Paw Patrol The Movie: Adventure City Calls is the second Paw Patrol game to be released in less than twelve months, to the delight of every single four year old in the whole world. We may not care about it, but it’s sure nice to see a game aimed at small children that doesn’t treat them like complete brain-dead sheep like Race With Ryan did a couple of years ago. I reviewed its predecessor, Paw Patrol: Mighty Pups Save Adventure Bay not long ago and found it to be fine… for what it was. All I’m asking from this game is to follow suit.

In short, yes, Paw Patrol The Movie: Adventure City Calls (apparently based on a movie I am seriously not going to even pretend I know anything about) is like last year’s outing. In fact, it’s very much like last year’s outing. As in, it’s almost the same game, but a bit worse in every single aspect. Not in a deal-breaker kind of way, but in a “oh shoot, there’s a Paw Patrol movie coming soon, so come up with something quick so we can release it as a tie-in” kind of way. Whereas Mighty Pups Save Adventure Bay, as simplistic as it was, felt polished and competent, Adventure City Calls feels rushed. It feels like the perfect example of a game that could have been a lot of better had the publisher decided to release it a month later.

Nothing about it is terrible, with the exception of the horrendous (and frequent) voice acting. It features the same level structure and gameplay loop. Each level gives you two pups to play as (and you can do couch co-op with a friend), where you venture through a stupidly linear pseudo-platforming section with a crap ton of dog treats to collect. Plus the occasional “puzzle” that can be completed by pressing the context-sensitive action button with the right pup. There’s also the sporadic vehicular sections, where you’re told to collect even more treats, and a handful of unlockable minigames you can play whenever you want to from the main menu. Dumb as all hell for adults, but a perfect introduction to platforming and puzzle-solving for kids, with some catchy tunes to cheer them up.

The problem is that you can see the lack of polish oozing from all of Paw Patrol The Movie: Adventure City Calls‘ pores. The loading times are nonsensically long for a game that doesn’t exactly push any graphical boundaries, nor demands a lot of storage space (it’s a mere 5GB). The textures are way less detailed than the ones in its predecessor, with some areas featuring the same kind of textural quality you would expect from trying to run a AAA game on a computer with sub-minimal settings.

You will also notice a lot of graphical and AI glitches while playing the game, with the former being noticeable every time you select a mission and see the titular pups’ textures glitching in a borderline ridiculous manner during the pre-loading cutscene. Will kids care about it? I certainly doubt it. I would even be shocked if the game’s target audience knew what a “texture” is. But that doesn’t mean we should ignore these problems, because they are easily noticeable throughout the entire game.

Just like its predecessor, Paw Patrol The Movie: Adventure City Calls is not a game for us grumpy adults, but that doesn’t mean we should overlook its issues. Especially when the previous Paw Patrol game, released less than a year ago, looked and felt more polished as a comparison. It’s still more than adequate for little children, as it still controls well enough, with some basic but varied minigames scattered throughout its runtime, but I’d recommend picking up Mighty Pups Save Adventure Bay instead, if you really have to.

 

Graphics: 5.5 Despite looking almost identical to last year’s Paw Patrol: Mighty Pups Save Adventure Bay, this game’s textures look slightly inferior in comparison. There are also a handful of pretty noticeable graphical glitches.	Gameplay: 7.5 There’s absolutely nothing wrong with the controls and gameplay. They are beyond basic and are as shallow as a puddle, but they are responsive, and the game runs at 60fps. Perfect for the little ones.
Sound: 6.0 There are some surprisingly catchy songs in this soundtrack, namely the main menu title track. With that being said, the voice acting is just awful.	Fun Factor: 6.0 Paw Patrol The Movie: Adventure City Calls is very similar to last year’s Paw Patrol game, but that game felt a bit more polished than this one.
Final Verdict: 6.5

Paw Patrol The Movie: Adventure City Calls is available now on PS4, Xbox One, PC, and Switch.

Reviewed on Xbox One.

A copy of Paw Patrol The Movie: Adventure City Calls was provided by the publisher.