102 Dalmatians: Puppies to the Rescue

THE BAD:
-Short
-Ugly graphics
-Stupid dialog
-Slippery platforming
-Older gamers will lose interest
-Lame features

SUMMARY:
We all know about the movie 102 Dalmatians, and I’m sure some of you have at least heard of the game. But is it really as childish as it appears to be? In most cases, yes, but there are exceptions.

Graphics: 4.3 – I know the PS1 couldn’t support much graphical quality, but I know it could do much better. Just look at the character models! The animations are good for a PS1 puppy, but overall they look pretty bad. The colors and details blend together, and they have all these little ‘things’ poking out from their joints. Also, the faces are expressionless, lacking every bit of realism. They are also very blocky, even for a PS1 game. At least they move like toys and animals should. Now for that scenery. At a first glimpse, you’d think they weren’t bad for a lousy movie-based PS1 title. Indeed, the texturing is quite nice. The grass and hedges are actually set apart from concrete and wood. However, there are quite a few problems here. First of all, there’s the great lack of shading. Even if you’re given a main light source, nothing is really shaded. And sometimes you’ll get a lot of light in a room that would be much darker in real life, but I guess that’s to make it both easy to see and appropriate for kids. But that’s nothing compared to the other problems. There is a serious snag with pop-up here. Even if something is less than 100 feet away, it will just disappear and randomly pop up when you come in range. And sometimes an object won’t appear until you get close to it. Also, random patches of floors, railing, tables, and many other things will disappear, so you can see inside it. Also, if the camera is on the opposite side of a wall from your character, you see the pup right through it as if they’re f loating by it. And somethings will ‘move’ as you come closer to them. Believe me, this is pretty bad even for the PS1. The effects aren’t good either. There are no lights or flares or anything. The only effects they bothered to put in were things like discarded grass and water splatters. At least those things look okay. I’ve seen bad graphics before, but this is ridiculous.

Sound: 7.9 – Probably the only part of the game, the sound isn’t as bad as you would think. The music isn’t bad at all. It’s well suited for both the mood and style of each level. The first few levels have quick, cheery music, while the last few have more evil-toned tunes. And it works rather well. It’s not that enjoyable to listen too most of the time, but it’s not bad, either. As far as PS1 games go, the sound effects are pretty good, too. Like, when you jump, you hear a low thump, which is pretty much what you should hear from a jumping puppy. And when you smash a crate, it has a good, woody crash. Now, compared to the PS2 it’s pretty lame, but with a game like this it’s great. Also, the noises caused by toys and background clutter are pretty good, too. Like, if you run past a car on the streets, the blares are identical to real cars. The toys could have been less obnoxious and more threatening. Seriously, the gun-toting firetrucks sound more like a waterlogged wind-up car than any firetruck I’ve heard. Toaster robots sound like garbage trucks. But can you really expect a greedy and desperate game developer to pay attention to that? And let’s not forget the stupid dialog. Not one character shows any emotion when they speak, no matter how angry or happy they’re supposed to be. Also, most of them sound rather unrehearsed, because they don’t always speak fluidly. And the things they say are just plain obnoxious. Like, if one of the puppies lures a baddie into a trap, he or she will say the cheesiest, stupidest puns. Also, the sound of many character voices just gets annoying. And when an NPC gives you information on what to do, although it’s easy to follow, sometimes you just don’t know what they’re talking about. Basically, the music is good, the sound needs improvement, and the dialog is terrible.

Handling: 7.3 -- The gameplay holds up rather well, but I found some problems. The camera is pretty bad. It’s well-focussed on your character, and it allows you to see what’s ahead, but that’s not the problem here. Well, you can’t see what’s above or below you, which gets annoying if you’re in a vertical area. The catch is you have to change the angle constantly to find enemies and make a turn. It hardly even turns on its own. Normal games could manage this effortlessly, but not this one. Because you use R2 and L2 to change the direction, it gets difficult. What’s worse is the fact that it is very slow, and it’s too hard to move while turning it, so you have to sit still. The right Analog wasn’t assigned anything, so why couldn’t they have used that? Fortunately, that’s the most of the gameplay problems. The controls are surprisingly fluid and straightforward. You can jump, dig, bark, and roll, but you can also trigger certain objects. Also, the game does indeed have Analog control, which prevents a lot of unneeded stress. I found all of these controls a pleasure to use. Well, rolling isn’t as simple as it should be. You automatically stop rolling after a while, even if you’re holding the trigger, and it’s pretty difficult to line it up. It often causes you to slip and fall or run into danger. Also, jumping from platform to platform gets pretty slippery. The puppies can barely stand still on table tops and chandeliers! But the other controls were never a hassle. The overall difficulty is good as well. It’s not at all hard, except when you constantly slip off of platforms. Even so, this is a good, easy game. Actually, it’s too easy, because this game is for little kids after all. It mostly consists of running through the levels, which is a pretty good, clean way to introduce kids to video games, I guess. There are a couple of levels leaning towards the difficult side, such as the hedge maze, which, or course, is a full-on maze. There are a couple of maps, but it will take you a while to complete it. Also, there are a few slides and such that are kind of frustrating to deal with. But, all in all, this game plays pretty well.

Entertainment: 7.4 -- Believe it or not, this game is actually kind of fun. But just how fun is it? From a young child’s perspective, this is probably one of the best games out there. I actually used to play this game all the time with an old friend, and it was easily my favorite game to play. I could go for endless hours just repeating all my favorite levels! But then my friend and I grew apart, as well as my interest in the game. Then, a few years later, I found and bought the game, expecting to relive the thrills from over 5 years ago. But once I put it in my PS2 and started playing, I was utterly disappointed to see a kids’ game. I found the hard way that this game is solely for kids. Well, I still enjoy playing it every now and then, but I know I have better things to do. It’s not a bad idea to rent this game, because it’s not as shabby as it seems. Also, there are some rather fun minigames, especially checkers. But if you have younger brothers or sisters below age 9 who love Disney, definitely buy this for them. If not, don’t risk buying a cheap thrill.

Features: 6.8 -- Oh how I dislike games with only fair content. I know it’s for kids and all, and I know this game is from 2001, but that doesn’t mean they had to be stingy on the features. There are around 20 levels of gameplay, four of which are bosses, most of which are short. To little kids, this game should feel nice and long, but older gamers will find it rather short. There are also 100 bones to find in every platforming level, and collecting them all unlocks a lame prize: the parrot guy from the move swoops at you, grabs you, and gives you a ride around the level. Kids will think it’s the best thing ever, but for the older crowd, not even lame extras sink so low. You can also earn stickers by completing certain tasks, but it doesn’t really unlock anything. But let’s not forget about those minigames! Actually, these are some of the best minigames I’ve ever seen in a game. They’re actually fun and challenging, too. They consist of minigolf, memory, checkers, dancing, racing (on foot), and mazes (in the form of those tilting boards with the marbles). Most of them are worth unlocking, too. The game may have the average movie-based content, but at least it has some good.

Replay Value: Moderately Low

Overall: 6.7 -- As you can tell, this game is for children. Although it’s kind of fun once in a while, you should really stick to games suitable for your age. Plus the graphics and sound are very outdated by today’s standards. This game is not something you should spend your money on, but it wouldn’t hurt just to rent it for kids you like.