Grapple Dog is an excellent proof of concept for a 2D action platformer that requires you to swing through levels and traverse through the air as an adorable pup. While I did enjoy the gameplay despite the quirky movement, I couldn't help but wish there was more, as Medallion Games are onto something fun, charming, groovy, and unique with Pablo. I hope to see this game optimized and updated for the Switch, as the gameplay issues I encountered slightly detracted from this short but sweet indie platforming gem. Need I remind you to pet Pablo every time you complete a level? Please give him all the pets; he deserves it.
I fondly remember my summers as a kid: I would go to Grandma’s house in Chicago and play Sonic the Hedgehog on her Sega Genesis. I owned a Sega Genesis in Los Angeles, too, but playing Sonic at Grandma’s felt so different in all the nostalgic ways. A few weeks ago, I saw a trailer for Grapple Dog, and right from the jump I got all of those nostalgic feelings back again.
Grapple Dog is best described as a 2D-Action Platformer, you play as Pablo the Grapple Dog, a canine research assistant who stumbles across an ancient grappling hook while on an expedition with a parrot Professor and Toni the bunny, the Professor’s mechanic. Using that grappling hook, you must guide Pablo through four worlds full of cliffs and cannons to recover ancient artifacts and save the world from Nul, the robotic overlord!
Grapple Dog’s gameplay is quite simple: You can jump, bounce, and attach to blue blocks using the grappling hook. The game’s simplicity begins to wane as you progress through each level, which slowly introduces a new mechanic (like bouncing on the ground next to a crab NPC to bounce off of its rubbery underbelly) and makes slight iterations on that mechanic without adding too much stress on the player. Each world’s boss level acts as a comprehensive review of all the mechanics that were introduced in that world but turned up to 11.
Momentum matters in Grapple Dog, as the way you move determines the speed at which you’ll traverse through each stage as well as navigating between robotic enemies, spikey walls, and floating buzzsaws. While some more difficult levels seem to demand precision, understanding the rhythm of using your grappling hook is often the key to success. Traversal is fluid for the most part, but there are some quirks. From the very beginning, I noticed that Pablo’s movement mirrors that of the original Sonic games, where moving every so slightly in a direction results in a gradual shift (where you’ll keep moving in a parabolic fashion) rather than an incremental shift (where you slightly move in that direction and then proceed to fall downward). It frustrated me to no end when I would ever-so-lightly tap left on the D-pad and see Pablo drift in that direction rather than shift in that direction. Luckily, cancelling that drift is easy: just press the bounce button to fall straight down. Once you understand the quirky momentum mechanics, you’ll be grappling and swinging in no time.
Grapple Dog’s simplicity comes at a cost, though. The gameplay slowly becomes less unique as you play through some of the more difficult levels, and I could not help but wonder what the game would be like if there were additional mechanics (or characters) to vary up the gameplay. Don’t get me wrong, I love playing as Pablo, but making Toni playable (even in smaller segments of specific levels) could add variety to an already unique game. I wanted more from Grapple Dog…so, so much more.
Much of Grapple Dog pays homage to the Sonic the Hedgehog games from the Sega Genesis era. The level designs are both vertical and horizontal, with a general “main path” that occasionally branches off to let you find hidden goodies in the form of gems and floating fruit. Each of the stages in each “world” feel just enough unique to make it feel like you’re progressing without grinding through repetitive content, and I really appreciate how each level slowly increases the gameplay difficulty. Checkpoints may seem arbitrary at first, but they portion out some of the longer levels into manageable chunks that let you “save” your progress without having to start all the way from the beginning.
Each world contains several levels, and each level contains five gems and a set amount of floating fruit. If you collect most of the fruit, you can obtain up to two additional gems. Some levels contain a blue B coin that gives you access to a bonus level that will grant you an additional three gems upon successful completion. The gems you obtain from completing levels give you access to each world’s boss level which test your knowledge and skills in mastering the new gameplay mechanics that were introduced in that world. At the end of that slog, you face a mechanical boss (whose difficulty can vary between insanely easy to frustratingly difficult).
After completing a level, you get the opportunity to replay it in time-trial mode should you want to test your speed-running abilities. While I myself am not the most mechanically skilled (despite managing to excel in Aeterna Noctis), I am excited to see how players find the most optimal paths to completing these levels in a timely manner. Despite the high level of replayability of time-trial mode, the game really does feel quite short. It wouldn’t surprise me if players were able to complete Grapple Dog’s main story in less than 20 hours, or even less if you skipped levels.
The gem system was a smart design choice to encourage players to prioritize level completion rather than trying to 100% complete a level right off the bat. In no way do you need to collect all the gems at first, but if you do…it’s possible to skip entire levels and just make your way to the boss. By the time I made it to the fourth world, I had just enough gems after completing the first stage to skip everything else and face what was the most frustrating boss of my playthrough (more on that experience later in this review). While “playing as you want” is great for those wanting a casual playthrough, the fact that you can outright skip entire levels (multiple, in my case) if you frontloaded gem collection runs the risk of missing out on quality gameplay (and charming NPC interactions).
The pixel art of Grapple Dog is indeed quite funky, fluid, yet vibrant. Enemies and objects are smooth and shiny, levels contain a near-perfect blend of depth and movement in the back- and foreground without looking too busy, and interactable elements will blink to grab the player’s attention. All in all, it’s easy on the eyes and a treat for those wanting a funky 2D-pixelated experience. I loved the art, and I’m sure you will, too.
There are but a few NPCs in Grapple Dog, and I cannot help but wish that there were more. Each character adds the right amount of charm in between grappling adventures, and I never once felt the need to skip dialogue. The “voice” effects of the characters (especially Pablo and the polar bears) are silly and delightful. And when you pet Pablo on the level-complete screen (YES, you can pet him using the PET button!), he makes a cute bork!
I must commend Medallion Games on their OST, as the few but amazing songs on Grapple Dog’s soundtrack feel quite similar to Sonic 3’s OST with occasional instances of “yeah!” and “wow!” It gave me groovy Marble Garden Zone and Hydrocity Zone vibes; you’ll know it once you hear it. However, each world uses the same song in all of the levels within, so expect to listen to the same song several times in a row as you complete the levels in a single world. I would have loved some variations to the song (even if it was a slight change like the Sonic games did), as the music was pleasant as I swung from ceilings and across spike pits.
I alluded to a frustrating experience earlier in this review: my review copy of Grapple Dog for the Nintendo Switch suffered some stability quibbles, like the occasional crash and long loading times. After spending around half an hour on the fourth boss level and the boss itself, my game crashed immediately after I defeated the boss and sent me back to the beginning of the level, which was a smidge frustrating. I hope that these issues are from the optimization side and not a Switch limitation, as the game really is fun despite the occasional jitter. [UPDATE: The developers have assured us that these issues will be patched in a Day One patch. We appreciate their speedy response and support!]
Grapple Dog is available on the Switch and on Steam, and there are quite a few notable settings worth sharing with you. First, the Switch version does have vibration support, but it’s disabled by default for some reason. I quite enjoyed the vibration support, so consider turning that on. Also, the Accessibility settings let you turn off damage altogether and multijump, meaning that if you want to try your hand at Grapple Dog’s version of “god mode,” it’s available to you right from the beginning without needing to unlock it.
Grapple Dog is an excellent proof of concept for a 2D action platformer that requires you to swing through levels and traverse through the air as an adorable pup. While I did enjoy the gameplay despite the quirky movement, I couldn’t help but wish there was more, as Medallion Games are onto something fun, charming, groovy, and unique with Pablo. I hope to see this game optimized and updated for the Switch, as the gameplay issues I encountered slightly detracted from this short but sweet indie platforming gem. Need I remind you to pet Pablo every time you complete a level? Please give him all the pets; he deserves it.
