Dogz
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| Dogz

The pet simulator is dangerous territory for a game developer. There’s a notion that work is only required to create an onscreen representation of the animal, and then the game will take care of itself. And it’s easy to see where this train of thought comes from, but in practice it simply doesn’t work that way. The N-Gage, mobile and PSP versions of Sims 2 Pets proved this.

Dogz on N-Gage is the next mongrel to be brought out of the pet simulator pound, and in some way it has made an attempt to give your virtual dawg a bit more interest, but more in terms of differentiating itself from the likes of Sims 2 Pets than actually crafting an entertaining and interactive game.

Choosing from a Labrador, Jack Russell and Shiba Inu, your first task is to name the dog, then take it for a walk through the rather laborious tutorial. Each step of this tutorial is apparently isolated from the next, so unless we were missing some incredibly well hidden controls, starting and restarting the game is the only way to advance these instructional episodes and finally get into playing for real.

So it was an even bigger aggravation to discover that the tutorial also serves to essentially ruin the game – as once it’s completed you’ve actually sampled and played everything there is to do in Dogz (which isn’t that much). Shades of Tamagotchi paint the surface of Dogz, with the usual care and maintenance routines for keeping your pet alive, but these also constitute the bulk of the gameplay.

It’s probably worth paws-ing here (funny, eh?) and acknowledging that there’s a strain of gamer out there who’s looking for exactly this kind of virtual care and maintenance gameplay. That’s why Cyber Pets were so popular in the first place. If that’s you, then feeding, watering, stroking, washing, playing with and cleaning up after your Dogz could well make a fine and lasting round of entertainment (add two to the overall score).

The added mini-games would therefore be something of a bonus to such a gamer, and going to the vets, playing tug-of-war, throwing a Frisbee and digging around in the garden will bring a small amount of depth to your care taking duties. But there’s an underlying feeling that pet simulators should have progressed from the key-ring Cyber Pet system by now, and other than graphically, Dogz hasn’t.

The best looking aspect of Dogz is, quite rightly, the dogs. Their resolution seems to be considerably higher than the rest of the game, though this also serves to disconnect them from the environment a little. The remaining visuals are blocky and pixelated even on the N-Gage’s small screen, and after seeing what the system’s capable of in the right hands (with the awesome graphics and animation of ONE), there’s really little excuse for such lacklustre visuals.

It’s also a fairly mute experience, which will harm the enjoyment of pet simulator fans – no matter how much they can forgive a lack of diversity in the gameplay. A tuneless ditty repeats in the background to the point at which you’ll simply turn the sound off – especially once you realise your dog is virtually silent.

Without wanting to sound too harsh, Dogz really isn’t much of a game – quite literally. It’s more of a virtual dog simulator showcase, though not a very fulfilling one (times have moved on since we looked at Dogz on mobile). The lack of activities makes you quickly wonder what, if anything, you’re supposed to be doing, which isn’t conducive to the game’s longevity. Ultimately it’s no Sims 2 Pets, but that’s hardly a towering beacon of gaming excellence itself.

Dogz

Slow and featureless, the plus points are hard to uncover in this pet simulator that’s forgotten to include much in the way of gameplay
Score
Spanner Spencer
Spanner Spencer
Yes. Spanner's his real name, and he's already heard that joke you just thought of. Although Spanner's not very good, he's quite fast, and that seems to be enough to keep him in a regular supply of free games and away from the depressing world of real work.