nintendogs + cats (Nintendo 3DS) Review

As with the DS original, nintendogs + cats is sold in three versions: Golden Retriever & New Friends, French Bulldog & New Friends, and Toy Poodle & New Friends. Ultimately all breeds of dog and cat are available in each; your choice should depend only on which dog you want to play with first, each edition holding nine of the 27 breeds unlocked from the beginning. Your first destination is the kennel to pick your perfect pooch. Selecting a breed and a colour - selecting ‘Surprise Me!’ to the colour question can throw up some unique combinations - will generate three random dogs to choose from, varying in gender and personality, each vying for a place in your heart by bounding up to the screen in as endearing a fashion as a game has ever managed; impressive fur effects and expressive eyes that follow you, thanks to the 3DS’ inside camera, ensure your affection. Further breeds, and more items in the shops, are up for purchase as you gain more Trainer Points by caring for and interacting with your dog, or by StreetPassing players that own a breed not selectable in your kennel. Up to six animals can be owned at once, three in your house and three in the hotel.

Once home you must bond with your new dog, petting them until they trust you, then naming them by speaking into the microphone. You are then free to do as you will: in the house you can play with your pup with toys, teach it tricks with touch-screen actions and voice commands, and of course you need to feed, wash and water them. It’s also possible to take in-game photos of your creatures with a click of either shoulder button at any time during play, inside or outside, and dogs can be brought into your real home by placing down an AR Card - try using different cards.

You can cash-in on your canine companion by entering competitions, the only substantial way to make money to spend in the shopping district. The Disc competition takes its cue from Wii Sports Resorts’ Frisbee, starting off as a simple fetch task before demanding you throw the disc into highlighted areas accurately if you want to score the big points. Lure Coursing is an assault course / race, the lure controlled by a winding motion on the touch-screen, with obstacles such as jumping bars coming in later. Both of these work well, but the same can not be said with such certainty for the Obedience Trials, the stage to demonstrate your dog’s tricks. The final competition is only playable with an AR Card, so this can be a trial more for your patience than a test of your dog’s abilities to follow your voiced instructions, with failed responses common in poor lighting.

Walks are as big a part of nintendogs + cats as they are in any dog’s life. No longer can you plot a route beforehand; every walk is now down a straight road. Signs found on the sides of the street lead to new areas - whole new destinations, shops or training gyms - and numerous distractions litter the path ahead; your dog should be discouraged from rooting in bins and the like. Wearable accessories can be found in presents, but more often they contain materials that can be exchanged for exciting toys, which is less instantly gratifying than finding a gift outright. In-game characters and Miis that you have met via StreetPass turn up, offering advice and giving your respective dogs the chance to make friends - or enemies - of one another. Anybody StreetPassed is logged in a diary and can be ‘met’ in the park for a play session at any time. A pedometer mode allows players to take their dog for a walk by carrying their 3DS around in sleep mode; a nice compromise if you can’t spare the time to do much with your virtual pet on a particular day.

The disappointing thing about nintendogs + cats is that not a whole lot has been done to progress the series - it’s refined over the DS version, but if you’ve played that, you’ve pretty much experienced this already, albeit with less visual loveliness, sans camera trickery and more awkward connectivity. The cats are an interesting addition, their inclusion sparked by Shigeru Miyamoto’s acquisition of a pet feline, though do little other than look adorable. As in real life, they’re happy to do their own thing; they occasionally respond to a call of their name, bring you a gift or chase a toy around, but more often they’ll be found sitting on window sills, scratching your room up, or hissing at your dog.