Nintendogs + Cats: French Bulldog & New Friends

Genre: Virtual Pet / Simulation

Players: 1, StreetPass Supported

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Review:

Nintendogs + Cats is a Virtual Pet game with immersive Simulation elements released on the Nintendo 3DS when it launched in 2011. This is the second game in the Nintendogs series, and as the title states, this sequel adds cats into the mix too… though you won’t be playing with those cats for a while – you eventually unlock them later in the game.

I should note that this game was released in three separate versions, with the only differences being the breeds of dogs players initially have access to. As such, the reviews of these three games will be largely copy-pasted, with the only differences being the game’s title, and the dogs included in the game. I’ll go ahead and list the breeds included in Nintendogs + Cats: French Bulldog & New Friends right here:

French Bulldog

German Shepherd

Siberian Husky

Yorkie

Chihuahua

Dalmatian

Cavalier Spaniel

Basset Hound

Sheltie

Players in this game will spend much of the game interacting with their animals using the Nintendo 3DS touchscreen, the microphone, and the game even passively uses the camera for some basic facial recognition and to determine how close you are to the screen. All of this is used to make a more immersive experience – you can use the touchscreen to pet the animals anywhere on their body and they’ll react appropriately, brush them, wash them, or use toys to play with them. You can use the touchscreen and microphone to train them to use voice commands, and there are competitions to enter where you’ll have your dog compete to earn cash to buy more supplies.

On that note, there is a management element to this game – you’ll want to make sure your dog is properly fed and has enough water, give them treats on occasion, and take them out for walks (while respecting others by picking up their droppings). And the supplies you’ll need to keep your animals happy and healthy will require said in-game money and a trip to the in-game stores.

A large part of why any of this even works is because of the presentation. Even more than in the original Nintendogs, the animals in this game are rendered fairly realistically, with adorable-looking fur and wonderfully lifelike animation. Unfortunately, I don’t think the same can be said for the environments, which seem a bit flat, bland, and lacking detail. This is all backed by light music that works well with this game’s casual nature.

While this game has a lot of appeal, there’s also a fair amount of frustration too. The voice detection seemed pretty decent here, but it isn’t perfect, sometimes forcing the player to repeat themselves. Additionally, the touchscreen works well enough, but it stumbles when players have to interact in any way that implies depth, something the 2D touchscreen simply doesn’t have to offer.

However, probably this game’s biggest flaw is the way it handles cats. They’re right there in the title, yet they seem almost like an afterthought here. The game only includes three “types” of cats (with different colorings attempting to make up for the lack of separate breeds): “Standard”, “Oriental”, and “Longhair”. What’s more, as mentioned above, you won’t be getting one of these cats for a while, you’ll need to save up in-game money before you can afford one, and you can’t start your game with a cat instead of a dog. No doubt this is due to the fact that unlike dogs, cats can’t be entered into competitions to earn cash. They also can’t be walked, and can’t learn tricks. You can pet them and play with them, and they’ll sometimes bring you “gifts”, but that’s it.

Despite their massive appeal, I still strongly feel like the Nintendogs games are niche in their appeal as actual games. Unfortunately, Nintendogs + Cats needlessly makes this appeal even more niche than it needs to be by making the Cat part of the game more of an afterthought, and the animal interaction here isn’t perfect either. This is still quite probably the best Virtual Pet-style game ever made, but perhaps that says something about the limitations of the genre.

tl;dr – Nintendogs + Cats is a Virtual Pet-style game with interactive Simulation elements that has players caring for and interacting with fairly realistic-looking pets. Cat lovers will have to keep expectations in check – this sequel to the original Nintendogs does indeed add the titular cats, but they unfortunately seem to be an afterthought here. In addition, the interaction methods here, while good, are all imperfect. The result is a game that has some strong casual appeal, but is somewhat lacking once you get past the adorable animals.

Grade: C+

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