Grapple Dogs: Cosmic Canines Review on Xbox

Grapple Dogs: Cosmic Canines is a sequel to the 2D action platformer Grapple Dog.

The premise is you play as the acrobatic pup Pablo, with his trusty grappling hook allowing him to zip across levels and worlds throughout the cosmos. However there is a new playable companion now in the form of Luna who joins the adventure, with her weaponry adding exciting new gameplay features to the fray.

The game boasts fresh abilities, such as magnetic panels and fire-dashing, multiple worlds, hidden collectibles, secret areas, memorable boss battles, bonus levels & time trials.

Accessibility

With regards to accessibility, there is a number of options available. Button remapping, infinite jumping, no damage, particle effect options, subtitle options, and parallax background options are well appreciated. Sound options are kept basic, so should you have hearing issues, this may not be the game for you.

Gameplay

As a someone who has never played the first Grapple Dog game, I was going into it blind with how this was to play out. I knew that the first had been received well, so was curiously optimistic that the sequel would probably be better.

The game starts from the ending of the first with a short introduction of what happened. You are Pablo the bouncing pup that defeated the evil boss of the first game and doggy extraordinaire that has the power to grapple.

However, after the defeat you start to get visions of strange beings that then lead you and your team to a portal. After entering said portal, you and the team enter a new dimension who’s caretakers explain of a great evil who wishes to conquer all dimensions. These new enemies then steal the caretakers most powerful weapon, a crystal and break it into four pieces, which is then each guarded by a fearsome warrior.

Its up to you and a new companion to get them back and defeat this new enemy once and for all, and save all dimensions. The new companion is called Luna, a fearsome pup that has her own special weapons and attacks. Pablo can swing, jump, bounce, double bounce for extra height/damage, and can rush forward with a powerful punch. Luna can swing, jump, bounce, air dash and uses her trusty gun to fire at enemies from a distance, twin stick style. You never control both characters at the same time, and each area has been custom designed for each of the specific characters in question.

There is a huge selection of levels within the 4 biomes to progress through, before finally making your way to each of the zones boss. The main of aim of game is not just to get to the end of the level, but find and locate 3 gems in each level. This builds up a tally, which a certain number is required to unlock other areas of the zones in order to gain more gems. Once you have the correct number of total gems, you can then progress onto the zones bosses.

Besides the gems in each level, there is also hidden collectibles, like different skins which allow you to switch out your grapples look at anytime. Besides the main biomes levels to unlock, time trials are also available to be unlocked using coins, to give you even more chances of gaining gems, so that no matter what, there is always plenty to progress forward to the boss.

As you make your way through the levels fruit will be your main source of income, and these are used in two ways. One to unlock time trails and the second is to unlock health upgrades for both protagonists, and a superb collection of skins for both the characters and their grapples. My favourite was turning both doggy protagonists, into cats, which in itself was amusing.

The control system was very intuitive and responsive and due to the complexity of the levels, this made the platforming a joy rather than a chore. Building momentum as you transition from swinging to air dashing to bouncing of walls soon feel like second nature. Every element of the game has been carefully thought out and pushed so that the player has a great time.

Graphics

The visuals of the game are cartoonishly colourful with soft colour palettes, and are great to look at but also diverse, regardless of its simplistic style. From futuristic monkey worlds to monochrome cat worlds, every biome is varied, memorable and fun.

Level environments are also complex and uses many different combinations of actions and background visuals to always keep the player on their toes regardless of the character they are playing as. Levels also introduce new power-ups or mechanics, that further differentiates it from the other levels, whilst catering to each character’s move set to ensure it never get stale. A good example of this is Pablo turning into a fire ball on one level, whilst Luna receives a flame thrower in another.

Because of the way the games progression is handled, should a particular level be too difficult to accomplish, you will always have alternatives to see you through, but can come back to at any point, should you wish to be a completionist.

Sound

The game has no voice work, and prefers to tell the story using subtitles and cute little woof sounds, which suits the nature of the game perfectly. This even goes into the overall gameplay as you progress, hearing your chosen protagonist cute little doggy sounds as make your way to the end.

The general music is also good with a collection of a pop blended with piano soundtracks that made me thing of the early 2000s. Overall there’s a carefree tone to many of the tracks, which helps the fluid and bouncy gameplay as you sore over traps and bounce on enemies. The sound though are the real show stealers as these effects make gameplay super-satisfying and energetic when just exploring and not worrying about the games challenges.  

My recommendation here would be a quality soundbar to bounce along with your cute pup.

Verdict

This leads me onto the rating of the game:-
Now I rate games in order of, avoid, on sale, great purchase and must own. My rating for Grapple Dogs: Cosmic Canines is a "Great Purchase’’.

I can say that im a grapple dog fan, and this was the nice relaxing but still challenging adventure to cleanse my palette after a hard days work. Being family friendly as well only adds to the fun that can be explored here.

The game is currently priced on Xbox at £14.99 or approx. $19 and depending on skill and patience would give you well over 10+ hours worth of gameplay. Combine this with time trails and character skins to purchase/find, you can easily add another 5+ to the mix.

For a fan of the originals, this will be a no brainer. For those new to the franchise this is a superb entry into what looks like an adorable and fun adventure for all ages to enjoy.