This game has small renown for being a very difficult game to review, everyone who has a go generally, stops, splutters or flails around helplessly at one point of another. This is probably because this game isn’t just different, it’s unique. Yeah everyone compares it “that Dogz” game on the PC, and soon to be the Game Boy Advance or any other Virtual Pet title that happens to spring to their mind, but the only similarities I see with these titles is the looking-after part, and forgive me if you see this as stupid, but I find that in every game, one way or another, you end up looking after your given character for the entirety of the game.

            But yes, Nintendogs does fall into the Virtual Pet classification, as you have no control over what the dog does or how it acts, but it’s the system that it’s on that makes the game what it is, the one system that gives you the option of never using a controller. Admittedly this game could be made for other systems, difficultly, but it could, the PlayStation2 could probably do it through the use of the Eye-Toy and the SingStar Microphones or the SOCOM: US Navy Seals Headset, but then your Dog wouldn’t be able to tell the difference between you talking to it and bawling at it. Even the Xbox and the GameCube could have a go at it but they both fail at the first hurdle, with their main control system being a Controller. Even if every console developer thought of a way to easily move Nintendogs to their console they would still have a massive problem with the fact that the second biggest thing with Nintendogs is its very clever Wi-Fi mode. I think I'm going to have to explain…

            You never need a controller in Nintendogs, we got that far. Some poor guy has sat down at some point and gone through every single thing you could possibly do with a Touch Screen and a Stylus, they must have done simply because there are so very many little things you find out whilst playing this game that the Stylus can do. You can poke, stroke, pick-up/hold things, certain movements around the screen can tell the dog to do certain commands, and even certain movements around the dog can tell the dog to perform certain commands. Every little thing you could want to do with your pokey stick has been put into this game. All of the Menu Options are accessed through icons or buttons on the Touch Screen, making navigation through the many Menu Screens very simple.

            To start you choose a dog from the kennel, this is the very first option that comes up when you start the game, depending on which card you choose, depends on which dogs are available, with Nintendogs: Labrador And Friends being my assigned review my first choice was the obviously the Poodle, I went for a brown one with a personality recommended for first time buyers. Then you take it home to get it used to its environment, after giving your pooch a bit of food and water and then making a fuss of it for a bit you are assigned the task of naming the dog. After a few moments deliberation I decided on the name Tiny, mainly because the little guy was so small. After a few minutes of calling your dog by its name it’ll soon learn it, and will come on command, most of the time.

Next it’s time for the little guys’ first trick. Obviously, with “sit” being the most common command it’s the easiest to teach, and normally first to spring to mind. Teaching your dog this trick is conducted by performing a method mentioned above; a ‘certain movement around the screen’. Drawing a straight line down anywhere on the Touch Screen - the equivalent of motioning a downward action with your hand – and the dog sits, you then touch the Light Bulb Icon which appears to the top left of the Touch Screen in order to bring up a small countdown timer with a Microphone in the middle, where you put in the command that you want to say to make them do the last action performed, so in the context we’re in, say “SIT!”

All trick-teaching is done like this, admittedly you sometimes have to put in the command quite a few times to teach it to your little animal and, depending on how clearly you speak, it will sometimes get confused, thinking you’re trying to teach it a different command for the same trick. This is one place the Touch Screen has become so useful; because of the already inbuilt on-screen movements for the Stylus, teaching an animal you have no direct control over new tricks becomes a lot easier. If you don’t want to sit there repeating the same screen movements over and over again to teach your dog new tricks you can do it another way, but this requires a little more patience and more speedy reactions. You can use the NintendoDS’s Dual Screen ability and put your dog onto the top screen, but focus on him with the camera button on the Touch Screen, you then sit a wait, watching the little mutt carefully until he performs the trick you require him to do, then you dive to press the Light-Bulb Icon that will appear after he’s done it to put in the command you want for that trick. This, I feel, is one of the better ways to teach your dog as he/she will perform so many more actions more freely on the top screen than they would on the much more attention seeking Touch Screen. These little guys have a very short attention span you see – well my little guy did anyway – and when they are on the top screen they don’t actually have to pay any attention to you.

            Once you’re done with whipping your small creature into shape you can play with it, now to start there are very limited options in terms of toys and accessories to play around with, to start you’ll generally find had a Tennis Ball, a Frisbee and a Bubble Blower. With the Tennis Ball, use the Stylus to hold the ball on the Touch Screen, and then move it left, right, up or down with some pace whilst taking the Stylus away from the screen, making the ball fly through the air in the direction you threw it and generally getting your dog so excited that almost falls over itself trying to get to the thing as quickly as possible. Getting the ball back can be a little more difficult though, and it’s not that the game is unresponsive, though you may start to believe so after a while. It’s your dog, not only do they have really short attention span but when they’re engrossed in something you may just never get yourself heard. The Frisbee is thrown like the Tennis Ball, apart from throwing it sideways and down has a slightly dire effect considering the Frisbee’s flat nature. The Bubble Blower I was very impressed with, as when I first picked it up I had no idea of how to use it, it was only when I started explaining to my friend next to me that I couldn’t get it working that he pointed out that by talking to him my breath was actually blowing the bubbles through the Microphone, and into my dogs face, as he was barking viciously at the Touch Screen. Note for future I think.

            Once you’ve played at home for a bit and possibly dressed up your dog with the accessories available, you can then take it for a walk. This option will take you to a Map Screen of your hometown where you can plot the route of your walk by drawing it on the Map. At first your dog’s little legs will only carry him a few metres away from the house, but as he grows in strength and bravery you can take him further and further. On walks you have many options as to where you would like to go; there are a couple of Discount Stores, a couple of Parks, an Agility Training Park and every time you select to go for a walk there will be question marks appearing a particular spots around the map - which can be many things from other dogs to one of many, many more toy and accessories you can acquire.

            Once you get back from one of the walks your dog will probably be a little bit smelly, so it’s always a good idea to give him a quick bath afterwards. This is done by choosing Shampoo from your list of Supplies, which will take you to the Bathing Room where you lather your dog up, then rinse him down with the Shower Hose, all performed on the Touch Screen, then if you like you can give him a good old brush down as well.

            A feature that has been heavily guarded by Nintendo is the Competition Trials. You have a choice from Obedience, Agility and Disc Throwing, each of these focus on one of your dogs main skills, the more time you spend teaching your dog either one of these skills the better he/she will be once in the Competitions. The Competitions are set out in Rank order and you can only progress to the next Rank once competing the rank you are on, failing a competition will drop you a Rank, dropping until you reach the Beginner Class again. Competitions are one of the few ways to make money in this game so going down Ranks can cost you just like going up Ranks will make you rich quick. So spend a large amount of time training your dog like it shows you in the Manual for the shows.

            Another amazing feature within this game, and one I noted earlier is the very clever Wi-Fi Mode, or Bark Mode as it’s referred to in the game. This mode allows you to put your NintendoDS into its Sleep Mode and wander the streets, until another NintendoDS comes within wireless range causing the dogs to bark at each other, alerting their owners that they have found another Nintendog. Once connected in this mode you can send the other owner presents along with your dog, and you get to play with theirs and see how it reacts to yours, once the other Nintendog is on your Touch Screen all of its training and personality is loaded into your NintendoDS, allowing you to play with it as you see fit. Should you go out of wireless range the dog will stay with you until you log out of the mode.

            One of the greatest things about this game though is when two dogs play with each other. When their personalities interact you really don’t feel the need to touch the screen any more, it almost feels like you’re interrupting them, the dogs will play with each other, fight each other, nick balls off each other and fight for your attention. Also, because they all have different likes and dislikes each toy you bring out for them to play with will have different effects on each one - hours and hours of fun!

            Sound and graphics really aren’t what make this game. If you do sit and study the graphics you can find many, many in discrepancies throughout the title; they are evidently above average standard and it’s clear much time has been spent on the animation of the dogs. However, it’s also clear that the attention having been spent on the dogs’ models has been to the detriment of other areas, with the draw distance noticeably suffering. The sound is good and lifelike – all the dog sounds seem to be taken from real life – but not much of note, with the exception of the Sound Track maybe, which they could release as an album easily.

            This game should stand out to all those who see it, appeal to everyone that has seen a dog, not a games console, a dog. This isn’t a game for people who like a certain type of game, this isn’t a game for people who like consoles, this isn’t even a game for girls - this is a game for absolutely everyone in every kind of walk of life and profession, everywhere.