Here's a quick generalisation: There are huge differences between mobile games and Nintendo 3DS games. The best mobile games take advantage of the host platform with regards to touch controls, usage of the screen and gameplay. It's also fair to say that for every great mobile game, there's a shed load of dross, but at least they're usually either free or the price of a chocolate bar. Enter Jet Dog - available on Nintendo 3DS and bearing the genetics of a mobile game, a hefty-ish price tag and some questionable design choices.
The (only) objective is propelling your doggy as far through the air as possible. Begin by swiping across the touchscreen quickly and at the desired launch angle to take to the skies. The perfect combination of high speed and optimum trajectory will maximise the distance your hapless pooch flies. There's a scoreboard which records the top ten distances achieved but unfortunately it's not online enabled, and there aren't any StreetPass features either.
Aside from watching your mutt rushing headlong into the clouds, there's an additional element of luck to the eventual landing. If you're really unfortunate you might find yourself crashing straight into a wall and coming to an abrupt halt. Luckily on most occasions there's a bit of a run-out, maybe a bounce or two off an equipped assist item (more on those in a moment) or a crash through a signpost or two. Landing requires no interaction and is simply a spectator sport - cross your fingers and hope for the best. It's not even possible to plan ahead or skilfully avoid any of the ground obstacles; during flight the floor isn't visible and even if it was, it wouldn't matter as you have no control over the action.
Upon coming to a final stop you can enter your initials onto the scoreboard (if applicable) and then select to either try again or quit. There are no additional stages, objectives or challenges.
From the beginning, you have access to one dog - Bernard. Sadly, Bernard doesn't even have a Jet-Pack, he's just your standard canine. After each turn, coins are gained depending on how far you've travelled. On average, ten or so coins are gained for a decent flight, but to start with expect to be banking five or less. Coins can be used to purchase items, which are handily categorised into six types, granting various effects such as a better take-off, slower falling or even being able to activate a second jump.
Purchased items can also be powered-up five-fold at the expense of more coins. Don't expect to be going on any major shopping sprees though; even the cheapest items can set you back 200 coins and that's before you begin any mods. Fancy changing to a different dog? Prepare to fork out 20,000 coins for Lucy the 'sexy poodle' (really) or 50,000 to gain the ultimate dog: Lupin.
It's also possible to unlock items through levelling up if you'd rather be a scrooge and save the coins. Achieved by filling up an on-screen bar a tiny bit at a time after each turn, progression can take an hour or so for each level. Some items unlock as high as level 50, which makes for a hefty bit of grinding.
And there's the rub – if this was a mobile game, there would be in-app purchases allowing those with spare cash to upgrade quicker. This being a Nintendo 3DS game in a locked environment means there's no quicker route. Considering the game requires only a modicum of skill, the only way to hit those higher scores is by being decked out with the best gear, and the only way to get the gear is to play the game over and over. You'll probably want to switch off the volume pretty rapidly too - the twee tune that plays throughout is ok for a few minutes but soon grates on the eardrums.
As far as the presentation goes, Jet Dog feels like it's on the wrong platform; the style is reminiscent of many, many bog-standard mobile games. Take a look at the screenshots around this review and you'll have practically seen all there is on offer (which is very little).
Conclusion
So to summarise: Jet Dog has hardly any gameplay, relies on a good chunk of luck in combination with an awful lot of grinding. To achieve the best scores you simply need to equip the best items with the best dog, which quickly becomes an endurance test consisting of fending off boredom long enough to get to the next upgrade. Ironically, the better your dog is, the longer it stays in the air, meaning you have to spend even more time grinding. Do yourself a favour and don't take these dogs out for walkies.
Comments 22
Now if that had a price point of say 80 pence I might have a go but over £7! They have got to be kidding 🐶🐩🐩
This game reminds me of a really great BROWSER game called Blast RPG that kept me going until the very end and relied on skill. It's the real definition of a good quick-fix if you are in need to play a quick game to cure boredom. That deserves a place on the eShop more than this ever would.
So it's exactly like those old flash games you'd play in the turn of the millennium.
Except they have the gall to charge eight bucks for it, yikes.
@Furealz
The premise of this game reminds me of Nanaca Crash.
Ever play that? It had an awesome emphasis on control and targeting or avoiding certain obstacles to further your air time.
@RupeeClock There was also Toss the Turtle on Newgrounds which was popular at the time, but it doesn't hold up well as Blast RPG. There's another browser game I played recently that was so good I wish it was expanded and on the eShop, "Fearless" which is an addictive take on endless runners.
@Furealz Yup, I remember Toss the Turtle.
Once of the nice things was that it would unlock achievements too, which are shown on your Newgrounds profile.
More like Pigpen Interactive, mirite?
$10.40 in the Australian eShop………………………...
The game looks clean enough, but the 3D and animation is absolutely hideous. Some people are just completely shameless.
Ok, I will send these dogs flying then.
Who ever prices their games needs to find a new job.
Right now they're probably regretting sending you that review copy.
With that headline, I was expecting a 4.
Big Ben Interactive should be hounded to the end of the Earth for this!
game of the year!
@Rockmirth No, Greatest Game Of All Time
@Stu13 I wouldn't be surprised if the developers like rolling around in the mud.
Again, I take massive issue with the score here.
It seems to me you're basically scoring the game almost entirely on it's price to content ratio rather than maybe scoring the game based on its own merits and then quite reasonably dropping the score a few points for the game being too expensive for what you get.
If this were say 99p or even free then what exactly would warrant the game dropping 9 full points here?
Are the controls, basic as they are, broken? Does the game have endless bugs? Are the graphics so bad, maybe even with lots of visual glitches etc, that they are detrimental to the experience? Is the sound terrible beyond just personal taste or maybe it's just one annoying track looped over and over across the entire game? Is the game trying to rip you off with endless micro-transactions that are implemented in a very disingenuous way? Are there maybe annoying and intrusive popup ads all over the place that possibly even get in the way of the main gameplay experience at times?
I mean sure, what we have here sounds like it's basically a five minute time waster that's more like a simple one trick kids toy than a fully fledged video game, that should cost a couple bucks at most on the eShop but, again, nothing about what is there appears particularly bad or broken for what it actually is.
A 1/10 should represent a game that is broken on virtually evey level or so broken in one or more ways that it is basically unplayable or so bad an experience that it simply shouldn't ever have been released imo, not just a game that is very basic and costs too much for what you get. That warrants a few extra points deducted at most. What I see looks like it's maybe a 4 out of ten game, which takes into account the slightly absurd price for what you are getting, and that should come with a clear warning in the review that you aren't going to be getting much for your money. That's still easily a low enough score for people to get the point but not just kinda ridiculous.
I dunno; maybe I'm just getting softer, have been around mobile gaming so long that I recognise this is nowhere near as bad as it can get, or maybe I'm just becoming a bit more understanding and sympathetic to the developers plight.
Maybe you guys should tell BigBen to stop sending you review download codes.
@Kirk I've never had as little fun playing any game as this one, for all the reasons I state in the review. One of the biggest issues is the amount of effort required for any kind of reward - the (in-game) cost of items and extra dogs is way too high and takes way too long to grind up. The 'game' (swipe once, watch Dog fly) is dull enough without forcing you to play it for hours on end to unlock items that don't really change much other than increasing your non-sharable high score. It could have had the most awe-inspiring graphics and rockin' great tunes of any game ever made, however that wouldn't change the fact that the core experience is dull as dishwater, there are no objectives or progression and the upgrade mechanic is one of the most ill-conceived I've ever seen.
If the game was free, it would not be a better game, the price is just the final nail in the coffin. I'll also add this final thought - it would be an instantly better game if every item and dog was unlocked from the beginning, and there was a strategy to choosing items to equip in order to affect distance. But they aren't, and there isn't.
@moomootown Yeah but the thing is that what you get here, that totally simple one trick pony that just requires you to do the same thing over and over mostly just for the sheer sake of it (basically just trying to better your best distance), IS what this game is all about. Its basically just a silly time waster for casuals more than anything else and it's not really pretending to be anything more than that. Similar to say how an actual toy like the Nintendo Ultra Hand was just a silly time waster, which probably wouldn't have seen much use after the first five minutes of play (yet still cost ¥600 in Japan at the time). This is really just the modern day equivalent of largely throwaway stuff like that in a digital and slightly more gamey form, as I see it. In that regard, given what this 'game' IS and not what you would personally want all games to be at a bare minimum (which is what I'm getting here), it totally does its job from what I can see. It really only fails in a big way in terms of the price the developer is asking for such a 'game'.
I think the problem here is maybe that we 'core' gamers are a bit stuck in the old paradigm of what we think a video game is supposed to be and don't quite get that our definition/view of a video game is probably quite narrow compared to the broad spectrum of stuff that now fits that definition. A great deal of which is just throwaway 5 minute experiences like this. That doesn't automatically make any game like this bad in and of itself however. It's if such a game is literally broken, severely flawed or just abusive to consumers in certain areas, that makes this type of game genuinely bad, or any game for that matter, and indeed worthy of a 1/10 imo.
I mean I personally think it's a crap game, based on my own tastes in gaming, but that's all relative and I'm not sure solely rating the game based on my own personal tastes would be a true and objective reflection of the actual quality of the game in and of itself, especially for the type of people that lap up this kind of stuff in the first place (of which there are a surprising number and even some on in this very comments section apparently).
I just think the score is quite misleading to any potential buyers and slightly unfair on the developer too to be honest, given what this game is (and it's not like the developer has tried to pretend it's anything else/more). Although, on a personal note; I pity the type of person who would willingly choose to spend their hard earned money on a game like this, especially on 3DS, over all the other bigger and better games out there that are available on the eShop for a similar price or maybe even less money.
@Kirk It's definitely an interesting debate, I don't personally categorise myself as a particular type of gamer, indeed I like a good throwaway 5 minute experience, but when that 5 minute experience locks away 95% of the game by forcing you to play the same thing for hours on end, it's no longer a 5 minute experience, it's an endless grind to be able to access the rest of the game. It's incredibly badly structured, which could easily be fixed with a little more thought. For example, why provide the option of 3 different dogs, when you can't actually use 2 of them unless you are willing to 'play' for weeks on end? (Note in the official trailer it states 'choose your favourite' - there's no 'choice' at the beginning) This would be fine if there was a learning curve or some progression, but unfortunately there is none. It's not enjoyable as a game and when a game isn't enjoyable, it's quite a problem.
Also, not being able to interact with other people/friends scores essentially means the only thing to actually do is beat local scores, which is achieved by just playing for more hours, not from learning how to be better, because there's nothing to learn.
I don't have any issue at all with casual games, when they are done well - however locking away content and attempting to force longevity doesn't fit with an experience like this one.
As I said previously, a few tweaks could fix many of the issues that ruin this. I played many, many hours of Jet Dog for this review and it's simply not a good game.
Thanks for your comments though, I enjoy a good discussion.
@moomootown I must admit that I did find the fact they tout the "Choose your dog" part strange; coming across as though it's just a standard option available from the get-go when in practice it's obviously locked behind a rather large barrier, which presumably a lot of people will never get passed. That's marketing for you though I guess
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