With the Dog Man movie just around the corner it only makes sense that a video game based on the beloved children’s book series would drop into my lap. Considering I’m becoming the guy that reviews these offbeat, and clearly not AAA titles, it only makes sense I’d give it a try. Who better to review some children’s targeted interactive media than a man in his 30s without children! That said, I surprisingly did enjoy my time with Dog Man Mission Impawsible.
The game itself is your traditional action-platformer resembling something like the classic Mario Bros. series of games. The visuals are fantastic and done in a really gorgeous 2D art style that helps bring the world of the books to life. It features a very bright and colorful world filled with a lot of humor and enough challenge to keep parents playing alongside their kids. Animations are also pretty fluid and filled with a lot of life that are sure to please fans of the series.
Dog Man Mission Impawsible is a simple game at its core, but it smartly builds on its basic mechanics well. You play as Dog man and his Supa Buddies (Li’l Petey & 80-HD) and can swap between them on the fly during gameplay. This becomes crucial as while early on each plays essentially the same, as the game progresses each character will unlock their own special abilities that you’ll need to complete stages and get to new areas.
Someone like Petey can use his claws to climb up certain walls, Dog Man will gain the ability to dig tunnels in the dirt, and 80-HD will be able to push heavy objects to help access new areas. Not only that, but each character has more passive abilities that assist the player, such as a higher jump for 80-HD and Petey being small enough to fit in areas the other two can’t. As the game progresses other abilities will also open up which help to keep the game from stagnating.
Since this is a kids game there are no real attacks of any kind outside of jumping on the heads of enemies to stun them for a short time. The also carries over to the boss battles which rely more heavily on puzzles that cause the bosses to injure themselves. The game is all about teamwork and is a great way to get smaller kids into a real problem-solving mindset. And because of the world the enemies are incredibly comical and fun to see running around.
During each stage there are also a number of collectibles that you’ll be able to pick up, something really tempting for a completionist like myself. Gain enough bog bones to unlock a flower, one of three hidden in each stage. A single worm is also hidden pretty well in each stage too. Kids probably won’t pick up everything, and these extras aren’t necessary to beat the stages or the game. And considering the game features 50 levels to get through you’ll be busy if you do choose to find everything. It’s quite a lot of stages and the game even pulls the old Wii take a break screen if you play for an extended period of time.
Dog Man Mission Impawsible is a great little title that fans of the book series and those looking forward to the upcoming movie will enjoy. But the game isn’t without some faults that might keep parents from dropping a whopping $40 on this adventure. The most striking is the bare-bones nature of the experience. I know it’s a kids game but 50 stages is a lot and while the abilities spice things up, you’ll quickly feel like the experience drags as the game progresses.
The game is also a single-player only experience which lets is down a little. Parents of young kids into this series will have to be around to help the younger players figure out the abilities without being a part of the experience. I would have loved to be able to have a friend join in locally to take control on one of the other characters, or a ghost character to help aid younger players in the harder areas. The game is just screaming out to be a co-op platformer.
The last issue, one that can be fixed in a future update, is the movement controls. Super Mario Bros. 3 perfected the action-platformer over twenty years ago. And while Dog Man Mission Impawsible does a decent job, it just missed the landing -literally. When you jump there is a natural arc that the character follows. But for whatever reason there will be times when your character will simply fall from the sky like a sack of potatoes.
I have no idea why this happens, but it’s really annoying when trying to platform across single blocks. It seems to happen at random and I can only think that the game is timing how long you hold the joystick instead of allowing you to complete the arc once in motion. Thankfully, the tight platforming sections are pretty minimal, but if I was struggling because of the controls at times then a kid will find it frustrating, especially when they don’t understand why it’s happening.
Dog Man Mission Impawsible is a fun little adventure, but one that I find a little hard to recommend at it’s current $40 price tag. There are simply too many good family games out on the market right now (many of which we have covered this year) that you can pick up for far less. Snag this one if your kid is a huge fan of the books, but maybe wait for a sale before doing so.
Final Score:
“A charming little platformer that looks pulled right from the pages of the much-loved book series”
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