Nintendogs

Despite a handful of miscellaneous PC releases over the years, the entire "pet simulation" genre has been virtually avoided on consoles and handhelds. That is, until the release of "Nintendogs", a Nintendo DS title that focuses entirely on man's best friend. This is yet another innovative game from the creative minds at Nintendo that the company is recognized for and keep it all together. This handheld release is a market first--a game solely on dogs for dog lovers. And if you're a fan of pets and the simulation genre, you owe it to yourself to pick up a copy of this must-have-in-the-making when it hits the Nintendo DS this August.

Nintendogs begins with--following a breed selection--three dogs jumping up and down on the grass, begging you to take them home. Unfortunately, your selection is limited to one, although the game will allow you to have as many as three dogs per file later on. When you have reached your decision, take the stylus and pet your canine of choice; you will be automatically transported back to your house. Once at home, you name your new pet using the built-in DS microphone, and the fun officially begins.

Both in real life and simulation with Nintendogs, canine companions require loads of attention, and the demands of their daily care can become an annoyance and an inconvenience at times. Nintendo has realized this and designed this title so that taking care of a dog will not be stressful, but rather addictive and entertaining to the player. There are a number of ways to interact with Nintendogs, two primary methods being the touch-screen and microphone. With the touch-screen, you can pet your dog and rub its stomach with light strokes of the stylus over the respective parts of its body. But who wants to pet a virtual dog when he take a stroll to the dog store and go shopping? The developers packed in around one hundred available items to keep your dog happy, which includes tennis balls, frisbees, clothing and more.

Oddly enough, there is nothing to tell you how hungry or thirsty your dog is, and if he needs to go to the washroom, he apparently just does his business on one of his walks. Great, no paper training needed! I could imagine what the developers would have you do if your dog decided to take a leak on the floor.

Each puppy you buy has its own unique coloration, gender and personality, making Nintendogs a very realistic game. Throwing a toy in the air will increase your pet’s agility; and using the voice recognition tool built into the DS, you can set commands to teach your dog new tricks. You'll even have to bathe it when it gets dirty. If all works out well and you treat your dog well all the time, you can sign your dog up for obedience or agility trials to make some money. If you get enough money, you can even buy another dog to live with your original.

There is really no skill required for this game. There’ll be no button-mashing determination effort needed at all! Actually, you control close to one hundred percent of the game with the stylus on the bottom screen. The top screen is only used to show you the date, time, a close-up view of an item you’ve just bought and where you are (while on walks).

Before taking a walk, you’ll have to plan out your route by using the map. The map will plot things of interest like other dogs and toys. If you run into a puppy on the map, you can interact with it. Walking the dog actually adds to his stamina; and the more your pet's stamina increases, the farther you’ll be able to explore while walking your dog, which means more toys and other dogs!

That’s not the only way to interact though. You can set your DS to bark mode, which will pick off any Nintendo DS within your area so you can interact wirelessly with other Nintendogs players. Nothing has been released that tells us how to interact with them and what you can do, but nonetheless, it looks to be a great feature.

The graphics in this game lift the DS to new levels, looking better and more realistic then most Nintendo 64 games, and even a small percentage of GameCube games. The dogs move so swiftly, just like real dogs do. Pretty much everything you can do in real life with a dog is possible in this game. It’s shaping up to be a great new addition to the DS software library for North America. Heck, in Japan the sales have been going up and up--and people love the game. Well, when it's released here, I know I’ll welcome it with arms wide open.