Wobbledogs is the most unique and original game I’ve played so far this year. It’s a creative combination of playing like you are a mad scientist, changing the DNA of a dog, and creating so many more. There are no specific restrictions stopping you from creating the most unusual dog to love. So what can go wrong when you build your own dog and add it to your playroom with the many other dogs you’ve created?
Weird Science, Let’s Get Mutating!
First off, there are no real rules to follow, just a slightly quick tutorial on how to control and set things up. Afterward, you are free to invest time in developing new dogs and bring them to your empty playroom, where you’ll be able to add new items. The entire design is an open space cube floating, giving you a free area to add and design as you like. Leaving you a full amount of freedom to play without restrictions or large goals to achieve.
The only thing that gets a bit confusing with the game is getting a handle on how to use the controls to select anything within the game. I felt a bit disappointed, even though it appeared like a hand cursor on the screen, it was very hard to move or select certain features and objects. I found myself going through every button at times to just release, get near or find what I need to select. It mainly was this control, which is the big part of the game I struggled with, the rest of the buttons with direct actions weren’t difficult to use.
After that one disappointment, I sort of lost interest in the game. It just felt complicated and started to begin feeling frustrated. If it’s to waste time, well this will waste so much time just trying to do one single thing. Sadly, after that issue, I felt the game didn’t interest me as much as I felt in the beginning. However, I did take a second chance at the game after giving it a day to completely clear my mind and reset my thoughts. the result still felt the same, I’m on the fence about the game. Even if it felt a bit easier to understand the controls, it just still is not as easy as I’d like to control every movement and selection.
Don’t get me wrong, the idea was really awesome, using DNA changing and breeding one’s own dog or dogs. Also the idea of having the ability to play with them, and add or change the room as you like. Oh, and I can’t forget the ability to watch them all interact with each other. I did find those features of the game to be quite fun and entertaining. However, the learning portion sort of got a little lost for me, trying to figure out what each micro-organism or what else has been found out on the list. I didn’t really know what it had to do with what I needed to use and the same goes for the strange feeling of dogs being placed into a pod to pupate is also odd for a dog, but maybe just oddly different.
There was one other issue that stumped me. In the beginning, the loading took so long and it almost appeared as if it froze the entire screen. I had no idea if it did freeze and if it required a reset. Fortunately, it did start moving again and everything ran smoothly afterward. I guess maybe having one very slow-loading portion of the game is better than the entire game taking too long to load.
Final Thoughts
This game is quite a nice idea, but it could require a bit more work. I liked the concept, and love the color graphics and cuteness factor, but the few issues that came up so often are hard to pass and forget about. I think I was half the time frustrated and getting a headache from how much I was going around in circles to select and try to do anything I could in the game. Unless a few things get fixed, this game may not be on my radar anytime soon.
