Good Dog, Bad Dog Review

Introduction

Move over Catlateral Damage because the canine equivalent is here, and it’s all dogs rule and cats drool. Good Dog, Bad Dog is a PS4 and PSVR supported game that puts you in the role of being a dog. Good or bad, you choose. Released in December of 2020, it’s been met with mixed to bad reviews. Let’s jump in!

Review

In Good Dog, Bad Dog you are simply put, a dog; a beagle to be exact and you have the choice of being male or female. You’re also given the ability to your choose your owner and the choices are once again simply gender based, male or female. There aren’t any other options to choose from, no other dog breeds and nothing fancy. This game is simple people, and by simple I mean you get a damn beagle and that’s it.

Your next decision: Is your beagle going to be a good dog or a bad dog? Here’s where our game play comes in.

You start off in your home and your rampage, or obedience begins. The controls are very simple and easy to use. You can obviously walk around, you can pee, poop, bark, sit, shake, eat and drink. You can also bite and barf. These different options along with interacting with your environment determine your ability to be good or bad. Each playthrough is only fifteen minutes long so you’re limited on how much you can do in that time-frame.

Good Karma:

As with most things, your good karma playthroughs are mostly boring. You should eat your food and drink your water, but don’t throw up. Don’t eat things off the ground that aren’t for you. Don’t bark and certainly don’t bite. When you go for a walk with your owner, you can’t run away or do anything that will frighten your neighbors walking around. When you interact or come across people you have to sit and be good. Back at home you can play fetch with your owner for positive karma and you can also collect random toys from the neighborhood to bring back to your doghouse for your owner to play with you. All of these things will leave you with a positive in the karma meter. Whenever you do a positive thing that will earn you good karma you’ll get a green notification.

Bad Karma:

Being bad is where all the fun is, let’s be honest. During your bad karma playthroughs you’re able to bite your owner and neighbors, bark at them, pee on them, poop in their faces and break your collar to run away from your owner. While you’re loose in the neighborhood causing utter chaos a dog catcher will come after you as well as your panicked owner. You can also eat the mushrooms around the neighborhood for a fun psychedelic high. Sprinting from neighbor to neighbor barking and biting at them, chasing the neighborhood cats and being an absolute menace is where the most fun in the game is to be had. Torturing the mailman specifically, is great comedic relief.

Rating

Pros:

Dogs! and Cats!
You can pet the dog
Silly fun
Short playthroughs
Easy trophies
Bad Karma actions are fun

Cons:

Poor gameplay mechanics
Can’t choose different dog breeds
Repetitive gameplay
Grindy trophies
Good Karma actions are boring

Summary

Good Dog, Bad Dog isn’t a great game by any means, but it also isn’t bad. It’s just simple. The control mechanics will annoy you a bit and the overall “glitchiness” of the game might make your brain swell. Overall though, you’re looking at a quick experience simulating the life of a dog. If you’re a trophy hunter, prepare for a bit of a grind as most tasks in the game are requested to be done in great numbers, making the game last longer than it ever needed to.

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Game & Developer Information

Developer/Publisher Website: Play-Em
Developer/Publisher Socials: Twitter
PSN Store Links: £13.99/€16.99 Europe / $24.99 North America
Trophy Information: 33. 1 / 5 / 8 / 19