I’ll admit, writing this review was a little daunting. I mean, how exactly am I supposed to give my
opinion of a non-game game? Well, being
a closet Harvest Moon fan helps a little, but there’s still a sizable stretch
between “farm sim” and “puppy sim.” So,
I’ll give it the old college try...


Nintendogs,
the big N’s latest unconventional title for their so-called developer system,
initially defies defining. Many people
who see me playing it on the bus or after work say, “Oh, that’s like those
Tomogotchi things, right?” Well, they’re
half-right. Nintendogs takes the
embryonic pet-simulator concept introduced with such early tries like
Tomogotchi and Giga-pet, and then hyper-develops it. Nintendogs is in essence what those
primordial sims were trying to accomplish, and for one big reason: Nintendogs
is based on a real animal, something we’re all very familiar with.


Let me
explain further. Tomogotchi’s were
popular as a novelty and among quirk-gamers simply because they were new and
different. A blob of grayscale pixels
that roughly resembles a cute little beastie will appeal to the offbeat crowd,
but non-gamers won’t get it. Here again
is Nintendo’s philosophy of broadening the market. They’re expanding an idea with a lot of
promise by marketing it to people who have never
played video games before, and it’s working.


The funny
thing is, I’m as enamored with Nintendogs as my ten-year-old sister is, and I
hope I can explain why in this review. I
have an inkling that it’s because puppies are just one of those things that are
practically irresistible to any human, unless you happen to really hate
dogs. Puppies are adorable, soft, cuddly
and loyal, and I’d better end this sentence before I need to take an insulin
shot. The fact is that Nintendogs
recreates the feel of man’s best friend so accurately, you’ll be instinctually
drawn to these virtual canines as you would a real dog.


Yes, the Nintendogs are noticeably
polygonal. They have data points and
textures like any other 3D representation, and at the end of the day they’re
still stuck in your DS, behind those double screens. But their behavior
is so well done, you’d swear there was a real animal behind those
screens. The actions of these puppies is
as random and dynamic as a real dog’s; they’ll jump up and paw at the back of
the screen when you turn on your DS, like you’ve just come home from work. You feel as if they’re genuinely happy to see
you.


The
environments are somewhat surreal; a white glow permeates every area and gives
them all a comforting, serene atmosphere.
But the way the dogs interact with their surroundings is remarkably
realistic, whether you’re chilling at home, at the park or out on a casual
walk. These places all have a double
purpose, as they are training grounds for the contests you can enter your dog
into. For instance, the park is great
for tossing the frisbee around, your house is better suited for teaching
tricks, and the gymnasium is e...