Is this really the DS game you want to put down your hard earned cash on?
GRAPHICS:
Nintendogs showcases some really great graphics for a handheld. The dogs all look extremely authentic, just like their real life counterparts. One of the things that really help immerse you is the amazing animation of the dogs. It's all extremely well done and cute.
SOUND:
The dogs' barks are all great. Other than that, the music and sounds are fine. Nothing spectacular, nothing that detracts from the game.
GAMEPLAY:
Here is where the game both shines and falters.
In the first few days, you will play this game like crazy. The game is addicting and a lot of fun, and you'll never want to put it down. The game forces you to, though, because there are limitations on how many times you can do certain things in a certain amount of time. For instance, you can only go for a walk every 30 minutes, and you can only enter 3 contests a day. It's annoying at first, but it's not too big of a deal later on.
The reason why it's not a big deal is because the game gets so boring you won't pick it up after 2 weeks. There's a good chance your going to wear it out very very quickly. You can only pet your dog and throw a disc so many times. You may pick it up for 5 minutes a day, maybe, if you really like it.
You can do a number of things in the game:
-Take your dog for a walk
-Throw around toys and play
-Do competitions
-Teach your dog tricks
Now, that's not all, but the entire game really revolves around the 3 concepts of Obedience, Throwing, and Obstacle courses.
Teaching your dog tricks is obdience, and you do the same thing in competition- just get your dog to perform what you tell it to.
Playing with toys is the same with pretty much every toy. Throw it, fetch, repeat. The Disc Competition follows that.
Obstacle Courses are unique, but your dog isn't the brightest and often botches the runs. There is virtually no challenge in the entire game, and then these obstacle courses come and they are rather difficult.
Voice recognition is decent. Sometimes, you'll just get background noise and your dog will acknowledge, and other times you'll speak perfectly and your dog is confused.
So, for a time, you'll feel this is the best DS game, but then those feelings will go away after a week or two.
Good game? Yes, but not great. put your money into Meteos if you want something that will last.