Closing Comments
The Dog Island is a seriously odd title, but its style, attention to detail, and overall offering as a kid-friendly, casual adventure/RPG makes it a solid choice for the younger Wii crowd. The game’s initial appeal is the same as its lasting drive – which is centered entirely around cute puppy animations, a soft, colorful world, and inviting atmosphere – but it’s the overall size and robust feel of the game that actually makes it worth a second look. It’s fun to control, filled with customization options for your puppy, and while the story isn’t anything special, filled with pretty repetitive, ahem, “fetch” quests, it’s still a stronger effort than a lot of other casual-skewed titles out there. The Dog Island proves a very important point about Wii. There’s nothing wrong with casual-centric titles, as long as they’re made well.
| Rating | Description | |
|---|---|---|
| out of 10 | click here for ratings guide | |
| 7.0 | Presentation The playful style is consistent throughout, and a strong hook for the game. Camera issues and some repetitive quests get in the way, but interface and general design are strong. | |
| 7.0 | Graphics It’s a simple style, but the animation is strong and lively. The scripting is decent for story elements, but idle dogs just sit around, with very little free-roaming or AI movement. | |
| 7.0 | Sound The audio offering is never overly impressive, but there’s a simple pleasure found in running around villages with acoustic guitar riffs in the background, so kudos for that. | |
| 7.5 | Gameplay Questing can get repetitive, and the mini-games are very simple, but the general progression, scope, and overall bulk of this product is still shocking. It’s big. | |
| 7.5 | Lasting Appeal The world is huge, but questing and sniffing can get repetitive. For the younger crowd though, this game is epically large in scope. Plus, being a dog rocks. | |
| 7.0 | OVERALL (out of 10 / not an average) |
Poor PS3 Sales Means Smaller Losses
"Actually, because the number of units sold was not as high as we hoped, the loss was better than our original expectation," Quotes from Sony’s CFO Nobuyuki Oneda.
