Seven Video Games That Let You Play As Kickass Canines

The saying goes that dogs are a man’s best friend. Certain video games have decided that dogs should be a gamer’s best friend too, giving your characters a lovable pooch to aid you in your quest to destroy the Evil Whatever on Mount Doomydoom.

Final Fantasy VIII even let you shoot a dog out of a cannon.

But some games go that extra mile by actually allowing you to play as the dog itself. Today, we honour those playable canines and demonstrate just why the video game world needs more magical dogs with superpowers.

(I’m going to lay down some ground rules for this: each entry has to be all-canine. None of this “was actually something else but was cursed into a dog form” or werewolf crap. Furthermore, the canine must have full Player Character rights- being directly controllable at the very least- even if it’s just for a short time.)

Also, be warned that there are spoilers below.

With that said, let’s get into the list!

My Shiny New PSP

A PSP has always fallen under the very definition of a “luxury item” for me. I am an incredibly passionate portable gamer, but I was always happy with my trusty Nintendo DS. There weren’t that many games I wanted for the PSP, and it always seemed too expensive. Over time, the number of good games increased and the price decreased, to the point where- a few days ago- I finally took the plunge and bought myself one. A piano-black, pre-owned 3000-model with only a few scratches on it. And it’s mine, it’s all mine.

I managed to cut a deal with the seller which also netted me three games, and I borrowed a fourth from a friend. Since then I’ve been having lots of fun playing around with the PSP, setting up the themes and wallpapers, downloading demos and generally seeing what my new toy has to offer. The Playstation Store is impressive for its sheer breadth of on-demand content; on-demand shops are the most evil thing for directly appealing to the impulse buy instinct. I love being able to download and play old Playstation games on it, as some of the old ones really stand up well. My first purchase (and an immediate purchase at that) was the underrated classic Vagrant Story, which I intend to review properly at some future date. I was incredibly tempted by Final Fantasy VIII, but was put off by the download size: 1800MB. Considering Disgaea 2: Dark Hero Days (a PSP port of a PS2 game) is a mere 500MB, this was quite a big chunk of my 4GB memory card. I do find it interesting how a copy of Final Fantasy VIII for the Playstation- either new or preowned- goes for at least £30 in most shops, but on the Playstation Store it is a mere £6. (And it’s not the rarity factor, as the Playstation Final Fantasy games are still getting published today.)

Having played at least an hour of each game, I present my first impressions of them:

Review: Shin Megami Tensei: Digital Devil Saga

I’m a big fan of the MegaTen (known as Shin Megami Tensei in the west) series for a very good reason: every game is unique. When the world was making linear high fantasy, MegaTen was trailblazing with tales of post-apocolyptic urban fantasy and some amazing open-ended gameplay. Furthermore, the MegaTen games have a dark atmosphere to them unlike any other series: a perfect example of this can be seen in Digital Devil Saga for the PS2. Originally called “Digital Devil Saga: Avatar Tuner“, this is the first game of a duology released after the success of Shin Megami Tensei: Lucifer’s Call but before the mega-success of Persona 3. It’s dark, it’s gothic and it’s fantastic.