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Grapple Dogs: Cosmic Canines Review 

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It’s been a couple of years since we first found a canine companion in Pablo, the original Grapple Dog. Sent off a glorious adventure, it was a game that managed to surprise us, as the bright pixelated visuals gave way to a super-tight side-scrolling journey into the unknown. It’s safe to say, we were taken in by Pablo. 

But now Pablo is back, and he comes with Luna, a bit of a side-kick as his partner in crime in Grapple Dogs: Cosmic Canines. Although, as we type that, it feels unfair to label Luna as a wing-dog, as they are much more of a street-wise, straight talker who complements Pablo’s special simplicity (and naivety) with aplomb. And Luna is far from a slapped-on addition either, playing just as pivotal a role in this galaxy saving epic as our original best friend. 

Grapple Dogs Cosmic Canines Review 1
Pablo is back in Grapple Dogs

Together, Pablo and Luna must save the universe, traversing the Cosmic Gateway, meeting their destiny along the way. Or something like that. If we’re honest, we didn’t come to Cosmic Canines with too much enthusiasm for the fun little narrative that pushes this daring duo on, instead preferring to head into multiple stages for some superb side scrolling fun. But story is something that the developers at Medallion Games want to use, especially in the early moments of the tale. Granted it comes together nicely, utilising multiple cutscenes to get the point across, but it should hardly be seen as the focus. In fact, there were times when we were hunting for a skip button. Perhaps that’s our preference for ‘get-on-with-it gaming’ as opposed to this all-encompassing universe saving entity. 

It’s when you dive into a level of Grapple Dogs: Cosmic Canines where the really good stuff comes to the fore. 

It plays as a scrolling platformer, as we head left, right, up, down, back and forth, attempting to happen upon some end gates which signal level ends. But those stages are extremely open, allowing Pablo and Luna to make the most of their skills and abilities at all times. This is not your typical left-to-right platformer with the occasional jump. 

No, Cosmic Canines is a high-quality platformer that allows you to navigate stages with ease. And much of that is due to those character skills; each of which are fairly different to each other. 

Pablo is the OG, the Grapple Dog with a hook in hand, intent on using it at every opportunity. It’s here, combined with jumps, wall jumps and bottom bounces, where he comes into his own, swinging this way and that, attempting to land platforming jumps in order to progress. But he’s got other skills too, and whilst we don’t want to spoil too much as to where this ‘platformer’ goes, a couple of additions to that standard grapple work well. We’d go as far to say that any new ideas feed in well too, nicely placed and paced to ensure that the Grapple Dogs adventure stays pretty fresh for the vast majority of time. 

Grapple Dogs Cosmic Canines Review 2
With Luna in tow…

Much of that is due to the switch in characters. Luna is just as important a Grapple Dog as old Pablo, but they come with an all-new take on proceedings. Again, skirting around the edges will be best so you can experience the joy of some new ‘gear’ for yourself, but there’s no ruining of a gameplay secret to let you know that Luna is complete with a gun and that sees Grapple Dogs: Cosmic Canines start to play with twin-stick shooting ideas. Swinging and shooting is par for the course when you have this Dog under your control, especially when it is used with a dash, helping Luna navigate wide open spaces with ease. Again, that gun switches up, as Luna gets busy with all manner of flora and more…

Whichever Dog you take charge of, your main goal will be to find that end-goal doorway. Along the way comes a whole ton of enemy types, some that run usual platforming tropes to a tee, others which mix things up a little more. For us, we’re big fans of underwater sections, if only as it again sees Grapple Dogs: Cosmic Canines attempt new ideas – something which it tries extremely often. Pretty much everything comes off nicely too, with collectathons keeping the mind busy. 

For progress, it’s the cosmic tokens of quantum space-time that are required, all so Pablo and his friends can counteract the dark energy within this world. In simpler terms, that means collecting Gems. There’s very little chance that you’ll ever find the required gems in one run of a level either, ensuring that Cosmic Canines is ripe for replayability. There’s no doubt, in fact, that the opportunity to run the same level over and over again must have been a key component during the development process. That is then complemented by some time trialling ideas, and smaller against-the-clock stages which make the most of Pablo and Luna’s weaponry and skills as the game progresses. 

In a word, Grapple Dogs: Cosmic Canines plays delightfully. The platforming is near perfect, less frustrating than we occasionally found in the original game, whilst swinging, jumping, adventuring and exploring is done with class. The control scheme helps with this, and whilst we continue to find ourselves very occasionally struggling with multiple and varied button presses in order to nail certain sections, rarely does it frustrate. Perhaps it’s the nicely placed checkpointing system that allows for the rare comeuppance, or the absolute plethora of collectable currency (fruit!) that keeps these dogs woofing on. 

Grapple Dogs Cosmic Canines Review 3
Some seriously clever level designs

Throughout Pablo and Luna’s journey, all manner of characters help fill out the adventure. Many of these are friends – Toni and a little shop, not-a-shop, is a personal fav – but many more should be seen as enemies or weird NPCs that help build some backstory to the premise, as well as the characters of Pablo and Luna themselves. Again, we’d not miss level interactions if they were not in place, but many will be appreciative of the opportunity to immerse themselves some more. 

There is no doubt that anyone who enjoyed their time with Grapple Dog from 2022 will find joy with Cosmic Canines. It may not build too much on the original ideas, but it never fails to hit the high standards of that first experience either; players constantly pushed on by both temptation and a cracking backing track. 

It’s not perfect though. Multiple times we’ve found that our little Grapple Dog (mostly Pablo) has disappeared into the ether, vanishing from the screen, progress halted. This mostly means a checkpoint reset, but occasionally that fails and a full stage restart has been needed. It’s annoying, but due to the fairly short nature of each stage, never is it too much to hold you back. 

Progression can feel a tad slow too. A certain number of gems are required for the unlocking of various world segments, with these hidden away in each level. That means should you miss one or two in any stage – and you will, due to Grapple Dogs’ occasionally scripted nature and love for dog-cannons – you’ll be left to run that same level again, hunting out uncovered gems. That would be fine, but some of those gems are extremely well hidden, and rarely will you know if you’ve passed one, at least not until it’s too late. We’ve found ourselves replaying certain levels three or four times before finally being able to open up more of a world map and additional stages. Just being able to play through the adventure without too much hassle would be preferred. 

Grapple Dogs Cosmic Canines Review 4
Highly replayable

However, this is a game that has tons of accessibility baked in. A whole host of gameplay settings are available for you to mess around with, dialling Cosmic Canines to your own personal liking, like an infinite jump, the switching off of damage and more. And when you consider the stages included in the game are found populating both a World Map and Stage Map, going back in to mop up missed gems or for time trialling opportunities is an utter cinch. 

There are some tiny oddities here, but this is an otherwise cracking modern-day platforming experience. Grapple Dogs: Cosmic Canines is one of those games that you will have some superb fun with, constantly in awe of the new mechanics that are introduced, marvelling at the sheer variety of stages and ideas found within – keep an eye out for a musical level that borders on the brilliant. Chuck in a vibrant artstyle, pretty precise controls and a ton of replayability, and the Grapple Dogs franchise just continues to excel with Cosmic Canines.


Swing, Shoot & Save the Cosmos in Grapple Dogs: Cosmic Canines – https://www.thexboxhub.com/swing-shoot-save-the-cosmos-in-grapple-dogs-cosmic-canines/

Buy Grapple Dogs: Cosmic Canines – https://www.xbox.com/en-gb/games/store/grapple-dogs-cosmic-canines/9nrk3wkdblp8

SUMMARY

Pros:
  • A cracking platformer
  • Full of brilliant ideas
  • Tight controls
  • As much replayability as you could want
Cons:
  • The odd bug
Info:
  • Massive thanks for the free copy of the game, Super Rare Originals
  • Formats - Xbox Series X|S (review), PC, Switch
  • Release date and price - 12 September 2024 |£14.99
Neil Watton
Neil Wattonhttps://www.thexboxhub.com/
An Xbox gamer since 2002, I bought the big black box just to play Oddworld: Munch's Oddysee. I have since loved every second of the 360's life and am now just as obsessed with the Xbox One and Xbox Series X|S - mostly with the brilliant indie scene that has come to the fore. Gamertag is neil363, feel free to add me to your list.
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<b>Pros:</b> <ul> <li>A cracking platformer</li> <li>Full of brilliant ideas</li> <li>Tight controls</li> <li>As much replayability as you could want</li> </ul> <b>Cons:</b> <ul> <li>The odd bug</li> </ul> <b>Info:</b> <ul> <li>Massive thanks for the free copy of the game, Super Rare Originals</li> <li>Formats - Xbox Series X|S (review), PC, Switch <li>Release date and price - 12 September 2024 |£14.99</li> </ul>Grapple Dogs: Cosmic Canines Review 
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