Review – Dog Man: Mission Impawsible

Inspired by the adorable universe of Dav Pilkey’s comic books, it finally gets an adaptation for games, bringing a new adventure starring the canine police officer and his most irreverent group of Superfriends in children’s literature. Developed by Floor 84 Studio and published by Mindscape, the game promises to capture the chaotic and fun essence of comics in a fun way.

Even without the messages behind the stories and using its characters as a fundamental part of this communication with the public, the game uses the friendship between Man-Dog, Pepezinho and the robot Formigão to explore different ideas in a title that manages to bring together good ideas within a simple proposal of its genre, whether as a game or comic.

The city was saved once again

Before Superfriends came along, Dav Pilkey created his work to deal with themes of friendship, humanity, fatherhood and companionship. In the comics, it all started when Officer Rocha and his dog Greg suffered an accident, meaning that the only way for the two to survive was by fusing the dog’s head with the officer’s body. This is how Dog Man is born, the best police officer in the city! From then on, after making Pepê, the most evil cat in the world, become a good ally and counting on his son, Pepezinho, Formigão, Molly and other characters from this universe, Dog Man: Mission Impawsible manages to provide many hours of fun and fanservice in the fight against Piggy and the Fleas.

Simplicity is the key to everything and Floor 84 Studio’s greatest asset, because while the plot maintains slapstick humor and the twists and turns are eccentric, just as they made the comics a global success, Dog Man: Mission Impawsible stands out for combining elements platform, without requiring much in terms of combat (with the pattern of hitting enemies in the head), featuring some puzzle-solving sections that require the use of each character’s specific skills.

Assuming their codenames of Superfriends (Supa Buddies), the trio of heroes will rely on equipment, known as Super Gadgets, to save the city from the group of supervillains who stole the key and are freeing the imprisoned criminals. Dog Man can dig and glide, while Pepezinho uses his claws to climb walls and 80-HD uses his jet boots and glove to push boxes. Playing with all of them is simple and easy, just X or Y, when on Switch, to switch between Cãovaleiro das Trevas, Supergatinho and Raiozão. Throughout the game you will find more of this equipment to increase gameplay, such as the use of a hook.

In a vibe very similar to Feliz The Cat, in which when you receive the fourth heart you transform into a Super Hero (without gaining extra superpowers or different looks), the characters will need to go from left to right while overcoming obstacles while collecting police badges and bones, as well as meeting Molly, the little green slug, to unlock epic scenes with really cool art by Dav Pilkey. Even though it is generic most of the time during the stages, the developers managed to carry the spirit of the original work and add small challenges for you to switch between Dog Man, Pepezinho and Formigão.

The learning curve is good enough that you’ll find Dog Man: Mission Impawsible, during the first few stages, to start adding details until you face the first boss. From this point it becomes clear that the structure with five worlds and ten phases, with a scenario being a kind of bonus and bringing a greater challenge, serve as preparation for battles against bosses. Mostly with indirect confrontation, they require you to explore the scenario and discover how to cause damage to the enemy, almost like another puzzle in the game. Even though it has a feeling of repetitiveness, this is a game that is very much aimed at younger or casual audiences, who have comic books as their main connection.

Charisma and good humor are the foundations of success

Just like Dav Pilkey’s work, Dog Man: Mission Impawsible offers fun dialogues, puns very well localized into Brazilian Portuguese and, of course, the same visual style that the comic books have. The choice of cel-shading style, which attempts to replicate Pilkey’s simple and colorful illustrations, works well overall, with expressive characters and scenarios full of comical details that directly refer to the pages of the comics. For anyone who is a fan or is getting to know this artist’s work through this title, you will certainly be taken to a little world full of personality and very authorial.

From the movement of the heroes, which requires some time to get used to, to the visual representation of the enemies, with a mix of elements of reality in anthropomorphized forms, everything seems strange at the same time as it shows your ability to win over through charisma and fun. It’s impossible not to care about the characters and participate in this journey, controlling the Superfriends and overcoming even the lower-than-normal difficulty.

The same goes for the soundtrack, which manages to please with its style while at the same time being repetitive due to the lack of variety throughout the 50 levels. Everything is fun and very pleasant to play, but at the same time it ends up lacking in excess of repetition and lack of more frequent new features. It may not be the ideal game to be purchased at full price, but it is an excellent purchase during promotions or for those who have children and who love animals.

The combination of a more naive humor, agile narrative and cartoonish elements that manage to capture the essence of how children see the world, makes Dog Man: Mission Impawsible a game that tries to replicate the success of the original work, but that doesn’t have the same impact as original stories. In the end, this title ends the year in a fun and accessible adaptation that will certainly please fans and casual players (of all ages), but which struggles to achieve the depth and creativity that make Dav Pilkey’s comics so loved.

With vibrant graphics and simple gameplay, this is a title worth checking out, especially to introduce the most curious to the Dogman universe, but be aware that it is not impossible to invest in improvements and refinements for the next game.