Dog Eat Dog

This review is for the IGMC 2014 version.

Ok so this is a story about a dog that I can get behind, because, well, there are zombies. I mean zombie dogs that is, no George Romero 'brrraaaiinns' zombies. Dalmatian zombies, Chihuahua zombies, Pomeranian zombies, but hopefully if you are successful no husky/malamute cross zombies though, or one particular husky/malamute cross zombie that is.

You start this visual novel/adventure game after waking up from a long sleep to find your trusty canine companion Tyke, has gone missing. Given that a great many of the dogs within your town have been infected with a nasty disease codenamed DED which basically turns man's best friend into a pack of human hunting monster zombies, you need to go and find Tyke, and fast.

Into this scenario walks Sara, who has her own reasons for aiding you and a mysterious and somewhat amusing temporal advantage, or a really advanced case of cognitive déjà vu. Though the fact she looks like the news reporter who delivered the game's opening exposition should give you a clue.

Yeah, I'd be wondering about that too.

Sara is the in-game tutorial for the battle dynamic as well as overall cicerone, she supplies you with a set of glasses that enable you fight the infected canines in a way that doesn't make it seem like you are beating your next door neighbours beloved pet into a pulp, though once you take them off the view becomes a little less rosy. Still you really don't have a choice about the battles since each is a narrative event, so avoiding them is impossible and you're just going to have to come to terms with what you need to do to survive and find your beloved Tyke before it is too late. Luckily as a player you don't get to see the real results of your carnage, this isn't a horror game.


Read it again.

As this is a visual novel predominantly there is no world map, no onscreen encounters, no weapons or armour suppliers for upgrades, the majority of the game-play consists of narrative choices, each one progressing you further down the path to one of the five possible endings, though in my play through I only experienced two of them, but they were well constructed and followed a logical progression that did accurately reflect the choice you made within the game. In addition the game will allow you to save at the juncture of a narrative choice and given there are 24 save slots to fill you can go back to an early decision if you don't like the how the story is progressing or the ending you reached with a great deal of ease.

Growth is capped at level 5 which you do reach by game's end, but as I said battles aren't the main game-play vehicle, so the battles don't aid in the story progression per se. The battle dynamic is the classic turn based front view, with a interesting little twist in that the guard option not only protects and partially heals you it also increases your base HP, so the more you guard the healthier you get, in addition you also heal completely at the end of each battle which is useful since you don't have any healing items or spells, at least not ones designed for humans.

There is a romance aspect built into the game with each of the young women vying for Daryl's attention, though given the fact that one of them, Maria, is portrayed as Daryl's adopted sister it's not really a romance in that sense. Irrespective of the genetic make-up if you're brought up together as brother and sister, you're brother and sister so it's more that the two women aren't fond of each other and each is attempting to influence the choices Daryl makes. Sara is serious, mysterious and knowledgeable with a streak of jealousy a mile wide, Maria, Daryl adopted sister is supposedly a protégé, completing university two years ahead of schedule, and specialising in genetics and virology, which is vital given the premise of the tale, and more importantly for this dynamic she doesn't like Sara, but the feeling is mutual.


Sara, tell us what you really think.

As you can tell, graphics are all custom, from the face-sets and portraits to the backgrounds and battlers. Though in the case of the battlers they are all pretty much the same image with just a size or colouration change for differentiation, but that has been covered by the fact that you are viewing the diseased dogs through the tint of VR glasses. The lack of variety isn't a detriment, and fits within the view created in the story. The only thing I would suggest changing in the visual style is the written colour scheme. Whilst I know the colours represent the speaker, the pale blue and that burnt orange against teal in the dialogue boxes is a little difficult to read with the font chosen. The white against teal of the battle dialogue has much greater readability. And yes, the little paw graphics in the corners and continue options are adorable.


They are too cute to kill. Seriously.

Audio however is all default and whilst nothing to write home about, it isn't used in a heavy handed manner and mostly just slips into the background.

Story is where this game shines, and given the visual novel format that is a necessity. It's not a complex tale by any sense, but it is well presented with logical and realistic progression, there are multiple ending options to explore which does increased the replay value and it has some sweet and heart-warming moments in what could easily have been an over-saccharined cute little tale. For a first outing this game has a lot going for it, and I hope that the developer not only meets her modestly stated goals for the contest (getting 10 votes) but continues to develop and release games. If this is the first attempt, then good things are on the horizon.

If you've read this review and there is still time, grab a copy and throw a vote Dog Eat Dog's way, it deserves a little support.