Nintendo DS Lite Game Reviews
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Review: Dogz 2

Score: 78

Want your daughter to learn Poker and Blackjack? No problem, get them a copy of Dogz 2!

Dogz 2

Which is perhaps a little melodramatic. Dogz 2 is centred around a set of traditional mini-games (Blackjack, Poker, Air-hockey, Swimming, Darts, Jump-rope, etc, not all usually aimed at preteen daughters!), in which you win in order to earn points to buy accessories for your puppy and furniture for your home, and so on. The puppies then play happily in their new environment and with their new accessories. And that's Dogz 2 in a nutshell!

There are apparently over 200 'things' to buy/collect, over 20 breeds of dog to care for and play with (you can even cross-breed them... err..... and then trade them using the wireless play option). Cool touches abound, from voice instructions to your puppies to unlocking new background music by buying virtual CDs in the virtual CD store.

Dogz 2
Image courtesy of IGN

The different levels of gameplay (from virtual pet to accessorizing to card games) are quite well integrated, although your daughter will be disappointed if she's mainly after interaction with a mess-free pet, a la Nintendogs.

Dogz 2
Image courtesy of IGN

The original Dogz for DS was more of a dedicated virtual pet game, by the way, albeit geared more towards educating about pet responsibility than towards having actual 'fun'.

But Dogz 2 is a different animal (sic) and tries to extend the genre in an unexpected way. And succeeds after a fashion, with many hours of gameplay and distraction. Just go into the purchase with your eyes open!

(Buy Dogz 2)