound

Disadvantages: Quite a low replay-value for me

Nintendogs was released in early October 2005. It is an excellent game in the way it's like a high quality tamagotchi. You take care of a dog and can end up buying more. In the process of looking after your dog, you can teach it tricks, take it for walks and enter it in competitions! The game is surprisingly realistic with good quality graphics.

At the beginning of the game, you visit the dog kennels and get a dog for free. From then onwards, you have to pay depending on what you want to buy. This game consists of the following breeds:

Labrador Retriever
Shiba Inu
Miniature Schnauzer
Miniature Pinscher
Pembroke Welsh Corgi
Toy Poodle

You can actually get any dog from the different versions. You can do this when you meet up over 'bark mode' with another player wirelessly. The dog that they bring to play will then be donated to your kennels (the breed, not their dog), so you can buy it. The selection of dogs is pretty good so you can be sure to find one breed you like!

The gameplay is pretty fun but not the kind of game you will sit on for ages at one time. I may go on for around an hour at the max, but no longer. The replay value in general is pretty good but I have got bored of my dogs and they are probably dead =)

Anyway, when my dog was alive, it was great fun! You can buy things from the shop, accessed by the menu. You can also visit the second hand shop and care shop on a walk. You can buy everything from different food to water, toys, shampoo, brushes and more. The items are also found on walks. When your dog is walking along, he/she may run ahead and pick up a present. They will then bring it to you and you will see what it is. Explanation marks on the map are indicated before walks, and the good thing is that you can plan your walk by using the touch screen to draw a line around the city! I normally navigate past these (!) marks and also to the park or shops. In the park, you can play with any other dogs there as well as your own. You can practice throwing the Frisbee or just have fun in general. You can also pass the gym, where you practice for the agility trial.

At home, you can buy different house designs once you get enough money. You earn money by competitions. After training your dog up, you can enter the disc competition, obedience competition or agility trial. The disc competition involves you throwing a Frisbee (disc) and your dog must catch it and bring it back. The further away he/she catches it, the more points you get. If they drop it, you may get no points! You need to use the touch screen to do perfect throws to make it easier for your dog as well. The obedience competition is based around a bunch of tricks that your dog must do. Tricks can be things such as 'sit', 'give paw', 'lie down' and all the rest. You have to actually speak into the microphone, and you do this whilst training your dog too. The voice recognition is pretty good. The agility trials involve taking your dog past a number of obstacles from pipes to seesaws. You get points for all the competitions and money for winning as well as medals. You then get promoted to the next tournament such as the National Open or Professional tournament, which is always harder with better competitors.

Overall, it is an excellent game and works very well. The touch screen is used a lot in this game to throw toys, massage in shampoo and to stroke your dog and pat his head. The graphics are very good and the dog's movements are smooth and surprisingly realistic (sometimes I mistake my Nintendog for my real dog)! It is a very fun game to play and can be bought off amazon.co.uk for £24.98. It has maintained at this price for a while due to its popularity and it really is a cute and good game!

Thanks for reading,

- Recon -

Summary: A very cute game where you can take care of up to four dogs at a time!