Cult classics like Commando have defined the real time tactics genre with carefully made puzzles that are solved through the player’s own wit and creativity. By encouraging the player to take in the scenery and form a plan of action, they become immersed in the world they play in. Dog Duty, a self-proclaimed real time tactics title, takes every part of the real time tactics genre that made it great and trades it in for second hand mechanics from genres that have no business being in the same vicinity.
Dog Duty was developed and published by SOEDESCO in August 2019 and came to the PS4 in September of this year. Dog Duty has the player control a squad of three individual soldiers, pitting them against the Octopus Commander. Transported atop an armored vehicle in a semi-open world, your squad invades camps, and fights through the Octopus Commander’s army for the sake of peace.
Dog Duty’s drawing point is its shoot-em-up, Michael Bay aesthetic. Games like Metal Slug and Bro Force have proven there’s an audience for explosions and firefights. Players that like these sorts of titles may be drawn to Dog Duty’s themes. Unfortunately, I believe Dog Duty’s strongest draw is hurt by its own mechanics.
Real time tactics games have the player control each unit in their squad individually. You must select a soldier and direct him where to go, where to shoot, and how to generally interact with the world. Then you select the next soldier. This gameplay pattern excels in a strategic setting. The player can slow down to formulate a plan and then set it in motion. There is sometimes frantic action but usually only in an emergency when stealth is not maintained. Dog Duty employs this micromanaging system but demands fast-paced, explosive action at all times. Its level design encourages blunt force rather than precise strategy. But needing to fight off an army of soldiers in a violent firefight feels disjointed when you need to micromanage each character to optimize your chances of success. It starts to feel more inconvenient than anything. It’d be like in Call of Duty if there were buttons to control each limb and joint instead of joysticks to control smooth movement. You feel obstructed doing what you want to do in the game: shoot guns and blow things up.
What I found even more off-putting was the inclusion of the armored vehicle for open-world travel. I was immediately transported into the early 2000’s era of games that hamfisted travelling mechanics into every title. It felt like there was tons of dead space between navigating to each level. Sure, there were military vehicles chasing you, but the flat noise of the engine sound and being under no real threat, it felt like it was a failed attempt at an interactive loading screen. Every moment I spent in the truck I just wished I was back to shooting bad guys and creating explosions. Dog Duty could vastly benefit from cutting down the dead space. Even a simple level selector like Mario’s would cut the dead time between the fun immensely. In what’s supposed to be an intense action shooter, the player shouldn’t be playing a recreation of Desert Bus VR by Dinosaur Games.
It’s strange coming from a studio that’s published games since 2002, but Dog Duty seems to suffer from a conflict of focus. From the real time tactics portion of the game not needing any real strategy, to the awkward open-world implementation, Dog Duty is almost schizophrenic. Any player that enjoys these styles of games would benefit much more from playing titles that focus on those specific mechanics. Fans of real time tactics would not enjoy Dog Duty and should stick to classics like Commando. Fans of cartoony, action shooters might feel obstructed by the awkward playstyle, and feel more at home in games like Bro Force. Overall, Dog Duty feels like a passion project gone wrong. It seems like the developers tried to combine multiple genres that just don’t fit well together. I’m sure it’s possible for a creative developer to find a way to do so, but Dog Duty isn’t that game.
Check Out the Dog Duty Trailer:
For more information, please visit: https://www.soedesco.com/dog-duty/
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My name is Devon Huge. I'm passionate about writing, art, games, and lists that are one item too long.
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