The Dog Island is a game you’ve probably never heard of, and with good reason. Why don’t you watch this review first? It will give you a good starting point before I explain my experience with the game.

wiiviewer’s review of The Dog Island
Note: He is inaccurate about the map situation. Maps do appear in all areas unless you turn them off.

I’ve been listening to the GoNintendo Podcast for several years now. One of my favorite co-hosts of the show is Lube. Lube is the podcast’s token crazy person, who’s main hobby is drinking. His lowering quantity of brain cells charming personality makes him one of everyone’s favorite co-hosts of the show. He always has something funny to say, usually on the crazy end of the spectrum.

So when he began speaking about “this awesome game” last fall, I was intrigued. He talked about how he had just finished the game, and that the last hour was terribly epic. But “no-one will ever know, because no-one plays this game.” It reminded me of the jokes about the last level of Battletoads (aka, “[insert random crazy scenario] is totally like the last level of Battletoads!” “The last level of Battletoads isn’t like that!” “Oh yeah, have you actually GOTTEN to the last level?” “Well… no…” “Right, so this is exactly like it.”) Anyway, I decided to get the game last summer. I think this is the first game I’ve ever gotten based purely on the impressions of another person.

Well, it got off to a slow start, but I eventually started playing through the game. It’s definitely NOT a dog simulator in any way, shape, or form. It’s an adventure game through and through. The graphics and simple gameplay make the game an obvious choice for the pre- and young teen market. However, there’s a surprising depth to this game. The controls are implemented well, and the game is complete in the truest sense of the word. Everything that should be there is. There was nothing specifically missing this game, which totally surprised me. I expected it to be like all the shovelware you often hear about, with bad lighting, impossible controls, and meaningless difficulty. None of these things were to be found in The Dog Island.

But aside from the well implemented controls, menus, and layout. The game’s depth includes the story. While the story is certainly simple, it’s not that far behind the stories of many other video games. The game is surprisingly emotional and complex for what is supposed to be a pre-teen game. For example:

• The reason your main character leaves home is not to gain friends or travel the world, but rather he takes it upon himself (or herself) to find a cure for your terminally ill sibling. It’s quite sad to see her (in my case) collapse on what’s supposed to be a fun-filled holiday. I forget some of the details, but I believe your father has been missing for years when he went looking for a cure to your sibling’s illness himself.
• One of the characters you help thinks that she is responsible for murdering her best friend due to an accident. It turns out that the friend’s family had moved the next day, hense the disappearance. You get the pleasure of reuniting these long lost friends.
• There’s an ex-ringleader from a circus who enlists your help to rebuild his circus. On one occasion, I guessed (rather than figuring out) the answer to one of his questions. After that point, the dog hated me, talking about how I disrespected his ideals (because I gave him the wrong answer).

The gameplay itself is very simple. You mostly focus on finding new smells. The new smells are sought either to help others (item quests) and to become a Sniff Master, a dog who is capable of astounding feats of olfactory detection. There’s also a collecting aspect to the game. You can beat the game after finding only 70 to 80% of the total number of smells. To get all the smells, you have to do a lot of bug catching and fishing.

There are several minigames (including fishing) that are usually very simple. However, the soccer game is surprisingly difficult. I found a good way to win, but playing normally, expect the computer to beat you, often.

This is the first adventure game I’ve heard of that takes the idea of health into account, while specifically being non-violent (at least at the beginning). You see, until the VERY last stages of the game, the enemies (snakes, bears, buffalos, gorillas, and vultures) do not actually harm you. They scare you. If you get too scared, you get a game over. I had always wondered if it was possible to make a game that was both adventure style and non-violent. Apparently, it’s totally possible. I applaud the game creators’ creativity on this rather difficult challenge.

The last part of the game is quite a bit more epic. While certain parts of the beginning and middle are story driven and exciting, the last part really pulls all the tasks, people, and lore you’ve gained throughout the game together to essentially save the world. The final boss fight is quite scary in comparison to the rest of the game (which, like Portal, has no other bosses), but not as difficult as it seems.

The music is very relaxing, almost all of it acoustic guitar based. Combined with the simple and bright graphics, the game plays less like an adventure and more like an experience-style game. You can play this game to relax. Of the few people I’ve heard talk about playing this game, many find enjoyment playing it together with a sibling, girlfriend, or child. It’s certainly a great introductory game for kids wanting to get into the adventure genre. Make no mistake, however. This game is not for everyone. No doubt most gamers will hate this game, or find it WAY too cute or simple for their tastes. But I think if you’re going to try a game that is intended for a young age group, this is probably the one for you.

There were two things I think could have been done better.

Firstly, the game has mesh tessellation (or a similar technique) in place. While this would be a good thing normally, allowing for a farther perceived range of vision, the point at which models jump to full quality is very close to the camera. The result: pots and houses occasionally pop from low poly to high poly. In the case of characters and enemies, you have to be somewhere within about 50 relative feet to see them at all (they’re simply invisible farther than that). This is sometimes a problem for planning your movement so as to avoid them, and buffalos have a wider attack range that that, so they will see you before you see them sometimes.

Secondly, and I agree with the wiiviewer on this point, voice acting would have made this game intensely better. There is a lot of text to read. And though you could easily skip reading the text and trust the mission memo that the game creates for you (very handy), the range of personalities would have allowed even bad voice acting to add to the experience.