There are times where you find yourself wanting to play something that doesn't require too much commitment. Whether that's a game that you don't need to sink fifty plus hours into, one that doesn't have too difficult game play, or simply one where you can relax and enjoy things without having to worry about timers, health bars, or objectives. Pupperazzi is one of these kinds of games.
Set in a world seemingly mostly inhabited by dogs, with a smattering of 'humanorphs' wandering around a few of the environments helping to keep the world running for their furry, happy pups. You're cast in the role of a living camera robot, something I discovered with a shock when I was able to unlock selfie mode and discovered I wasn't a humanorph myself. The game begins at a lovely cove, where you meet a cute little dog in a yellow raincoat and hat who asks you to take a photo of her. From here you begin to receive new missions that involve wandering through your environment, finding doggies to take photos of.
Some of these missions are quite simple, such as 'take a photo of a happy dog', some require a bit of skill, like taking a photo of a dog with a lighthouse in the background whilst crouching', and others will see you having to jump around your environment searching for a way to the next area so that you can grab a snapshot and open it up for future photo opportunities. No matter how complex these tasks at first seem they never take too much thought to figure out, and it tends to be about finding the right angle to get the shot you need.
There are a handful of areas to unlock explore, starting at the cove, and including the boardwalk and beach, the town centre and park, the great outdoors, a space centre, and the moon. Each area is fairly contained, some being larger than others, and you'll soon have figured out where everything is and where you need to go to complete your missions. A system whereby you can unlock the locations at different times of the day, which comes with new missions and new doggies doing new activities, stops the game from getting too boring.
The dogs that inhabit the world are a lot of fun too, and there were a number of times when I found myself stopping to just watch the little guys and girls to see what they would do. The various toys that they play with, activities they perform, and costumes that they wear also mean that its never dull; and even provide a number of laughs and moments of going 'awwwww' out loud. And yes, of course, you can pet the dogs, which leads to situations where you find yourself wandering around the levels trying to pet everyone you can find to make sure that they're all your friends.
Over the course of the game you earn currency to purchase different types of film and new lenses. These are often used to complete certain missions, such as needing to take a 'classic' portrait so needing black and white film, or a doggy video game designer wanting you to use a lens that pixelates everything to take photos of dogs riding mine carts to help with their new games. Currency is earned by completing missions, as well as being round throughout the environments, and whilst there's enough for everything you're never rolling in cash; meaning that you will occasionally be having to think about what you want at the moment, and planning your purchases ahead.
I'd had a bad week this week, and had been dealing with something personal and traumatic; and when I wanted a nice, distracting video game to help me cope through that Pupperazzi proved to be the perfect game for that. It helped me to feel better, if helped to distract me, and it made me feel good because it's just a genuinely nice, sweet game that I think a lot of people will enjoy. And as it's currently free to play if you have the Xbox Game Pass it's the perfect time to give it a try.
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