As I’ve stated many times, I grew up in an era when games for kids were well made, not rushed out, and designed so that everyone could enjoy them and that, lately, it seems games geared towards a younger audience have really been lackluster as of late, basically relegated to shovelware. Paw Patrol World, when I first saw this game, I thought it was going to be the latter but, to my surprise, it turned out to be the former. Yeah, this is honestly one of the better games for kids, for that matter a licensed game, that I played in a while!
Right out of the gate, I was getting some Thunderbirds vibes from this game. For those who don’t know, Thunderbirds was a marionette TV series from the late Gerry Anderson that ran from 1965 to 1966, centering on the Tracy Family, who operates under International Rescue, going around the world and, well, rescuing people and helping with disasters using high-tech equipment. I honestly wouldn’t be surprised if the creators of the show were inspired in some way by Thunderbirds as that’s the vibe I was getting when playing this game. That’s actually not a bad thing as I love Thunderbirds and anything that brings that show to my mind is a plus in my book, so the fact that a modern kids show, or, in this case, game, was able to do just that is awesome.
As for the game itself, it’s honestly one of the better modern games geared towards a younger crowd that I’ve played since the 2011 game Disneyland Adventures. Set around the show’s home of Adventure Bay, which is a fully opened world, which that alone caught me by surprise, you play as one of the seven pups (all of which can be easily switched to) as you go around performing simple tasks to stop Mayor Humdinger (...don’t know why that name makes me facepalm) and his Kitten Catastrophe squad from ruining the Paw Patrol Day Festival in Adventure Bay. It’s not going to set the world on fire with deep writing nor will it change your life with insightful dialogue but it’s enough to give reason for the game to be played, albeit a silly one. Like, seriously, stealing posters and replacing them with posters advertising your Festival? Watch out, Carmen SanDiego, Humdinger has a real humdinger of a villainous plot! Joking aside, like I said, it’s a kids game so a deep plot wasn’t to be expected. Now, how accurate is it to the show, I can’t really say as, again, I never watched it but, after doing some research into a few things regarding it, I think it is a good representation of the show on a whole, but again that’s just coming from someone who looked up info online. I will say what is accurate is the artstyle as it does pull off the show’s look pretty well. Mind you, the show did have a simplistic look to it so expecting detailed fur and realistic locations would be both dumb and kinda silly, but, again, it’s not a bad looking game. The four worlds you visit are nicely detailed, with the Jungle and Jake’s Mountain Resort being the real standout areas. I also like how each world feels somewhat ‘alive’, meaning there are NPCs walking around, vehicles being driven, and you can hear idle chatter from the NPCs at a few points and, no, you can’t go all GTA and try to run into the civilians or run a car off the road. Believe me, I did try that a few times but, alas, you can’t, even though the image of a pup carjacking someone makes me laugh like a hyena. Heck, they won’t even react, though the cars do stop for you, so there’s a plus there. I will say the animations during gameplay are somewhat stiff looking, with the pups movement looking a bit lifeless, and the lip syncing not being the best. The cutscenes are a different story as those are nicely animated and the lip syncing is done well, so why the actual game itself doesn’t have this is a bit puzzling to me, but at the same time? I can sorta give it a pass as it is a kids game and those usually don’t have AAA-quality animations.
The gameplay, on that note, is quite simple and basic at its core with nothing too crazy or wild that would make a kid confused. The basic gist is that you go from Point A to Point B and do a quick little objective before returning to Point A to complete it and that’s pretty much it. To be honest, there really isn't that much to do in the game's four worlds you visit, outside of some side missions and a few interactables like a leaf pile or a playground. In fact, if you really wanted to? You could just do a sorta speed-run and focus solely on the 40 main missions (10 main ones per the four worlds) and you can probably beat the game in a day or two. There are badges you can find and postcards but these really don’t equate to much outside of a completion number. Same goes with the numerous doggy treats scattered throughout each world as collecting so many gets you one of a few items: Cosmetics, Emotes, Stickers for your vehicle, or stickers for your postcards.
But, at the same time? I actually didn’t mind the simplicity. Not every game needs to have in-depth gameplay to the levels of Elden Ring or Cyberpunk 2077 and sometimes the games with the most simplistic of gameplays ends up being more fun. I mean, look at games like Minecraft or, going old school, Super Mario Bros. on the NES; they both have simplistic gameplay and, yet, they are some of the most enjoyable games to play to this day. What I’m saying is that Paw Patrol World falls into that category and I’m perfectly OK with it. What I’m not OK with and this is one design choice I do not get and that is the lack of any camera controls unless you turn it on in the Options menu and, even then, you only get horizontal controls, no vertical. But, at the same time, I can kinda give it a pass as this is a game designed for younger kids, so a two-stick setup would probably confuse them and make the game frustrating. Still, I’ll give the game credit for including the option.
Anyway, despite the simplicity? There are things about the game I honestly really did enjoy. For one, I do like how each of the Paw Patrol canines have different abilities catered to whatever needs to be done. For example, if a mission requires you to go on water, then you select Zuma and his hovercraft or if a mission requires you to track an objective, then you use Tracker, which is the one I need to bring up something. When I first saw him in the game, I honestly thought he was Australian, thanks to the outfit and vehicle design, so imagine my surprise when I heard him speaking Spanish and found out he’s a chihuahua or a potcake (I never even heard of the latter species until now). Now, I do take a bit of the blame for thinking he was Australian as his outfit did sorta look like Crocodile Dundee and this doesn’t affect the review or anything, it’s just something I wanted to bring up.
That aside, all seven of the pups are actually very useful and you’ll end up using all of them by the game's final mission, which I thought was neat and, again, I like how all the pups have unique abilities and vehicles to use to get the job done, which really brings more comparisons to Thunderbirds and really makes me yearn for a Thunderbirds game. If I had any real complaints about the gameplay, it would be that you do end up using a few of them more often than the rest and that did slightly bug me as I was more interested in playing as Everest then doing multiple missions as Chase. In fact, it does seem like Chase gets more missions to do then the other pups which, on the one hand, I get because he is the face of the series. But, on the other hand, I can see some kids getting slightly disappointed if they wanted to stick with another pup but had to keep playing as Chase. On that note, and this isn’t a complaint but rather an observation: Is it me or is Rubble actually saying Grubble when you select you? I could very well be mishearing it but I swear it sounds like he’s saying a “G” in his name.
Which leads me to one issue I do have and this does affect the game on a whole: The voice-acting. Now, yes, I get that they’re supposed to be young and this is directed towards a younger crowd so the voice-acting isn’t going to be to the levels of, say, Grand Theft Auto V, and the voice-acting, on a whole, isn’t too bad. The issue stems from a select few of the main characters as their voices did get slightly annoying, with Ryder, the human leader of the Paw Patrol, being the main offender. His constant ‘WELL DONE’ after literally doing anything regarding an objective and just the way he speaks on a whole really got annoying after a while. It came off as ‘treating the player as too dumb’ at times which I don’t think a game geared towards a younger crowd should do.
Truth be told, I did kind of go into this game with low expectations, yet came out pleasantly surprised. While I am not the targeted age demographic for this game, this is still honestly one of the better kids games I’ve checked out in a while since the 2011 game Disneyland Adventures and I can see both fans of the show and a younger crowd enjoying this game. In fact, even if you’re not a fan of the show or never watched it, I still recommend the game. It’s one of those games you can just turn on and just relax while not having to worry about anything strenuous for the time.
