Grapple Dog was one of the games I checked out the demo for during the summer festival, and with it out, I had a chance to play more of it. While the game may not offer much for people looking for a challenge, the game is full of 90’s charm and swinging gameplay.
Dog Gone Quest
The story finds the player as Pablo, a lay about dog on an archeological mission when they are separate from their group and accidentally release an ancient robotic evil that threatens the entire world. Fortunately, Pablo also finds a grapple claw and decides to go out and save the world by collecting relics, swinging, and bouncing on a lot of things.
Grapple Dog just oozes 90’s platforming design and charm, with a funky soundtrack that would sound right at home on the genesis or from a Sonic Team game. The structure is kept very simple: each stage has five gems that act as your progression McGuffin, along with two bonus ones for collecting fruit. Get enough gems and you will unlock the boss fight of the world to then move on to the next.
You will go through the levels by jumping, doing a ground stomp/bounce, and using your grapple claw to swing. For those that grew up playing Bionic Commando, this is far less difficult. The level design is kept on the basic side but finding all the gems can be a challenge but not required.
The bark is bigger than his bite
In terms of issues, I do not have a lot to say about Grapple Dog. The difficulty does not get too extreme, with each stage having plenty of checkpoints and there are no instant kill pits or traps. I was hoping that the bosses would make more interesting use of the grapple, but they were on the simple side. I would rate this game easy/moderate for platforming fans if you just want to play it without going for 100%. If you are like me and have played games like Super Meat Boy, or replaying Celeste, Grapple Dog should not offer too much of a bite.
The game has a lot of charm with its character design
There is one design issue that I had with the game. The jumping is not as precise as I would have liked and got me to miss simple jumps quite often. The problem is that when you jump, Pablo’s momentum keeps going in the direction even if you let go of the analog stick. This can make it a bit hard if you are trying to make small movements in the air. However, the design of the game is about wide areas with a lot of leeway in terms of making jumps and swinging safely, so it is not as troublesome if this was a harder game.
Give a dog a grapple
Grapple Dog is one of those games where the charm and style does help smooth over its shortcomings. A perfect game for beginner platforming fans with accessibility options to aid them if they get into trouble. If you are looking for a game to introduce new players to different kinds of platforming, Grapple Dog is a great starter game.
This was reviewed with a press key provided by the developer
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