Customer Reviews

Pocket Dogs

5 star:		(14)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

What caught my attention about this game is that it features real photographs of eight dog breeds (Welsh Corgi, Shiba Inu, Chihuahua, Papillon, Shih Tzu, Miniature Dachshund, Pug, and Toy Poodle) from the "The Dog" series -- the photos taken so as give the dog an oversize head and nose. The player selects a breed, and then the central part of the game consists of placing several still shots of the chosen breed roaming through three cartoon-like rooms of the player's house. Periodically the dog asks the player a question, some rhetorical, others requring choosing from two answers (Sample: "Do you like the city or the country?") Sometimes the pup makes philosophical observations (Sample: "I believe happiness lies in ordinary things.") or works a quote into its conversation, attributing it to the player, an amusing and educational gambit even for adults (At least one quote I had never heard).

One feature that struck me as useful for a shy or introverted youngster was the "Let's chat" feature. This brings up a submenu that lets the player indicate whether he/she is feeling happy, sad, angry, bored, or wants to sing to the pup. The pup then prompts the player to talk about his or her feelings, a ploy that might help a shy child express himself in a non-threatening atmosphere. For a bit of fun, the "chat" menu also offers simple and vague fortunes.

A player earns "jewels" (points) that apply toward purchasing furniture for the cartoon house and vacations by playing the three mini-games. The quickest way to earn jewels is via the simplest game, which simply directs a cartoon dog to dig at various marked spots on a small island. Two young relations, boys of 8 and 10, enjoyed seeing how many of the chests contained jewels or other treasure and enjoyed placing the furnishings in the cartoon house.

The two other games are for older children and adults, and I found them very entertaining. The first is a grid of various cartoon dogs, and the player switches squares to get three dogs of the same breed adjacent, which then drop out of sight. I've really had a lot of fun trying to increase my score on this and have played it dozens of times in the day I've had the game. The second game is, in my opinion, harder and less fun: a scrambled 16-piece puzzle with one square blank; the player has 4:50 minutes to assemble the puzzle, something I have yet to achieve. My young relatives found this difficult and tedious and, as I did, much preferred the "line the dogs up" game described above.

Features subordinate to interacting with the dog are taking trips with it and taking it out to play. Trips involve placing a photo of the dog on a cartoon drawing of the sea or a meadow, for example, and this and playtime, usually featuring a photo of a running pup, earn the player a "heart," an indicator that the dog is happy. The tangible reward of playtime, however, is that occasionally afterwards your pup presents you with a gift: a photo for your album: approximately 36 photos for your breed of pup and 77+ pictures of other kinds of puppies and baby animals. As the games issues these randomly and seldom, they take a while to acquire, unlike the furnishings for the house.

One quirk that might momentarily upset a small child: Starting up the game a third time, I was confronted with a dialog saying the "rules" were that the pup had to leave and then asking me to select either "not yet" or "say goodbye." The second option leads to the dog saying something on the order of "I'll never get to see you again but will never forget you," which might startle and upset a young child. Taking the first option leads to the dog commenting that it will stay for a bit even though it's against the rules, a sentiment that parents may not especially want their children to imbibe.

'Pocket Dogs' is perfect for those, like me, waiting to one day get their hands on a DS/Nintendogs. I have a Gameboy Advance SP, that I absolutely adore, so while I'm waiting to get a DS I decided to pick up 'Pocket Dogs'. The price should be $10 dollars cheaper, since the graphics on this game don't excel like with Nintendog, but it is a really cute game nevertheless.

You can't intereact as much with your pet like you can in Nintendogs. IE: Petting, but it's cool how randomly your pet in this game will talk to you, ask questions or just speak it's mind. Your pet will also give you photos of other dogs as gifts for your photo album every few times that you play with him or take him out. The graphics on this game are decent. The dog moves from photos taken from real-life dog(s), so the graphics aren't something to OooO and ahh about, but for an SP they're pretty good.

The biggest flaw is that you can't buy your pet many items. Only a ball, bone and frisbee, but there are a lot of other items you can buy for around the house to make your pet happy. IE: Furniture, pictures, music, food, holiday items, dolls, plants, electronics and so on. They especially love it when you dress up the house for the holidays. The mini-games can be quite addicting and the "find it!" game is the best for winning jewels to buy items, but you can also find items you don't need to waste jewels on.

I don't think it could ever live up to Nintendogs, but at least there is 'Pocket Dogs' & 'Dogz for SP that can satisfy someone who does not yet own a DS or the Nintendogs series.

I went to the store a few days ago to look for a couple of new GBA games and I saw this one on the shelf. I bought it and played it right away. I thought it was very cute! They dogs were al adorable and they live in a nice house.

You get to play mini games to earn 'money' (I forget what it's actually called) to buy toys, furniture, and even background music or tickets to go places! I loved how you could add items to the house, it made it more than just a pet game.

Your dog talks to you in this game, which I thought was really cute. He can ask you questions or even tell your fortune! I really enjoyed talking to my dog, because each has it's own personality!

Overall, I really like this game. It's cute and fun. I would have liked to be able to save multiple games though, and play with more than one dog instead of having to delete the old game you had.

I HAVE THIS GAME AND IT ROCKS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!I AM WAITING TO GET MY HANDS ON A DS AND NINTENDOGS. BUT I ONLY HAVE A GAMEBOY SP.ITS THE PERFECT GAME FOR KIDS LIKE ME.I do have edvise....................NEVER BUY DOGZ.Its a ripp off because in dogz you can only have a dog for up to three weeks.But each day is igsagtilly(I timed it)TEN minutes.It didnt even last me to CaprCod and I live in Greenfeild!!!!!!!!!!!Plus my dog DIED in FIVE minutes.That do NOT happen in pocket dogs!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

the game pocket dogs is brilliant it is so cool how you can collect furniture and decorate the house. i also love the fact ther are so many dogs to choose from and they all have extra cute photo albums

I like that the dogs are really cute and it is fun. But I had a dachshund named Star and she was taken away. Its kind of sad. That was the only thing I did not like.

POCKET DOGS IS A FUN TOY BECAUSE IF YOU KEEP PLAYING WITH IT
YOU GET MORE FUN STUFF TO DO WITH YOUR DOG. IF YOUR DOG SAIDS
HE OR SHE HAS TO GO MAKE SURE THAT YOU REALLY WANT A NEW PET
BEFORE YOU SAY NO.
IF YOU PLAY WITH YOUR DOG THERE IS A PLANT IN YOUR HOME THAT
WILL GROW. YOU COULD SHOP AND DECORATE YOUR HOME WITH COOL
STUFF.
YOU COULD PLAY MINI GAMES TO GET POINTS AND TO BUY STUFF.

This game is quite fun and cute. First you pick out a dog then yo go to this house (which you can decorate) there are 3 mini games(which you can earn money by playing or jewels as there called) and you can chat with your dog you can tell it i'm fealing happy,sad,mad,u can sing 2 it and ask your fortune. But in this game the dog has(unfortunatly) to leave you
Then you start over. It's more like a game than rasing a pet. If you get this game i hope you like it as much as I do

i like it! its very fun. its like a dog is communicating with you. the part i hate is that there is nohing much to do.
and its very sad at the end because the dog has to go. they say some really heartwarming words and sometimes they repeat and repeat whatever they say.

My daughter wanted this game by all means and after finally getting one she was very disappointed. She doesn't play it at all and after getting her DS for Christmas last year she much rather prefers playing Nintendogs. I can't imagine the great reviews for this product because my daughter was only about 5 or 6 when playing it and it did not hold her interest at all. She has three different Nintendogs games and enjoys all of them. Never mind the fact that she has a real dog! She prefers playing with her simulated ones! Go figure.