When this game was announced, I said, "that's the first DS game to break the 9.0 range," and here we are now. Not only is this one of the best DS games out right now, but it is probably one of the best life sims ever. This game offers the best DS graphics, the most original handheld gameplay ever, a cute overall sound to it, and the most massive replay value I've seen on a handheld. To sum up, this game is almost flat out perfect. And here we were hoping that it'll be just a decent game, but it delivers on almost every level possible for its genre. Like I said, the graphics for the game look absolutely flawless, and are by far the best DS graphics yet. There are very little visible pixels, which is just awesome for a DS game. The animations are incredably fluid, and the dog designs are very lifelike and realistic. I have played this game a lot, and I have not seen one glitch thusfar, and the level of customization for your dogs (bows, collars, etc.) is really good. In addition to stellar graphics, Nintendogs boasts the most realistic gameplay I've played in my life. Everything in the game is in real time, so if you neglect your dog, you could be taking some serious steps into losing your puppy. Which reminds me, in Nintendogs, your virtual dogs remain puppies from the time you pop in the game card, to the time you stop playing it. This means no death for your dogs, and no emotional breakdowns for you, the trainer. But you may say, "What if I neglect my dog?" The answer is, he/she runs away, either for a short time, or forever judging on the degree of neglect. Therefore, for you cruel people out there, you will have no luck trying to kill your virtual canine. Back to the real time factor of the game. It is great and realistic, but it limits what you can do in a certain time period, or if you're busy, you may forget to feed your dog. This does get a bit tedious to remember to feed you dog/s every so often, but it does feel very lifelike. Anyways, there is massive amounts of things to do with your dog (and I mean massive). You can brush your dog, bathe it, walk it, feed, dress up, teach it tricks, and enter it in tournaments. This gives you a lot to do, but you don't want to do it in a short period of time, or you'll be forced to wait a while before playing again. About interacting with your dogs: there are really two core ways to interact with your dog, caring for it, and training it. Since we've already talked about caring let's talk about training. The training factor in the game is probably what makes it so real and lifelike. This is also a feature that makes this game one of the only Nintendo DS games to use the built in microphone. All you have to do to teach a dog a trick is to put it in the position of the trick. This usually means pointing or dragging the touch stick in certain places and directions. Once he's completed the trick, you touch a little lightbulb in the top corner to record the voice command for the trick. Once you do this a couple of times (this can vary about how many different ways you say the trick, and your dog's rate of learning), you are told to write the trick down so you do not forget. This list is easy to access, and is very helpful if you forget what commands a dog knows. Also, you can enter your dog in a couple of trials and tournaments. Among these are: disc (frizbee), agility, and obedience. All of these start off easy, but get harder as you move up in the ranks. All of these of course require you to train your dog in that specific area. All of these areas to train are easily accessable via walking your dog. I forgot to talk about walking dogs too. Before you walk your dog, you draw your route on a map placed on the touch screen. This route must both start and end at your house. What makes it a little challenging is that your dog only has so much energy to walk, and he/she can only walk a certain distance. But never fear, as you continually walk your dog, he gains more energy, and therefore he can walk longer distances. During the walk, there are also a couple more ways you can interact with your dog. The primary way of it is picking up waste. By this I mean putting your dogs waste in the little poopie bags. You also can encounter certain events while on the walk. Your dog can pick up gifts for you, which can come in handy while training your dog. You can also interact with other dogs, and recieve useful information from them. After the events, you just walk on back home and resume playing with your dogs. As you see, there are endless possiblities in Nintendogs, however the real time makes it a game you can't afford to forget to play, and also one that you can't play for long periods of time. The overall sound to the game is great. The music is good, and the sound effects are pretty good. There's nothing really much more to say about it. It's just great. Overall, this game rocks, and is definately a must have for DS owners. There is so much to do in the game with your amazingly lifelike dogs, and since you can have up to three of them, that means triple the dog fun.
Other Helpful Reviews for Nintendogs: Miniature Dachshund & Friends
Back in the beginning of 2005, many handheld trackers were abuzz when they heard that Miyamoto was making a puppy simulator. Many were shocked to find that it had garnered a perfect 10 from Famitsu, Japan's most well kno... Read Full Review
this game has excellent graphics and is one of the most realistic games out their. this kind of game will last forever. how ever if you do not like dogs you will not like this game. this game is only $30 their for it is ... Read Full Review
