Game Review: PAW Patrol World (Xbox Series X)

From developer 3DClouds and publisher Outright Games comes PAW Patrol World, the latest (released on Xbox that is) game from the PAW Patrol franchise. Which, if you don’t know, is a long running animated TV series about a team of search and rescue dogs within the community of Adventure Bay.

Aimed at a young audience, the appeal comes from a fantasy aspect that sees each dog having a specific set of skills based on emergency services jobs. Utilising their ‘pupmobiles’ and ‘pup packs’ to complete missions and go on adventures.

That’s about the extent of my PAW Patrol knowledge, and most of this has been gained from playing this game. It should come as no surprise that I am not the target audience for this game, but that doesn’t mean most can’t find things to enjoy within PAW Patrol World. It’s a good game, doing many things right, and living up to the promise of a ‘free-roaming’ 3D adventure. Even though it does have some really lazy aspects.

The story is simple, unsurprisingly. Adventure Bay is planning a big event, one surrounding a celebration of all things dog. However, the villainous Mayor Humdinger and his army of kittens want to disrupt things and get attendees to abandon the doggy festival in favour of their cat-themed event. Utilising a super-blimp to cause some child-friendly chaos around the town and some surrounding areas.

It’s up to Ryder and the pups to put a stop to him. All while exploring the town and three other locations, having some fun, helping out other characters, and more.

Simple and effective, as every 3D adventure game should be, and there’s a lot to enjoy when it comes to exploring the town and the surrounding areas. With each new area unlocked once the required set of main missions have been completed. When it comes to things to do, PAW Patrol World has plenty, it’s just a shame they are all so repetitive. Go somewhere, find something, and that’s about it. While the game does force you to constantly switch between pups and their vehicles to complete these tasks, they all amount to the same thing.

What really makes this repetitiveness egregious though is how each area effectively repeats the same main missions. There is no excuse for this and it shows a total lack of imagination and how little care is given to a game when it is aimed at kids.

Still, as disappointing as this is, it’s very hard to be too harsh to PAW Patrol World as it also does so much right. It looks great, vibrant and colourful, and each location feels bigger than it actually is. The ease with which different pups and vehicles can be selected, the smooth controls, the good camera, well done voice acting, and the balanced difficulty makes it constantly fun. As well as that, the extra stuff like cosmetics and costumes, which unlocked by collecting pup treats, is a welcome touch.

While adults may not be enamoured with it, its target audience will surely have a blast. Here’s hoping that this style of game is what future PAW Patrol games try to emulate, because it’s far more appealing than yet another karting game.