Developer: 3DClouds
Publisher: Outright Games
Platform: PC, PS4, PS5, Switch, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S
Tested on: Switch
Paw Patrol World – Review
So today we got our paws on this new game that is filled to the brim with all your favorite canine superheroes. This time we get to play with the pups and BE the pups as we stroll around the city for awesome missions, ensuring the safety of our fellow villagers! Let’s head over to Adventure Bay and see what the day will bring.
Story
Paw Patrol World is a 3D animated adventure game where you can stroll around the city and help the citizens of Adventure Bay, alongside the story that will take place here and which will require you to play as all the pups from the show.
The story starts quite simple. To honor the presence of the Power Pups, Adventure Bay is hosting a wonderful event. So we are expected to be present at the ceremony. But things aren’t going exactly as planned as we hit the first hurdle toward the big celebration. It doesn’t take long to realize that the festivities are being hijacked by Humdinger, the devious and corrupt mayor of Foggy Bottom. Luckily, Ryder and the Pups are ready to save the day!
Graphics
The graphics in this game are quite unrefined. We weren’t expecting breathtaking images or cinematic cutscenes, but we were left disappointed when it came to the actual gameplay. At certain times when cruising around Adventure Bay, we encountered some blurry-looking people. This created a stark contrast whenever we talked to them, as we were then presented with a crystal clear image of said person via the dialogue screen.
Another thing that actually bugged us, was the camera control. In this game, apart from the blurry-looking people, it’s always nice to take a look around and maybe see some interesting places to visit while you’re out and about exploring Adventure Bay. Sadly, the movement of the camera is limited to the direction your character is facing. Like we said before, this left us with a bit of disappointment.
Sound
The sound design of the game is just wonderful. For example, whenever you go on water on Zuma’s hovercraft, you can hear the waves splashing on your vehicle. Or when you move on the sandy beach, you can clearly hear the chafing of the sand. The sounds in this game are perfectly fitting for the situation at hand.
When Mayor Humdinger arrives in his blimp to mess up the festivities, the music goes from joyful to evil. Whenever someone needs our help, the tune just keeps playing a soothing tune just to make sure we are 100% ready for this new task. When you don’t feel like helping at all and you just wanna cruise around the city’s large map, the sounds vary from seagulls at the beach to birds in the park. Even when you’re cruising on the highway, you can hear the wind blow by.
Although the music and sounds don’t actually change that often, we can imagine it being nice for kids during their first experience with an open-world game like this.
Gameplay
Paw Patrol World is an open-world adventure game that is catered towards younger gamers. This means we had to have an open mind when it came down to gameplay. Even when approaching the title as a game for kids, there are quite a few things that might have been better if dealt with differently.
Nowadays people are hunting and looking around for challenges. They want to make sure that they can develop their own gaming style. Even though Paw Patrol World wants to do this for the kids, it won’t be offering this exciting journey.
Right from the start, you are being bombarded with all the mechanics, and all the pups and their vehicles are already available. So there isn’t really too much to hunt for. Every pup has its own badge hidden away in the large city, however, so there is at least something to ‘hunt’ for. All the mechanics were very simple, as all the actions around town will consist of two buttons. Understanding that this game will target pre-schoolers, there isn’t any increase in difficulty whatsoever. Once these controls are “mastered”, the game gets repetitive.
Be prepared to face some frustrations as well, because when you want to obtain your pup’s badges, you have to do some tasks to make sure you can unlock the one you’re looking for. When everything is set and done, and you want to pick up the badge, it’ll be most likely greyed out. You see, when you want to unlock Chase’s (police dog) badge, you will need to cross the water. In doing so, you need to switch to another pup and his vehicle. For example, If we went on land with Zuma (the pup with the hovercraft), we couldn’t pick up Chase’s badge. Even when we restarted the game, it wasn’t very clear if we still had to do some tasks that we missed, or that we simply had to switch out the pups. So Chase can only pick up his own badge. We assume it’s the same for the other pups and their badges.
Thankfully this game has one big positive thing. It’s the size of the map itself. Though it seems small in the beginning, exploring can take quite some time. Especially when it’s littered with cookies. It proved to be fun “hunting down” some cookies. Every cookie fills a bar and when the bar is full, you will get a surprise. So it didn’t take that long before we were scooping up all the cookies in the city. By doing this, we did recognize some familiar buildings from the show. We do believe that this might flare up kids’ enthusiasm because they recognize familiar sights from the show.
Conclusion
Again, this is a game meant for kids and it’s not that bad. The game does stand on its own four legs and it does deliver on its promise to have an open world. Rather than having amazing views or complicated combos, we do believe that this game can be a starting point for younger gamers. The music is fun to hear and the environment in which you can play will certainly bring a smile to all the fans of the franchise.
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