I’m honestly surprised there hasn’t been a Nintendogs game on Switch yet.  Luckily there’s Little Friends: Puppy Island to fill in the gap.  You and your pup are vacationing on an island, watching a house for a friend.  This house has a backyard with all sorts of things to take care of puppies, and as you take yours on walks, you’ll meet new puppy friends to take care of, items to find, and things to build on the trails.  Little Friends: Puppy Island is available on Switch and PC, but reviewed on Switch here.

You don’t get to pick the breeds of dogs when you first start out, but you can name them.  After arriving on the island you’ll encounter two main types of areas: the backyard and trails.  The backyard has everything you’ll need to take care of your pups.  You can feed them, bathe them, dress them up in outfits, pet and play with them, and more.  When you are ready, head out the gate and walk your dogs on trails.  This is where the meat of the gameplay is.  On trails you’ll encounter obstacles to pass, which you must play mini-games to do so.  You can also find new puppies and practice agility and obedience skills.  But you’ll also find spots where you can build things like an outfit shop, flying disc park, new paths, and more.  You’ll explore areas like a forest, garden, beach, among others.  When your pups get too dirty digging or run out of energy, take them back to the backyard to feed them and bathe them again so you can go out.

In order to build things, you’ll have to gather materials and send pups to the worksite to help out.  The pups even don construction outfits and have a real Rubble from Paw Patrol vibe.  But the pups have to be at certain skill levels to do so.  You can improve their skills by doing different things.  Take walks and play fetch to improve their speed, agility, and endurance.  Pet them to improve their friendliness levels and play a mini-game at bushes with animals inside to keep them from barking to improve their obedience.  You’ll get texts from the person you are watching the house for to let you know which things you need to do to progress the story.  My only problems with the game is that the leveling up mechanic kind of bogs the game down a bit.  And some of the mini-games are way harder than others.  But otherwise, this one’s a fine game for kids and for anyone who likes titles where you take care of animals.

Kid Factor:

Nothing violent or objectionable here.  Although your puppy pals will take piddles and poops on the trails.  Reading skill is a must as everything is text based.  Little Friends: Puppy Island is rated E for Everyone.

Tags: Game Reviews