Average
In A Dog's Life, the player takes on the role of Jake, a young farm dog out on a quest to save his gal pal Daisy from the clutches of your typical dognapping baddies. The story progresses as Jake goes through a series of different mini-quests meant to show the world through the eyes of man's best friend. These quests range from finding batteries for a guitarist's amp or racing a fellow dog around a farm, to more unusual mini-games like marking more territory than a rival in a set period of time. Over the course of the game, Jake will meet up with a veritable pound's worth of pooch pals, each with a unique trait or skill which will help Jake accomplish a particular task.
The visuals of A Dog's Life are a bit of a mixed bag. The dogs in the game are remarkably well animated. Each dog faithfully re-creates the movements and mannerisms of its breed, which made it much easier for me to get into the game and feel like I was experiencing the world as a dog would. Unfortunately, the rest of the game's graphics don't fare so well. Humans look stiff and dull, lacking any personality whatsoever. The environments also seem to be a little on the bland side. There were even a few clipping issues that, while not bad enough to ruin the game, were enough to occasionally distract me from whatever I was doing at the time.
A bigger distraction was the music. As Jake moves to different areas in a level the music will change to try to fit the new location. The problem is that there is no gradual change when this happens, making it sound more like a skipping record when the music cuts in and out. This was even more irritating when I happened to be running along the border between to sections, causing the music to switch back and forth over and over again.
A Dog's Life is obviously a game that is intended for a younger crowd … despite the "Teen" rating the ESRB attached to the game for "Crude Humor." While it's true that the game does feature a lot of "pee" and "poop" references, anyone who owns a dog knows that this is just par for the course. And none of the jokes in the game are any worse than a kid would see on a Saturday morning cartoon. This is one case where the ESRB rating may keep a game from the exact market it is best suited for.
Families with younger kids are likely to really get into playing A Dog's Life. The controls are fairly straightforward, and the challenges are easily overcome. There's a lot of forgiveness in the gameplay. Platform jumping is a cinch. So long as Jake is aimed close to where he needs to be, he'll usually make the jump just fine. If Jake loses a race against another dog? No sweat. Just trigger the race and try again. A Dog's Life does a great job of keeping things entertaining without ever becoming frustrating. Although veteran gamers are sure to find the game a little too simplistic, younger kids and people who don't play video games regularly are likely to find the level of difficulty suited to their tastes.
So, despite its shortcomings, A Dog's Life is an entertaining family game that's a nice change of pace from the standard fare. And if you've ever owned a dog, you're sure to get at least a laugh or two from the game's interpretation of how our four-legged friends view the world we live in.
