Metacritic Games

Dog's Life (Playstation 2)

Meet Jake, the loveable mutt on a mission: to rescue his dog-napped pal Daisy! The plucky pup embarks on an epic adventure which sees him journeying across the US, taking in the Mid-West countryside, scenic ski resorts, and even busy cities on his travels. Playing as the heroic hound, you'll get to do pretty much anything a real-life dog can do - including sniffing out food, playing fetch, chasing chickens, and marking your territory (yep, that's right, Jake can fart, pee and poo). As you explore the huge environments, you can choose whether to interact with other animals and humans, go on missions for treats, and even play as other dogs utilise their individual canine talents. [SCEE]

Sony Computer Entertainment Europe / Hip Games
Action, Adventure, Simulation
Players: 1
E (Everyone)
Developer: Frontier Developments
Released August 24, 2004

Overall Metascore

This is a weighted, normalized average of all individual scores given by critics, on a scale of 0 (worst) to 100 (best).

64 / 100

Critic Reviews

90 GameZone
We as gamers crave unique experiences and perspectives in our games and this one delivers. About the only people I can imagine not enjoying this game are die-hard cat people (Dog’s rule, by the way). Give this game a chance, you won’t regret it.
85 Gamer's Hell
The most innovative game I have played in a while.
85 Gamer.tv
Invest any time in Dog’s Life and you’ll soon notice you’ve invested more than you originally intended.
75 GameBiz
The graphics are very crisp and look great and the soothing music suits the game perfectly. It’s evident that research has been put into the game to capture the movements of dogs correctly, and it really shows in the end.
70 GameSpot
The game is simply designed and has a few annoying quirks, but it's got a genuine charm that helps to balance it out.
70 Game Informer
There are few games I would sooner recommend to parents for their kids, and if those parents happen to be gamers, they might very well be sneaking down after bedtime to get their own fix. [Sept 2004, p.107]
70 PSM Magazine
It's also eye-rollingly funny in a fart-pee kind of way. [Oct 2004, p.32]
70 Yahoo! Games
Though it suffers from control issues and won't be to everyone's taste, Dog's Life delivers on its promised subject matter.
70 Gamestyle
As an experience, as well as a smartly-written and smartly-presented game, A Dog's Life is a great example of off-beat European software. Gamestyle greatly enjoyed being Jake for a while, and hopes that more imaginative titles will come around.
70 The New York Times
Fun but forgettable. I was expecting something more: the feeling of complete and utter admironishment.
70 IGN
This game keeps it clean and keeps it fun and is something that we can recommend for kids and not feel all weird about it. So go out and be a dog.
65 eToychest
It won’t win any awards for the way it looks, plays or sounds. But, the devil really is in the details this time. A lot of work went into crafting a game that is considerably different in style than anything else on the market, even if the gameplay itself is stale.
60 Cheat Code Central
There's always something to do in this game. The pace may not be frenetic and the challenges are relatively easy but they are well balanced making the gameplay appear random in a realistic way.
60 Eurogamer
The structure of each area is pleasingly freeform, allowing you to wander around and tackle the various tasks in the order of your choosing, and the standard of the visuals is well above par for what we expect from kids games.
60 GameSpy
And if you've ever owned a dog, you're sure to get at least a laugh or two from the game's interpretation of how our four-legged friends view the world we live in.
50 Edge Magazine
There are a lot of interesting ideas in here. Roaming in smellovision mode is the game's greatest tool for making you feel like you're piloting an animal. It makes exploring a dull path feel way more exciting than it should be. [Jan 2004, p.102]
44 Warcry
Whatever fun is had romping around as a carefree pooch is lost when the tedium sets in.
42 Play Magazine
Though the doggie animation is realistic, the graphics are sub-first-gen quality, the first-person "Smellovision" view is misguided and the platforming always stays pretty basic. [Oct 2004, p.76]
40 Official U.S. Playstation Magazine
Soon enough, though, the novelty wears off, and you start to realize the incredible tedium involved because the entire game is a fetch quest - with the ultimate goal being to free some bitch (literally) that got picked up by the dogcatchers. [Sept 2004, p.89]

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