Jet Dog Review (3DS eShop)

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.

@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.

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.

@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