[Ad- gifted product] As you might well know, both Jupiter and I work in video games. As such there are tons and tons of games and gaming equipment littering the house. If you’re a fan of games then I’m sure you can imagine how exciting this is for children, but there is a bit of an issue which is that, especially for Robin the youngest, a lot of these games are either too complex or not appropriate for her. She often tries to play games that are a bit too advanced for her, dying to creepers in Minecraft and getting a bit frustrated when she doesn’t know where to go in Spyro. This inspired us to find some games that would be better suited for her. Our first stop was PAW Patrol: On a Roll! She really enjoyed this game, being a huge fan of PAW Patrol, and with PAW Patrol: Mighty Pups Save Adventure Bay out, we figured we’d take a look at that too.
Robin has enjoyed Mighty Pups Save Adventure Bay a lot, and I’ve actually found that she likes playing through levels a lot of times before moving onto the next one. Since it’s aimed at younger kids, there are a lot of little accessibility details that really help them play the game on their own and free of frustration. The menus themselves, for example, actually read the words when they are highlighted. This means that even children who have trouble reading can still understand the game. The Pup abilities also have graphics and visuals on them, and are laid out in the same way as the buttons on the controller – a lot of care has gone into user experience.
There are a lot of different areas to save in PAW Patrol: Mighty Pups Save Adventure Bay, and a lot of different ways to do it – from collecting treats to clearing rocks and getting rid of rubbish. Core to the game is that players are able to switch between the different pups, using their abilities to help them get further in the level – this is something that should really be celebrated, as it means that no matter which Pup is favourite, they’ll get their chance on screen. There are reminders at the bottom of the screen from Ryder to help out the player, telling them what pup is needed, or even reminding them of the controls if they’ve taken some time to do an action.
Mighty Pups Save Adventure Bay has a lot of cutscenes as well, which gives children a nice break from playing and gives them something to watch – keeping the connection between it and the TV show. The levels follow a standard platformer layout, with other areas to explore and secrets to find, meaning that it won’t be alien for children who have played any of the main Nintendo games. Robin always wanted to collect every badge and treat when playing, which extended playtime a fair bit – which is a testament to how user-friendly and accessible they designed the game.
PAW Patrol: Mighty Pups Save Adventure Bay is a game that’s perfect for any young child, especially if they are already fans of the Paw Patrol TV show. As you might expect, older children might find the game a bit slow paced, or hand-holding, but this works as a great introduction to gaming – and a great way to spend some time – for young fans of the show.
PAW Patrol: Might Pups Save Adventure Bay is out on Nintendo Switch, Xbox One, Play Station 3, and Steam.
My nieces LOVE Paw Patrol, so I’m sure that this would be a huge hit! I am always on the search for the perfect gift ideas that they will enjoy and it looks like you may have found the perfect solution! Thank you for the inspiration!
Hope they love it!
The game is unplayable in coop on switch, completely crashes when pressing the pause button.
Otherwise, the loading times are ridiculously long for a game of such poor graphical quality (the console can run Zelda BOTW smoothly, how can it not run this cellshading pixel-y thing without lagging)
It really feels like the development was neglected, is it because it’s a kids game? Parents are actual gamers and have standard nowadays.
We played it on Xbox and didn’t have a huge issue with the loading time – not sure if Nintendo Switch is different.