Grapple Dogs: Cosmic Canines Review – Review
A creative platformer that improves on its predecessor in many ways.
Two years ago I reviewed the original Grapple Dog for Nintendo World Report. I thought it was a good, if unspectacular game, but I enjoyed it, so when the opportunity arose to review the sequel, I happily took it. I’m thrilled to report that Grapple Dogs: Cosmic Canines exceeded my expectations and improved on that first game in many ways.
Grapple Dogs: Cosmic Canines is a 2D platformer, a genre well represented on Switch, but it brings a lot of interesting ideas to the table and keeps throwing them at you to keep things feeling fresh. The biggest addition for the sequel is a second playable character, hence the name. Pablo, the star of the original, returns, and is now joined by the grumpier Luna. It’s not just a cosmetic difference: each character has unique abilities in addition to the grappling mechanic that is core to the gameplay. Pablo is built for fighting enemies up close, while Luna has a gun and a dash that makes her more suited for long range. Each character has their own levels, so they can be built around how best to use those abilities.
One of the biggest strengths of Grapple Dogs is its variety. In addition to the core differences between the characters, they each have special powers that show up in certain levels, often based on the theme of the world. I particularly enjoyed the electricity power in the first world that lets you glide across electrical panels, and the power in the fire world that lets you fly around jetpack-style. These create interesting new level designs, as well as adding variety to the adventure. The different themes are also complemented by some striking visual differences between levels and worlds, in addition to tweaks like levels where platforms come in and out of existence based on a rhythm.
Each level includes three gems to collect, analogous to the star coins in Mario games, as well as a hidden treasure chest. Collecting a certain amount of these is required for progression, which can be a little annoying in spots, but once you get to know the game you can start to get a good feel for where to look for them, which is satisfying. The levels are mostly linear, though sometimes you end up in an enclosed area where you have to grab a certain number of collectibles to unlock a door in order to progress. I generally found these sections to be the weakest part of Cosmic Canines because of how much they slowed things down, though they’re generally not that difficult. What can be very difficult are the bosses at the end of each world, which feature interesting designs but focus too much on combat, rather than the platforming that is the core of the experience.
Grapple Dogs: Cosmic Canines feels like a case of a developer learning from what worked and didn’t work from their first effort and improving on it effectively. The result is a fun platforming adventure that I can recommend to both fans of the original and newcomers alike.
