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Dog's Life

Dog's Life
Dog's Life Coverart.png
Developer(s) Frontier Developments
Publisher(s)
Director(s) David Braben
Producer(s) Jonny Watts
Designer(s) David Braben
Jonathan Roach
Jonny Watts
Writer(s) Kerry Shale
David Braben
Andrew Gillett
Composer(s) Alistair Lindsay
Platform(s) PlayStation 2
Release
  • PAL: October 31, 2003
  • NA: September 14, 2004
Genre(s) Action-adventure
Mode(s) Single-player
Aggregate score
Aggregator Score
Metacritic 64/100
Review scores
Publication Score
Edge 5/10
Eurogamer 6/10
Famitsu 28/40
Game Informer 7/10
GameSpot 7/10
GameSpy 3/5 stars
GameZone 9/10
IGN 7/10
OPM (US) 2/5 stars
PSM 7/10
The New York Times (average)

Dog's Life is an action-adventure video game developed by Frontier Developments for the PlayStation 2. The game was released in Europe and Australia in October 2003, in North America in September 2004 and in Japan in May 2005.

One day, the protagonist, Jake, witnesses Daisy, a Labrador Retriever whom he has a crush on, being taken away by dogcatchers and resolves to rescue her. He follows them from the small town of Clarksville, to a mountain resort called Lake Minniwahwah, and finally to Boom City, using information gained from overhearing conversations between humans to track them down. Throughout his adventure he is continually harassed by Killer, a doberman belonging to a dog catcher.

Eventually it is revealed that Miss Peaches, head of a cat food company, is arranging for dogs to be caught, and smuggled to a factory, where they will be made into her cat food. Jake ultimately makes it to the dog pound, and after rescuing a number of dogs and bribing Killer with bones, gains entry to the factory. There, he manages to prevent Daisy from being killed by the machinery as she is taken through it on a conveyor belt, only for Miss Peaches to appear with a shotgun. Jake farts, sending Fortune falling onto the conveyor belt, where she is taken through the machinery which turns her into her own cat food.

The epilogue reveals that all the stolen dogs were saved, and that Jake and Daisy are together.

The game allows the player control or interact with over 15 dog breeds each with distinct traits and abilities. They handle things in a different way, that can also be used in challenges or puzzles.

The game is divided into three areas: Clarksville, a rural town; Lake Minniwahwah, a ski resort; and Boom City. These are then divided into smaller areas such as districts or farms. In every area are humans willing to give missions in exchange for bones. Bones can also be found buried underground or hiding somewhere. Bones are used to increase your stats, which will make it easier to complete missions.

Certain smells picked up through the game's "Smellovision" will activate challenges against a local dog. In each small section of the game there are four challenges, two of which are to find eight smells of the same colour and compete against a local dog. These missions include races, obedience trials, tug-of-war games and a territorial game where the player must run around urinating in marked areas to obtain territory.


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