Grapple Dog is a vibrant and colorful platformer with plenty of heart (and a grapple gun)

Earlier I even started Grapple Dog properly, I already establish myself taken with Jazz Mickle's funky soundtrack when it kicked in on the opening screen: a suitable taster for the tunes to come. When the adventure began in hostage and I discovered that the eponymous dog was named Pablo, the same proper noun as my own dog, well — I had a feeling I'd accept a proficient time.

Grapple Canis familiaris is a colorful and mannerly platformer from developer Medallion Games, and the first title to release under the auspices of Super Rare Originals, the new indie publishing label from Super Rare Games. The story is a familiar one: an unlikely hero, a quest to save the world, a selection of mystical artifacts that have to exist collected, usually by besting powerful boss enemies. Simply Grapple Dog'south elementary premise and cutesy artful confute not simply the depth of its gameplay, but also some genuinely agreeable writing and story beats.

Swing when you're winning

The meat of the gameplay revolves around the grapple gun that Pablo picks upward very early on in the story. Combined with a pocket-size selection of other platforming staples — you lot can jump, practise a basis pound, wall-jump, that sort of matter — it's the primary method of traversal in the game. As a general dominion of thumb, anything blue can exist grappled from. This includes stationary blocks, poppable balloons that give you a heave, and moving grapple points on conveyor belts in after levels. There'south a fairly robust simulation of momentum physics implemented when hanging from things, too, which will assist you spring farther and spring higher, though it does admittedly take a bit of getting used to. Occasionally yous may find yourself pinging beyond the screen at high speed subsequently swinging from a grapple signal, which tin make the precise platforming sections trickier unless you have it slower and steadier.

The game itself doesn't seem to desire you to ho-hum down, though. There'southward definitely some Sonic the Hedgehog DNA ingrained in the game: betwixt the natural inclination towards speedy traversal and the optional time trials unlocked afterward completing each level, at that place's an undeniable sense that you've, as the pig himself puts it, "gotta become fast." Pablo fifty-fifty curls up into a ball when he jumps, a visual nod that immediately brings to mind anybody's favorite chili-dog-loving speedster. Grapple Canis familiaris, in fact, seems similar it could lend itself to speedruns in much the same style as the classic Sonic games do, the fluid movement and pinballing potential of the grappling claw sending Pablo careening towards the terminate line in no time at all.

Option on someone your ain size

The boss fights, besides, wear their influences on their commonage sleeve. The first is a drastic hunt reminiscent of similar set pieces in the likes of Guacamelee! and the Ori games, while many of the others see Pablo squaring up against Dr Robotnik-esque automata that require you lot to dodge attacks and bound into a weak spot in elevation Sonic manner. They're good fun though, requiring decent mastery of the controls and mechanics to score a victory, and the music shines through again with some boss themes that, frankly, absolutely slap.

Afterward levels will too require a like level of coordination. Grapple Dog eases y'all in gently, but while you'll probably find yourself breezing through the early on worlds, the later ones tin can have some punishingly difficult sequences. This by and large manages to err on the side of challenging, but in that location are certainly moments that cross over into frustration. Towards the stop of the third world, for example, you lot'll discover yourself pursued past a flight robot serpent for the bulk of a lava-filled level.

A stressful situation at the all-time of times, but said snake has a habit of flying ahead of you and out of your field of view, leaving y'all unable to see where it might be. That in plow forces yous to plow on ahead blind through various tricky platforming segments, just for it to suddenly reappear exactly where you lot were planning on landing and knocking off a chunk of your wellness. Still, the challenge largely feels fair, and checkpointing throughout levels is generous plenty that you're unlikely to find yourself overwhelmed with frustration.

A beautiful chaos

And a practiced thing besides, because Grapple Dog really is a delight to behold visually and aurally. Surprisingly detailed pixel art grants character to everyone from Pablo and his friends, to adversary Nul and his robot minions, and even to the occasional NPC you'll happen across in one level or another. This is augmented further by the Banjo-Kazooie-inspired audio effects that play whenever a character speaks, a nice piffling touch on that adds an actress modicum of charming eccentricity to each interaction. The animation itself is delightfully fluid, though some subsequently levels did suffer from some performance problems and slowdown, even on my beefy computer — no doubt the chaos of having so many pieces on screen, like lava, conveyor belts, moving grapple points, and more, gives the engine a lot to deal with, but hopefully those minor issues can be ironed out in a futurity patch.

There is also a welcomed handful of accessibility and difficulty options available in the menus. Extras similar invincibility and infinite jumps can exist turned on here, in a similar vein to Celeste'due south Aid Mode, and there are toggles and sliders for various visual effects and audio channels. It would take been dainty to run into a few more options for color-blindness, because many of the platforming elements are color-coded (blue ways you tin can grapple information technology, green means you lot tin ground-pound information technology, etc), but most of those elements besides have symbols visible on them which helps them to stand out even if the player can't make out the colour.

The verdict

All in all, Grapple Canis familiaris seems to excel at what it sets out to do. Information technology'southward a fun, polished, low-cal-hearted game with a fun mechanic at its core, harking back to the golden age of second platformers while giving the model a fresh glaze of paint with its stylish pixel art. The music was the first thing I loved nearly it, but thankfully information technology's more than just that: Grapple Canis familiaris certainly has style, but information technology's got the substance to back information technology up as well.

+	Delightfully stylish pixel art and music that absolutely slaps
+	Genuinely challenging platforming that's like shooting fish in a barrel to learn, difficult to chief
+	Fun, if slightly derivative boss fights
+	You can pet the dog
–	Occasional functioning problems
–	The claiming of the game sometimes veers into "frustrating" territory