Hi, I am going to come back to Ciao after a long time away so it will be fun meeting you all again a...
Hi, I am going to come back to Ciao after a long time away so it will be fun meeting you all again and now i have more time available to me i can get back into it. xxx
Member since:20.06.2005
Reviews:93
Members who trust:55
Ok I am on a roll with my Nintendo DS reviews but I can only share with you this one more review on one of my DS games until they have added all of my suggestions so you will have to just look forward to those. My next game I would love to tell you about is part of the Nintendogs range and the Nintendogs game I have is Lab and friends so here is what it is like. Oh and the title refers to my favourite pet Bob just in-case you were wondering.
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What is the game about?
As you may have guessed from the title the Lab stands for Labrador and friends. In this game you get to choose a pet from several breeds of dog which are Labrador Retriever, Miniature Schnauzer, Toy Poodle, Pembroke Welsh Corgi, Miniature Pinscher and a Shiba Inu. Your mission if you choose to accept it is to buy a puppy and raise it to learn its name and to be obedient.
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Things to know:
Price - Around £29.99 in shops pr you can buy it with a DS in a bundle which will cost you around £100. Also on Amazon it is £26.99. Wireless game-play available. Certification - 3 years and over.
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The Story and Characters:
Well to be honest there is not a lot of story with this game because you are playing a Sims like game so you make the story. I think the main thing to mention is that there are no limits to how long this game can take as the quicker you can train your puppy then the quicker you will be able to teach it all of the tricks that are in the game.
The characters however are another matter and I love this game because each of the puppies are just like you would expect normal puppies to behave. I know this because I have a little puppy of my own and he is the
same as the Nintendogs characters. There are plenty of puppies to choose from and you can have up to three / five living with you at any one point so you will have your hands full getting them all to be obedient.
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Graphics:
I cannot fault the graphics at all because they are fantastic. I am a big softie when it comes to puppies anyway so the prospect of a game where you get to look after puppies was exactly what I wanted. The graphics were exactly how I imagined as they are wonderful and really give the game a great look. Although I would not exactly say that the graphics are so good that they make the dogs fur look nice to stroke but they are great in the way that they make the dog look and you can tell what they are feeling.
I especially like the way that they have made the game so that your dog will walk away from you when he is bored and then if you say his name, his ears will prick up and he will look at you for a couple of seconds before bounding over to you. The way the dogs move, bark and act is very true to real life and that is what I love about the graphics in this game because the game producers have obviously spent a lot of time getting everything spot on.
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Game-play:
Now I do know that this game is probably aimed at children but I have to say that I love it and the fact that you can get so involved with the puppies in a way that has never before been possible with a game is amazing. To get used to the controls is pretty easy and you will find that you use your stylus most of the time to interact with the game via the touch screen.
The first thing to do when you first load up the game is to choose your puppy and pay for it using the virtual currency you are given. When you have bought your pet puppy then you have to basically train them and get them to trust you. The first challenge you will have to master is teaching them their name which involves you repeatedly saying their name into the microphone on the DS until they have learnt to respond to it. You will know that this has happened because you will hear a really happy sound and your DS will tell you that the puppy has learnt his name now. Beware though that this can take quite a while because you have to say the name very clearly every time. I suggest that to start with you do use a short and clear name so that you can get it right every time otherwise it does get annoying that you have to say the name hundreds of times to get the dog to recognise it.
After this you start with the tricks which are things like sit and roll over which is fun and it is really satisfying when your puppy does as he is told and understands. It is still important though to continually say your puppy's name otherwise he will become forgetful and you will have to teach it again. You can also take your dog for a walk and it will play with the other dogs that you have. Throughout the game you will earn points depending how obedient your puppy is and much you have taught them. With these points you can buy treats and toys and basically make your puppy happier. See the great thing about this game is you can have more than one pet so all of your pets in your house on the game will interact with each other. The other thing you can do is a wireless connection with another DS if you know somebody who has one but I don't so I will update that bit if I ever find someone who has one.
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Verdict:
Overall I am very impressed with this game because I find it interesting, fun and above all entertaining. The first thing I did when I got this game was to have a detailed look at all of the puppies in the game and let me tell you now they are all very cute. They all look at you and want you to buy them and I am such a sucker for cute things that I just wanted them all. You look in the kennels and you will see the different breeds and then when you click into the breeds you will see the different dogs. The game is so visually entertaining that I was enthralled from the start.
The actual game is pretty easy to master which I love and you do not get bogged down with a story line which I think is pretty good.
I love the microphone use in this game as it is the only game I have that fully uses it to the full and it just amazes me that the DS allows you to do this and get this involved with the game. It was quite funny when I first had the game though and I bought this lovely little Labrador puppy and was trying to think of a name for it. My own little Jack Russell was sitting on my lap and I just thought yeah I will call my computer dog too. I expected the game to be quite easy and that the dog would learn his name straight away and it took ages, meanwhile every time I was saying Patch into the microphone, the real Patch started to get excited. I had to change the name to Bob in the end to give my real Patch a break.
What I would recommend with this game is to buy the microphone and headphone accessory as it is much easier than raising the microphone part on the DS to your mouth every time you want to speak into it. The microphone is one of the major uses in this game so with the accessory you can keep the speaker by your mouth the whole time and it does make it easier to play the game and also for your puppy to understand you.
The only small complaint I would have with this game is that sometimes you do have to repeat yourself so you will have to teach your puppy its name several times because it will forget and sometimes you will have to think about how you say things because you have to use the same tone every time otherwise it sounds slightly different and your dog will not understand.
In conclusion I would like to say that this game is so much fun and if like me you are a fan of games where you get really involved then you will love this. I know it probably is seen as a bit of a children's game but I love it and I love the fact that it is on the DS so you can use the microphone and touch screen features which is just fantastic. Four stars from me though as it does get annoying if you have to continually repeat yourself.
Thanks for reading.
xxx
p.s. this has been posted on other review sites by me.
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