Dog Man: Mission Impawsible Impressions
When my wife was pregnant with our now 9-year-old, plenty of people offered unsolicited advice. NO ONE offered a glimpse into the type of insane and ridiculous media we would have to endure as the kids got older. Hearing that stupid pig’s voice or that bzzzt bzzzt ring chime causes an uncontrollable groan to escape my lips every time it plays through the house. It is not all bad though. We are a Bluey family and Magic School Bus on Netflix really gets you in the nostalgic feels. I also discovered that I would probably have no idea what any of this even was if I did not have kids. For example, I would bet good money that if you asked me about Dog Man, my first guess would be a Saturday night SciFi channel horror movie starring some one-hit wonder from the 80s. My daughter loves it and it got her into reading so who am I to complain? Of course, when I heard there was a Dog Man video game, I had to check it out for her (great timing too as a movie is set to release in the beginning of 2025).
Developed by Floor 84 Studio, Dog Man: Mission Impawsible is a 2D platformer featuring the entire cast of Dog Man series of books. You play as Dog Man, Li’l Petey, and 80-HD, collectively known as the Supa Buddies. As I booted up the game, it was great watching my daughter call out the various characters she recognized, some of who serve as in-game NPCs.
You begin the game controlling Dog Man but quickly gain access to both Li’l Petey and 80-HD, at which point you can freely swap between the three on the fly. On the PlayStation, this was done by the Square and Triangle buttons although R1/L1 may have been better options as I could never remember which way the swap went despite seeing the picture at the top of the screen. Each character moves (it is not really a walk but it is also not a run and speed remains the same), jumps (there are degrees to the height), and eventually gains a unique ability. The platforming was extremely basic but could be frustratingly difficult at times due to the overall stiffness and jankiness of the movement. You never get a real feel for the jump distance as there is literally no weight to the movements. Enemies serve more as additional obstacles in the platforming as they are not defeated but only stunned (thus turning them into stepping stones of sorts). I half expected you to be able to bounce right off them but learned quickly that stomping on an enemi’s head stopped all momentum. You could freely leap from their heads but there was no extra little oomph that is relatively common in similar games.
Despite the basic nature of the platforming, each of the three characters does play slightly different. Dog Man has an average jump and can remain on breakable platforms (there are enough of them in each stage that it is a thing and not just a one-off happening) for about a second before needing to move. His unique ability allows him to dig into sections of dirt to find a new path when the main one is blocked. Li’l Petey can fit through small spaces and will not collapse any of the platforms. His unique ability is a wall climb (when the surface to climb presents itself). 80-HD is the largest character, has the furthest/highest jump, and will instantly break the breakables. He can move large obstacles out of the way to access new paths or to create additional platforms to reach areas not within jumping distance.
Despite the freedom in choosing who to play as, most levels pigeonhole you into who to play just by design. You have to dig with Dog Man but only because there is no other way to go. It would have been choice to see a choice of using the three characters with a mixture of using their abilities or just their size and jumping abilities to traverse the level instead of being told to use this or do that. The few times there was an actual choice usually just led to the one of the level collectibles.
Speaking of collectibles, each level has 4 paw prints to grab and an excessive amount of dog bones. At first, I thought the paw prints were like Yoshi coins from Super Mario World but they do not reward extra lives (there are hearts to be found or finding Petey to replenish health). If you collect enough bones, you get a paw print, and finishing out the level grants another. They solely exist to get “epic stuff” which is artwork accessed via a menu or for those who need to do everything a game has to offer. I get it that I am not the target audience but even my 9-year-old, upon finding the artwork, was like, “Oh….cool.” This was quite disappointing for me as I just watched her finish up Astro Bot recently and she would relentlessly collect every coin in every level (No, I am not comparing the two games, relax).
When my daughter was learning to read, I had the pleasure of reading Dog Man to her most nights. It is a graphic novel with a target audience so the humor and dialogue are what is to be expected. I hated it but she would crack up at every page, so I, in turn, loved it (parenting can be strange). That said, none of that humor and dialogue can be found in the game. The game starts with an animated clip straight from the books but there is nothing level to level which seems like a missed opportunity.
Dog Man: Impawsible Mission is an interesting game. Who is it for? I do not know. It misses the mark on both the content (outside of the look which they nailed) and the gameplay. If my kid, who loves the books and is super excited about the movie, cannot appreciate this game, I am not sure who would.
