Nintendogs: Lab & Friends [DS]

Nintendogs is the Japanese hit that brings a lifelike puppy to the screens of your DS (its success makes a lot of sense when you consider most Japanese apartments are too small for the real thing). Innovative graphics and a sophisticated voice recognizing control system makes this a "game" that's very much at home on Nintendo's portable, but it's not for everyone.

Nintendogs comes in three versions, each named for one of the breeds it offers as a starting pup. We were playing the Chihuahua version, which also offers the choice of a Cavalier King Charles spaniel, a sheepdog, and a number of others. The versions only differ in the starting selection, so players can eventually unlock all 18 breeds no matter which one they buy.

After bringing home your puppy, you'll need to teach him his name. It'll be your first experience with Nintendogs' voice recognition system, which manages to be both easy to use and passably accurate. Generally, three repetitions of a command are needed for the game to save it permanently, and it'll warn you if a command is indistinct or too similar to an existing one.

Learning tricks is similar. You can encourage your puppy to perform them by moving the stylus over him in particular patterns, and when he does the trick you'll have the chance to teach him a voice command instead. The game's documentation gives you some pointers on the first few tricks, but there are others you'll have to figure out for yourself.

New players will likely spend some considerable time just playing with the puppies. Fun on their own, they're even more characterful when interacting with other dogs -- you can have three playing together at a time. Watching them chase, retrieve, or fight over toys is engaging, and thanks to an outstanding animation system, very convincing.

If you're looking for more puppies to play with, and you happen to be around other Nintendogs players, you can switch the game into "bark mode", and be alerted whenever another trainer comes within range. Then your respective pets can frolic together to their hearts' content.

So far, so good -- unfortunately, by now you've seen a great deal of what the game offers. Nintendogs trades heavily on the cute-factor of its stars, and is a little short on meat to hold the owner's attention. In fact, some of the handful of activities it provides for your pups -- like walking them around the neighborhood, with little interaction in the process -- can feel more like work than play.

Nintendogs' contests offer you a chance to measure your skills as a trainer... at least, that's the idea. Each type has a number of tiers, so players must complete the beginner contest before progressing to the higher grades, and if you fail to place in a contest you'll have to start again at the lowest level.

The most direct of the three, the obedience trial, gives you the task of ordering your dog, just with voice controls, to complete sequences of tricks against the clock. The other contests on offer -- Frisbee throwing and agility trials -- feature more traditional control systems, so you get more of a sense of involvement in the process, and more of a sense of achievement on victory.

Considering that these contests are really Nintendogs' only opportunity to measure your training performance, it's a shame that all three contests types feature the unskippable chatter of what two extremely irritating hosts. Their jokes aren't funny, and they're recycled so often that after a few rounds you'll be ready to poke their eyes out with your stylus. Pokemon had better dialogue than this.

As a feat of graphical excellence and control innovation, Nintendogs stands alone. Or somewhat alone, at any rate -- petting a creature to reward or influence them and controlling a pet by voice have both been done before, but never on a portable. Every Nintendogs player, at some point, will find friends, family, or even complete strangers peering over your shoulder, demanding to know what you're playing, and if they can have a go.

But if you're not the type to be engaged by virtual pet games, the much-anticipated personality and character evaporates after a few hours. Aimless repetition and gameplay devices seem designed to curb the boredom by forcing you to quit until tomorrow. If Nintendogs doesn't grab you in the first 15 minutes, you're wasting your time playing any further.

That said, creating such a convincing look and feel for the game can't have been easy. Younger audiences are likely to find acquiring new puppies, more accessories, different furniture for their house, and ever-higher contest rankings as sufficient incentive to keep playing for a while.

So if you're looking for a traditional gaming experience, you're likely to find Nintendogs lacking in gameplay and variety. Those with more open minds stand a better chance of being captured by its undeniable charm. Certainly, Nintendogs is a game every DS owner should try, but not necessarily one every DS owner should expect to like.