Nintendogs + Cats – review

It would have been surprising if there hadn't been a Nintendogs game ready for the 3DS's launch, since the man behind Nintendo's new handheld, Hideki Konno, is also the producer of the unfeasibly cute puppy sim. And sure enough, we have Nintendogs + Cats, with kittens added as a sop to the feline-friendly percentage of the population. Having interviewed Konno and acquired his Mii via Street Pass, I know that he is a dog-lover, though, and that shows in Nintendogs + Cats, since if you acquire a kitten from the kennels, there isn't much you can do with it beyond wait for it to return from an adventure in the garden bearing a present for you.

Which, at least, is authentic in behavioural terms, and that is one area in which Nintendogs + Cats impresses in comparison with the original Nintendogs. I own a real-life French bulldog, so was naturally excited to get the French bulldog version of Nintendogs + Cats (golden retriever and toy poodle versions are also available, although each lets you pick from nine breeds), especially when it became obvious how uncannily the virtual puppies are endowed with the distinctive mannerisms of their real-life counterparts. They also look amazingly realistic (again much more so than in the DS original), with meticulously modelled fur and facial expressions designed to melt the hardest of hearts.

Nintendogs + Cats' core gameplay is more or less identical to that of the original game, though – thus you must feed, walk, groom and play with your puppy, furnish your house and clean the sidewalk up behind it. There is a massive list of tricks you can train it, and three competitions you can enter – frisbee catching, obstacle-course racing and obedience. Gameplay isn't exactly as before, though, since Nintendogs + Cats makes use of the 3DS's unique abilities. Especially the Augmented Reality cards. These are central to the obedience mini-game, and you can also use them to insert your virtual puppy into real-world tableaux. Simply select the AR card option from the store, and you can photograph your surroundings with your puppy apparently frolicking atop the AR card.

Konno admits the 3DS's Street Pass evolved from the original Nintendogs' Bark Mode, and it brings plenty to Nintendogs + Cats. It lets you swap presents, photos or even virtual puppies with fellow owners, and you can meet up in a virtual park with your puppy to play with the Miis and puppies of other owners – a process that opens up new breeds to your kennel.

Nintendogs + Cats isn't massively different from its predecessor, but its subtle enhancements mean it will prove even more irresistible to dog and now cat lovers, and that it towers in an even more colossal manner over other pet sims, no matter what their platform. If you yearn for a dog or cat, but can't have one for whatever reason, it will make you very happy indeed.