Grapple Dog

Genre: Platformer

Players: 1

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Review:

Grapple Dog is a family-friendly Platformer released on PC and Nintendo Switch in 2022. In this game, players take the role of an anthropomorphic dog, Pablo, who is racing against an evil robotic enemy to find four mythical machines that could potentially save… or destroy… the world. To make his way through the game’s stages, he’ll make use of a grappling hook to fling himself from one place to another.

The game’s story is presented in a somewhat juvenile manner, but it still features some really endearing characters, with Pablo himself being particularly delightful – carefree, simple-minded, and enthusiastic to the point that despite his tendency to annoy the other characters in the game, they can’t help but love him too.

The presentation in this game is absolutely adorable, making use of cartoony 2D pixel art along with some cell-shaded 3D visuals that mimic the same heavily-bordered images. The game’s art style is wonderful, with truly expressive character designs and a wonderfully colorful world. This art is accentuated even further by endearing sounds when the characters are speaking (like the protagonist’s bark-speak), and all of this is backed by a catchy non-vocal soundtrack seemingly inspired by pop and hip-hop.

When it comes to the gameplay, Grapple Dog doesn’t reinvent the wheel, but what it does offer is mostly pretty solid, with some clever level design that has a lot of variety and some genuinely fun grapple-swinging gameplay that at its best really gives you an exhilarating feeling of flinging yourself around the game’s levels. Also, as an aside, I have to mention the game’s fun little Shmup minigame, Boomerang Bandit.

When it comes to issues, Grapple Dog has two that stick out. Firstly, I’m disappointed that the grappling hook only works on select surfaces in the game, meaning that often traversing the game’s levels just feels like going where the game’s designers want you to go, rather than forging your own path. Also, the inertia you have in this game can get really annoying, making it difficult to change directions with any degree of accuracy and reliability, resulting in some sloppy platforming at times.

Despite its issues, Grapple Dog is still an enjoyable entry in the genre, and one that’s absolutely bursting with old-school charm. While there are a few elements that can stand to be improved, overall this is a fun Platformer, well worth playing for fans of the genre.

tl;dr – Grapple Dog is a family-friendly Platformer where players take the role of a cartoony anthropomorphic dog named Pablo and use a grappling hook to swing through the game’s levels. While there are some issues with the game’s physics, overall this is a delightful entry in the genre, well worth playing.

Grade: B

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