While the idea of having a pet dog in the palm of your hand is an inspired idea, it just isn't executed that well.
The game 'Nintendogs' was a great hit on Nintendo's DS which left us Sony fanboys green with envy.
The Dog Happy Life is Sony's way of spitting in Nintendo's face, perhaps?
Well, it almost is but not quite...
When you start the game, You can choose one of over 10 realistic breeds of dogs and pick their fur colour(s). Afterwards, you are given the option to purchase various different household objects, pet treats, pet accessories and some random novelties. Everything is free which is quite a ruining aspect of any game as it gives the player no reason to continue the game as there's nothing preventing you from unlocking or purchasing objects without further play and worse than that; there's no satisfaction, no feeling of achievement or relievement.
Gameplay simply involves you clicking onto the action/s you want the dog to perform and watching it perform them. That's it.
I wont lie, though: it is more enjoyable than it sounds courtesy of the lifelike animations. Plus, there is a bit more interaction involved. Much like on Nintendogs there is a hand tool which allows you to wiggle the analog stick in whatever way you like and it will act like a hand stroking the dog and you can do it in any way you like. This is a little more stiff, clunky and awkward than using a DS stylus but it is definately pleasing to see the dog react to the strokes in such a realistic way. Unfortunately there seems to be an irritating delay in the dogs response at times, and the same applies sometimes when you just pick an action which you want it to perform, and that can make the process very frustrating!
Speaking of frustrating, there only seems to be a few songs in the game which are repeated over and over and over again. Luckily the songs are quite long and aren't that distracting so you wont have them unpleasantly stuck in your head. The sound effects are satisfactory but apart from a dog's growling or barking there's not really that many there.
The Dog Happy Life has definately got superior graphics to Nintendogs. The dogs look far more realistic; everything about them is so lifelike. The framerate is very smooth and so the dogs movements are very impressive and almost indistinguishable from a real dog's.
Not only do the graphics look smooth and packed with detail but the dogs act like they would in real life; they blink, pounce, run around, roll over, beg, and do plenty more.
The game seems to push the PSP's graphical capabilities quite a lot but the rest of the game seems to lack.
I know I keep referring to Nintendogs throughout this review but that's because it's one of the first of it's kind of game and because it's such a popular one of it's kind of game, it seems only fitting that I compare The Dog Happy Life to it. Well, I have been a little too harsh comparing the two. Both games seem to have a similar style but in fact the aim of gameplay is completely different; Nintendogs revolves around taking care of and playing around with your dog.
The Dog Happy Life is more of a dog's fashion and styling game, which is why you can buy clothes and other accessories for the dogs. Also, you have full control over the camera; rotation, height and position-wise. You can move it around any time during gameplay and from time to time if you move the camera further away from your dog, it will run towards you. Furthermore, you can take screenshots of your dog in game whenever you feel the need to and they will save directly to your memory stick.
So, on the whole the game is more than just a cheap, rip-off of a classic title and brings a couple of new things to the table. It has a few more choices of dogs breeds, has impressive graphics and has a good camera but it doesn't really have much of a replay value and it is a game that will gather more dust than hours of play.
Graphics: 8/10
Sound: 5/10
Gameplay: 5/10
Value: 5/10
Tilt: 6/10
Final Score: 6.5 (Not an average, just a sum up of the game)
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Pokolvrolok
Thank You For Reading, Please check out other reviews by me.