Dog's Life

Dog's Life
Developer(s)	Frontier Developments
Publisher(s)	PAL SCE NA Hip Games JP Success
Platform(s)	PlayStation 2
Release date(s)	PAL 20031031October 31, 2003 NA 20040911September 11, 2004 JP 20050707July 7, 2005
Genre(s)	Action-adventure
Mode(s)	Single-player
Distribution	DVD

Dog's Life is a PlayStation 2 video game developed by Frontier Developments and was released in the PAL region on October 31, 2003, in North America on September 11, 2004 and in Japan on July 7, 2005.

Plot

One day, Jake witnesses Daisy, a Labrador Retriever whom he has a crush on, being taken away by dogcatchers, and resolves to rescue her. He follows them from the small town of Clarksville, to a mountain resort called Minniwahwah, and finally to Boom City, using information gained from overhearing conversations between humans to track them down. Throughout his adventure he is continually harassed by Killer, a doberman belonging to a dog catcher. On his journey through Minniwahwah Jake encounters a pedigree Yorkshire Terrier Voiced by Jimmy Savile .

Eventually it is revealed that Miss Peaches, head of a cat food company, is arranging for dogs to be caught, and smuggled to a factory, where they will be made into her cat food. Jake ultimately makes it to the dog pound, and after rescuing a number of dogs and bribing Killer with bones, gains entry to the factory. There, he manages to prevent Daisy from being killed by the machinery as she is taken through it on a conveyor belt, only for Miss Peaches to appear with a shotgun. Jake farts, sending Peaches falling onto the conveyor belt, where she is taken through the machinery which turns her into her own cat food.

The epilogue reveals that all the stolen dogs were saved, and that Jake and Daisy are together.

Characters

• Jake, an American Foxhound and the main protagonist of the game.
• Daisy, a Labrador Retriever who, in Jake's eyes, is the perfect dog.
• Lopez, a Chihuahua, who assists Jake in retrieving a bone from the Farmhouse. Located at the Clarksville Farmhouse.
• A Dalmatian who assists Jake in retrieving a bone from a rogue swan. Located at the Clarksville Watermill.
• A Border Collie who assists Jake in herding the sheep into the pen. Located at the Clarksville Big Field.
• Snooki, a puppy, who assists Jake in delivering a letter to her grounded owner. Located at the Clarksville Village Houses.
• A Yorkshire Terrier, who Jake must lead into the garage in order for the mailman to deliver the mail. Located at the Clarksville Village Houses.
• Killer, a Doberman, who is the dogcatcher's accomplice. Although he serves as a secondary antagonist and is often ordered to catch Jake, he helps him to retrieve a bone from the mean clerk woman. Located at the Clarksville Centre, but is also seen at the Minniwahwah Café and the Boom City Park, Centre and Dog Pound.
• A Bulldog, who assists Jake in retrieving the newspaper cut-outs from the chicken coops. Located at the Clarksville Chicken Farm.
• A Boxer, who assists Jake in chasing away the pigeons. Located at the Minniwahwah Café.
• A Husky, who assists Jake in retrieving the RC Helicopter from the roof. Located at the Minniwahwah High Street.
• A Weimaraner, who assists Jake in retrieving the hat from the snow slope. Located at the Minniwahwah Ski Slope.
• A Mastiff, who assists Jake in dragging the wooden log into position. Located at the Minniwahwah Mountain Top.
• A St. Bernard, who assists Jake in reviving the injured climber. Located at the Minniwahwah Mountain Side.
• Pixie FrouFrou, a Miniature Pinscher, who assists Jake in catching the rats. Located at the Minniwahwah Hotel.
• A German Shepherd, who is a police dog. He lost his sense of smell when a criminal named the "Sleeping Bandit" doused him in perfume. Assists Jake in opening the door to the Sleeping Bandit's hideout. Located at the Boom City Station.
• A Whippet, who assists Jake in catching the runaway kittens. She bears a resemblance to Daisy. Located at the Boom City Park.
• A Greyhound, who assists Jake in stealing the loot from the Sleeping Bandit's accomplice and luring him to the policeman and his German Shepherd.
• Miss Peaches
• Two unseen dogs are also mentioned during the game. Sadie, a foxhound belonging to the Chicken Farmer, and an unnamed female dog belonging to the Village Houses mother, have also been stolen along with Daisy.
• The Dalmatian, the Boxer and the Bulldog later appear at the Boom City Dog Pound, after being captured by the Dog Catcher. Jake must find the keys to their cages to release them, but Killer is hot on his tracks.

Gameplay

Smellovision mode

The game allows the player control or interact with over 15 breeds each with distinct traits and abilities. They handle things in a different way, that can also be used in challenges or puzzles.^[1]

The game is divided into three areas: Clarksville, a rural town; Lake Minniwahwah, a ski resort; and Boom City.^[1] These are then divided into smaller areas such as districts or farms. In every area are humans willing to give missions in exchange for bones. Bones can also be found buried underground or hiding somewhere. Bones are used to increase your stats, which will make it easier to complete missions.

Jake at the Farmhouse area in Clarksville

Certain smells picked up through the game's "Smellovision" will activate challenges against a local dog. In each small section of the game there are four challenges, two of which are to find eight smells of the same colour and compete against a local dog. These missions include races, obedience trials, tug-of-war games and a territorial game where the player must run around urinating in marked areas to obtain territory.^[1]

There are also salons in some levels where Jake can get his coat cleaned and brushed. He also gains a shiny new collar with a silver 'J' at the front.

Once these dogs are beaten, the player is able to take control of that dog and use their special abilities to find other bones. Other challenges include scent-collecting challenges, and a minigame called "Doggy Do", where the player must copy the moves of the local dog. There are also dangers in certain areas, such as the dog catcher and his Doberman. The player must also keep the Jake healthy by feeding him, allowing it to defecate and coax people into giving the player snacks by growling and barking or performing tricks unlocked by doing the obedience trials. Jake is able to do a range of tricks including begging, sitting, lying down and marking his territory.

Jake can interact with many characters including chasing chickens, stealing sausages, and shaking kittens.^[1]

Reception

Reception
Aggregate scores Aggregator Score GameRankings 71.61%[2] Metacritic 64/100[3] Review scores Publication Score Eurogamer 6/10[4] GameSpot 7.0/10[5] GameSpy [6] IGN 7.0/10[7]

Dog's Life received mixed reviews with critics praising the game for its originality and fun factor while criticising its audiovisuals. It received a score of 71.61% on GameRankings^[2] and 64/100 on Metacritic.^[3]

Eurogamer said it was very amusing but they said for experienced gamers, it is plainly not for them the game reaches more for ten year olds or under especially with its fart gags and hardly but, not at all challenging. But on the bright side they thought the game had a "Warm sense of humour, cute visuals and the fact that, well, controlling a dog around is actually quite cool."^[4]

GameSpot rated it as 7.0 out of 10 while saying it was charming, silly, and an easy action game and has annoying quirks. It also said: "There's not a whole lot to Dog's Life, but what there is entertaining enough, and it certainly lets you do things you can't do in just about any other game."^[5]

GameSpy rated the game 3 stars out of 5. They said the dogs were well animated and controllable, but that the graphics were bland. Also, they said the music was repeating and very irritating. Further, they said that the game appeals more to younger kids than teens. In conclusion they say the game is an "Entertaining family game that's a nice change of pace from the standard fare."^[6]

IGN gave the game a 7 out of 10, citing the gamplay as "simple and well-executed", but noting that the visuals "look like the game was ripped from a PSone title" and that the audio "is all over the place."^[7]

According to the Guinness World Records Gamer's Edition 2009, Dog's Life holds the world record for the most video game voice-overs done by one person: Kerry Shale voiced 32 characters from the game.^[8]

References

External links

• Dog's Life official website
• Dog's Life at the Internet Movie Database
• Sony Computer Entertainment Europe - Dog's Life
• Dog's Life - Success Corp
• Dog's Life guide at StrategyWiki