Grapple Dog. It’s okay. Can’t recommend it.

It starts well enough. There’s limited, but good, music. The dog is cute. You walk and jump around, learn the ins and outs of the grapple mechanic. You can fire it at a 45-degree angle or straight up—this is fine—grappling lets you gain a bit of speed but you quickly lose it due to slow movement or cramped level design. While the controls aren’t super intuitive, you’ll get over it. The game never really demands you to be precise, anyway. The colors are great. World 2 is fun too. You notice the time trials are a bit too easy, which is expected: there’s not many ways to gain or lose speed. You appreciate how blue things can always be hooked on to. When the game is working, it’s really working. Early levels have a nice flow to them: jump, bounce into hook into bouncepad into another hook, bounce on enemy then hook into a cannon, etc. It’s fun and upbeat. Just maybe a tad too slow.

But the game overstays its welcome. Things quickly become repetitive: moving around is very simple and slow, so there’s not much you can do to change things up besides adding new hazards. But Grapple Dog insists on adding hazards that just slow the pace down even further. Conveyor belts, slow-moving hook spots. Wall climbing. Lots of repetitive wall jumping. You quickly realize you get so much health you might as well ignore any hazard that doesn’t physically stop you from going. And it’s all kind of drab. The game becomes pale, and so does the gameplay. And you’re in like world 4 and there’s still two worlds to go. And the levels are super long and drawn out. And the story, which starts insipid, becomes unbearable. And the music goes from cool Jet Set Radio vibes, with great voice work, to repetitive and annoying. And you missed a gem.

Grappling hooks are fun. When games include a hook, they should also design their movement and levels to complement it. Less swinging and jumping to reach higher platforms, and more dynamic swinging that propels you forward while gaining height, chaining into a sequence of incredible moves. Test my agility, not my patience. Like what you were doing for the first few hours. Like what Remnants of Naezith does throughout its runtime (same length as Grapple Dog) of fun speedrun challenges, and actually challenging and fun medals, in short, but very satisfying, levels. I could never recommend Grapple Dog to someone who hasn’t played Remnants. Grappling hooks are fun.

Grapple Dog. It’s okay. Can’t recommend it. It starts well enough. There’s limited, but good, music. The dog is cute. You walk and jump around, learn the ins and outs of the grapple mechanic. You can fire it at a 45-degree angle or straight up—this is fine—grappling lets you gain a bit of speed but you quickly lose it due to slow movement or cramped level design. While the controls aren’t super intuitive, you’ll get over it. The game never really demands you to be precise, anyway. The colors are great. World 2 is fun too. You notice the time trials are a bit too easy, which is expected: there’s not many ways to gain or lose speed. You appreciate how blue things can always be hooked on to. When the game is working, it’s really working. Early levels have a nice flow to them: jump, bounce into hook into bouncepad into another hook, bounce on enemy then hook into a cannon, etc. It’s fun and upbeat. Just maybe a tad too slow. But the game overstays its welcome. Things quickly become repetitive: moving around is very simple and slow, so there’s not much you can do to change things up besides adding new hazards. But Grapple Dog insists on adding hazards that just slow the pace down even further. Conveyor belts, slow-moving hook spots. Wall climbing. Lots of repetitive wall jumping. You quickly realize you get so much health you might as well ignore any hazard that doesn’t physically stop you from going. And it’s all kind of drab. The game becomes pale, and so does the gameplay. And you’re in like world 4 and there’s still two worlds to go. And the levels are super long and drawn out. And the story, which starts insipid, becomes unbearable. And the music goes from cool [url=https://store.steampowered.com/app/205950/Jet_Set_Radio/]Jet Set Radio[/url] vibes, with great voice work, to repetitive and annoying. And you missed a gem. Grappling hooks are fun. When games include a hook, they should also design their movement and levels to complement it. Less swinging and jumping to reach higher platforms, and more dynamic swinging that propels you forward while gaining height, chaining into a sequence of incredible moves. Test my agility, not my patience. Like what you were doing for the first few hours. Like what [url=https://store.steampowered.com/app/590590/Remnants_of_Naezith/]Remnants of Naezith[/url] does throughout its runtime (same length as Grapple Dog) of fun speedrun challenges, and actually challenging and fun medals, in short, but very satisfying, levels. I could never recommend Grapple Dog to someone who hasn’t played Remnants. Grappling hooks are fun.