Sony unveils Dog's Life

Sony has David Braben's Frontier Developments working on a dog simulator for the PS2, PlayStation.com is reporting. "Dog's Life" is aimed at youngsters, and gives you control of Jake, a happy puppy from Clarksville, USA, whose little life is thrown into disarray after the dognapping of his best pal Daisy. Jake immediately sets out to rescue Daisy, travelling across the US, visiting everything from ski resorts to bustling cities.

The game will include third and first person free-roaming exploration, and players will be able to cause a degree of mischief by farting at humans (sigh), terrorising cats and urinating on fire hydrants, etc. However, the game also places a lot of importance on looking after Jake, feeding and grooming him, as well as completing his adventure using a dog's (unconventional) abilities.

There will be a "smellovision" perspective, like a sixth sense, which allows the player to see colour-coded scents. A yellow smell, for example, is a territorial marking, and following the trail to the offending mutt will allow you to challenge and battle them somehow. Victory will give you the ability to control that dog, giving you access to areas that only that particular dog can make it to - the example given is a Chihuahua, which can scamper through catflaps that Jake can barely fit his head through. Throughout the game the player will be able to handle more than 20 other breeds.

With the game aimed squarely at the younger market, it seems that Dog's Life may become a game for little brothers and sister, which older siblings and parents can get away with "watching" over the shoulder or from the couch. We get the impression though that it'll be more intriguing than a lot of the junk out this year, and for that reason we plan to keep an eye on it…