I am no stranger to playing kids games and easy games. Sometimes, I just like to play a very simple game, with a lot of simple mechanics, that you don’t need to think much about, that tracks all your progress on screen, without the need for marking things down, and tracking and such. Even with the need to track Pup Treats in this game, it’s a casual glance at a walkthrough to make sure you have the right amount before progressing and that’s easy enough. I like switching my brain off sometimes and just churning out some achievements.
I really enjoyed PAW Patrol: Mighty Pups Save Adventure Bay. Even with the grind in PAW Patrol: Grand Prix, it’s not bad, it’s easy enough and just a case of idling or just playing the game with some mindless need to press A and X here and there. They’re easy and that’s meant to be the case for most games aimed at the age range that PAW Patrol is aimed at.
PAW Patrol The Movie: Adventure City Calls removes anything easy from the aspects of the games. Not only does Ryder seem to get more patronising, but the controls are weirdly expert for some of these levels. The driving levels - that in Adventure Bay, were forgiving and let you repeat just the driving level if needed - are brutal. If you miss so much as the right time to move lanes by 0.2 seconds, that’s it you’re stuck with 199/200 pup treats and thus, begins the repeat. Which isn’t just repeating the driving scene. It’s repeating the entire level on repeat, until you ace that driving level. If this is the first level, well, good luck, as there’s no way to skip the tutorial, bugging you out and feeling more and more patronising the more you have to repeat it. Which is also brutally unfair considering some pup treats don’t actually appear in time to get them unless you are directly in the middle lane, leaving you 1-2 treats down each time and thus needing to repeat the entire level once more.
The level designs themselves feel convoluted, as though they’ve tried to pad them out further and further, with more and more weird additions each time. Apparently going through the streets isn't enough despite it being a direct route to an accident you catch glimpses of direct routes on screen numerous times, but you have to run around the tops of the rooftops with Chase, zip lining across to get there as quickly as possible. Each level seems to have one specific section with hidden treats that it’s gotten to the point it’s easier to find the hidden badges than the 3 treats you miss on one run through. As someone who aced Adventure Bay with only minimal repeats of the driving scenes needed, these levels feel much harder, and it takes a good moment of running around to get the bare minimum of continuation, not to mention that damn Skye level on Electrical Shutdown.
The minigames are the most redeeming quality of this game, and even then, with the driving time trials, are brutal, as per this games entire mechanic with driving lessons. At least in the mini games, you only have to repeat the driving level and not the entire 5 minute level to miss 2 treats due to spawn issues.
The quality of this game compared to all others in the series is just abysmal. The charm of the other games is just simply not there. Corners were severely cut with this game, the enjoyment and smoothness is just not there, and this easily sticks out as the worst of the game series. A shame, truly, as the series is fun for some mindless gaming and enjoyment, but this is going to be a slog for anyone that thinks they’re going to ace this quickly before it’s removed from game pass or need to clean up any achievements their kid picked up.
If you want this complete and not a sore thumb on your completion record, don’t put it off and start grinding or, if you can bear it, just simply don’t bother. I regret starting this with every inch of my gaming soul. I’d rather grind a 400+ hour game than this awkwardly held together game.
1.0