The pet simulators in the App Store are all the same: boring, undeveloped, and nothing to do. And The Dog is no exception. It was made by the developers of Arachnadoodle, but this time Connect2Media disappointed me. You can choose from any of five dogs, male or female, and name them. But five dogs are not a lot of variety to choose from. There’s a Beagle, Yorkshire Terrier, Boxer, Labrador, and German Shepherd.

After you choose your dog, it’s time for the tutorial. The tutorial was actually the highlight of this game. It was well executed, telling everything you need to know about the game. And needless to say, the tutorial and the game are extensive, a highlight of the game. After the tutorial, you’ll have no more questions about how the game works. Mostly because you’ll never want to play it ever again.

After the tutorial, it’s onto playing the game. And it’s all downhill from there. Inside the house, well no. It’s not a house. They call it a house, but it’s really just a sofa, a door, and some toys inside a white background. And the other locations are no different.  The beach, the park, they’re all the same. Just a white background with some 3D virtual items. It may be a half-way fun game, but it’s hardly realistic. Each model is pretty good, but there are just so few of them that you never get the feeling of reality.

The controls were actually pretty good. It’s kind of hard to screw up controls in a game like this anyway, but still. The sound was a soothing guitar loop, so it was another thing that was well executed, but still not enough to pull the game up to where Connect2Media wants it. You can teach your pet tricks, pet him, feed him, and more. And it’s all easy to do.

Now for the rating. I’m going to give it a 4 for the graphics, because they were the main downfall of the game. I’m also going to give it a 2 for price because $5 is just too much to pay for a game of this low quality, especially since when it was first announced, it was to be free with in-app purchases (DLC). I’m also going to give it a 3 for replay value, because it’s just not addictive enough to go back to more than a few times. Finally, I’m going to give it a 7 for controls. They actually didn’t completely disappoint me. That gives us a grand total of 4. I don’t recommend this game to anyone, besides people obsessed with pet simulators. Please update this Connect2Media, it really needs it. Stick with games like TouchPets and you’ll be very happy. Buy this for $5 and regret the purchase forever.

The Dog on the App Store.