In recent times, the only memory people seem to put into this game is the ability to piss and shit on command and the bizarrely dark plot, however Dog's Life is more than just these elements.
There was clearly care put into making sure Jake's movements look natural when making turns or going up and down slopes. His legs will move in a believable enough way and his body will rotate accordingly. It's a shockingly good looking system considering the rest of the game. However this makes the platforming frustrating, seeing as he will refuse to make a jump unless it seems feasible and would look natural. I can appreciate the effort put into this in spite of how it makes the game feel to actually play.
The music is wonderful and compliments each area really well. It's a lot of peaceful and relaxing tracks, with a few high tempo ones that are catchy and fun for the appropriate sections they play in.
However, visually, the game is a mess. Human models are gross and low poly and all the textures are muddy even for PS2 standards. The dogs were clearly the main attraction for the developers, but some of them still look just off, like the doberman.
Strangely enough, Jake has a dirt system where the more you run around the more mud gets onto his coat, albeit far too quickly, and you need to clean it off if you want to be presentable to random people.
On Jake's quest, he will need to collect enough bones to get past the dog catchers doberman. To do this, you will need to talk to NPCs and do tasks for them, collect certain scents, and even take control of other dogs. To do this, you need to collect one of two types of scents in the area that has a minigame attached. These range from marking territory, races, tag, and more. Once you complete one of these tasks you get to control the dog whenever you want, however there's a time limit related to how difficult or far away the task is. Completing the second minigame after this gives you a bone. There's actually a shocking amount of bones in the game, and you'll need 90 to get into the finale.
There's enough variation in the tasks, and each NPC adds a little extra spice, so even some mediocre tasks have enough going on to keep me invested until the end.
Ultimately, I think the game is worth playing for anyone into dogs or collectathons. Or just oddities on the PS2 in general. I played it as a very small child so my opinion may be clouded, but I think it's worth remembering past the toilet humour present.
Also there's rampant pedigree advertisement in it.
There was clearly care put into making sure Jake's movements look natural when making turns or going up and down slopes. His legs will move in a believable enough way and his body will rotate accordingly. It's a shockingly good looking system considering the rest of the game. However this makes the platforming frustrating, seeing as he will refuse to make a jump unless it seems feasible and would look natural. I can appreciate the effort put into this in spite of how it makes the game feel to actually play.
The music is wonderful and compliments each area really well. It's a lot of peaceful and relaxing tracks, with a few high tempo ones that are catchy and fun for the appropriate sections they play in.
However, visually, the game is a mess. Human models are gross and low poly and all the textures are muddy even for PS2 standards. The dogs were clearly the main attraction for the developers, but some of them still look just off, like the doberman.
Strangely enough, Jake has a dirt system where the more you run around the more mud gets onto his coat, albeit far too quickly, and you need to clean it off if you want to be presentable to random people.
On Jake's quest, he will need to collect enough bones to get past the dog catchers doberman. To do this, you will need to talk to NPCs and do tasks for them, collect certain scents, and even take control of other dogs. To do this, you need to collect one of two types of scents in the area that has a minigame attached. These range from marking territory, races, tag, and more. Once you complete one of these tasks you get to control the dog whenever you want, however there's a time limit related to how difficult or far away the task is. Completing the second minigame after this gives you a bone. There's actually a shocking amount of bones in the game, and you'll need 90 to get into the finale.
There's enough variation in the tasks, and each NPC adds a little extra spice, so even some mediocre tasks have enough going on to keep me invested until the end.
Ultimately, I think the game is worth playing for anyone into dogs or collectathons. Or just oddities on the PS2 in general. I played it as a very small child so my opinion may be clouded, but I think it's worth remembering past the toilet humour present.
Also there's rampant pedigree advertisement in it.