Taking snaps of adorable doggies posing for photographs might seem like a pastime your grandma will take great pleasure in as she cutely exclaims “who’s a good doggy woggy?”, but an entire game devoted to picture-taking of woofers sounds like a recipe for plenty of hassle. Thankfully dogs don’t mind and actually embrace the centre of attention and voyeurism in Pupperazzi unlike real paparazzi if you so much as wink at them. In Pupperazzi man’s best friends can live like they’re on holiday by riding the waves on a surfboard, standing proudly on sandcastles and trying on a range of heart-meltingly cute coats.
Your job in Pupperazzi is to take pictures of canines for a huddle of dog-obsessed fans so you can accrue a following on the game’s fictional website DogNET.com and obtain Bonks-a token-like currency that will allow you to buy items from vending machines such as more film for your camera, cool new lenses to take close-up shots with ease and playthings like sticks and frisbees you can throw at your fluffy pals. There’s also a Puppypedia where all breeds and unique shots can be documented and ogled whenever you want from the ‘Home’ section of the menu.
It’s all very accessible stuff and the demands on your photography are as minimal as can be. All you really need to do is take a picture as described by your clients and your mission is done.
These missions can include using a particular kind of lens or filter, taking selfies and even cleaning a skate park and taking a photo of it looking pristine. The basicness of these tasks might seem mundane considering how brief they are, but Pupperazzi does a nice job of relaxing you by refusing to place unnecessary objectives on you and ensuring the act of playing is like a joyous vacation for yourself as well as the dogs.
Peculiarly for such a straightforward game, Pupperazzi undercuts itself with bizarre design choices that dampen the experience more than a hound after it has run out of breath.
The pictures you upload to DogNET will grant you followers who will respond to and critique your photos. Gaining more followers and completing assignments will open up new areas, but try not to take too many or your fanbase will accuse you of spamming, so you will need to come back the next day to take more for your faithful to lose their minds over. Your camera film will replenish when you do this as well, though you can’t refill film when you run out of it during a level, so you can’t snap photos at your heart’s desire which places limits on the act of taking photos, contradicting the game’s breezy vibes somewhat.
To start a new in-game day you will have to leave and return to the menu to select the level again. You can select which time of day for each level and new challenges will open up dedicated to the time of day you select.
Pupperazzi’s controls and mapping can prove troublesome at times. Certain functions are only accessible through a menu such as taking selfies and changing filters which is a real hassle, the game could have used a command wheel or an in-game selection alternative to make the process of snapping pictures a synch more than a snag. The continuous need to tap buttons to jump in and out of menus for inputs that shouldn’t require a menu is a needlessly cumbersome exercise that can be a headache to withstand when.
Furthermore, taking selfies is awkward as positioning is quite stiff and more difficult than it should be. When you opt to take a selfie from the menu, the camera is positioned in first person – this is where you will be introduced to who your character is – a camera we shall call Mr Camera who is blessed with an accompanying arms and legs. You’ll then need to walk Mr Camera’s legs over to the doggo you want to snap but thanks to his big head, Mr Camera takes up most of the lens and the heads of the doggies are wedged into the shot and look punier than when taking a regular shot.
Interactions with dogs are quite hollow and minimalistic as well. You can stroke them to make them follow you and they’ll stick your tongue out to give you a particular kind of photo opportunity, dress them up in dapper coats, collars, glasses and the like, and throw sticks, balls and frisbees for them to play with but otherwise there’s not a lot of ways to make you feel one with these ownerless pups. The sense of discovery-a really crucial component in photography games-is almost entirely absent here.
Levels are basic, unattractive and aren’t particularly outstanding, but they do seem apropos in relation to where dogs may roam. The beach and boardwalk are lovely locations where you’ll see dogs dozing off or otherwise performing human activities like skateboarding and riding a bike or moped. In the former they have an extreme sports star named Tony Bark – yes that’s right, a doggy version of The Birdman himself Tony Hawk.
Technical incompetence pokes its nose in too. Not only are levels ugly but loading lag can be a hindrance to Pupperazzi at times and sometimes dogs can react like they were made out of cardboard, especially when they dance to music. Though it’s quite cute to find dogs on boats or fishing, they at no point can be found swimming in the water nor do they get dirty or incur afflictions like owie feet. Presentation is generally overly basic akin to its accessibility and is lacklustre.
There’s no voice acting or rousing score in Pupperazzi, you will receive instructions through text and there is no sense of character even if the objectives can be quite neat at times. The background music is quite jolly with jingles that are appropriate for dog-based mischief and it’s good that each time of day has its own music, but otherwise audio is barely noticeable.
Conclusion
Excuse the cliché but Pupperazzi is not the dog’s bollocks – it’s the dog’s dinner. This isn’t to say Pupperazzi doesn’t possess some bright points, as its accessibility and the novelty of photographing dogs doing outlandish things is where the game’s charms shine through. However, once you dig deeper and deeper into what Pupperazzi has to offer, all that remains is a drove of simplistic and weightless objectives with no character or spirit to help salvage it. If you want a cheap and cheery photography game to spend a few hours with Pupperazzi will do in a pinch, but like an ageing show dog, the longer it goes on the more it loses its ability to entertain you.
This game was reviewed based on Xbox S|X review code, using an Xbox S|X console. All of the opinions and insights here are subject to that version. Game provided by publisher.
