How The Dog Island restored my faith in humanity . . .

[jerseystyle]

So I have been playing through this game, and most of the time, I have been in a state of, well, not quite awe, more like amazement. This game is better, way better, than it has any right to be. I picked this up in the states for $5, on a lark, and just got around to playing it the other day.

Considering that the Wii is known for crappy mini game collections, that it is the system that the developers usually (not always, see Mario Galaxy) half ass it on, this game is incredible. There, I said it. Keep in mind, this is a game based around the Artist series of super cute doggy pictures- this game should've been the biggest piece of junk ever (take note: Build a Bear Workshop, as an example of what I was expecting here). I got it because I thought it would be laughably bad, and I could show people how lame it was- I was completely wrong.

Whomever made this should be in charge of licensed games for the rest of time- I honestly can't remember playing a better game with a worse license. This kills pretty much any movie or TV based game I have ever played.

The gameplay is basically the digging parts of Zelda and Okami- very simple, but this is a kids game. The graphics are super cute, but nice. Looks like Animal Crossing with cuter animals. The music is awesome- catchy acoustic guitar riffs, with some nice drums and bass added in. Not too many songs, but very nice. I would say that the gameplay can be thought of as repetitive, but I like collecting stuff, and the sniffing mechanic is pretty well done.

The fact that a company took this license, and made a gme like this . . . it boggles the mind. I have been playing for about four hours, and I figured I was pretty far into it- then, after completing a quest (all the quests involve sniffing around and digging up stuff), I was given the option to zoom out the map. I did, and that's when it hit me- holy crap, they put a lot of work into this game! The game world is huge. HUGE!!! I think I've seen maybe 1/6 of it- not Zelda sized or anything, but way bigger than I thought.

And speaking of expectations, the storyline is pretty basic (save your sick brother/sister), but the cut scenes are interesting. And in one of them, they actually show someone dying- seriously. So, a kids game, but not a pandering one at all.

Would I call it the greatest game ever? No. Not even close. But this is the most surprising, and strangest, game that I have played in years. It has no right to be this good.

Sorry, rambling on christmas

by the way, Merry Christmas!

[moycon]

Hmmm You haven't been drinking spiked egg-nog have you!??

 

J/K bro. Not my cup of tea, but from what I remember this game got decent reviews. My GF would probably eat it up.

[RJ]

I'm seriously going to look into this game now as I believe I took your advice on Orbient awhile back & love that game to death. Dog Island sounds like the perfect game for my wife &/or kiddies.

 

I still play Orbient's earlier levels where its easy to cruise around & capture satellites just for the layered music. At one point I had 8 satellites around me & the accompanying music was awesome.

 

:thumbsup:

[MegaManFan]

I may have to use a little Xmas cash to check out BOTH Orbient and Dog Island.

[jboypacman]

Just watched some YouTube videos of this game and it looks pretty non-violent and well done which is something we need these days i might have to try it out sometime.

[jerseystyle]

Just wanted to revisit this for a 15 year update… showed this game to my 8 year old last week and she really likes it. Has been playing it quite a bit. So, my initial review still stands… a surprisingly well made, licensed Wii children’s game. And in replaying this, I got the giggles when seeing how the graphics were still better than Amico Cornhole.