I’d never heard of Dog Man before. We took our son to watch Sonic 3 at the cinema before Christmas and there was a trailer for a Dog Man film, that was when I remembered that I had this game in my review backlog. So here it is, from developer Floor 84 Studio and publisher Mindscape (I just learned that Mindscape are still around) comes Dog Man: Mission Impawsible.

“Dog Man: Mission Impawsible brings the beloved book series to life. Help Dog Man and his friends chase down the supa bad guys in their most impawsible mission yet!”

From my wee bit of research (and that little blurb up there) Dog Man is a series of popular children’s books. Dog Man: Mission Impawsible is a classic bit of platforming action with all the staples that you’d expect from the genre. The basic plot is that Dog Man and his Supa Buddies are being given the key to the city. However, following a bit of subterfuge, the key is stolen by  F.L.E.A.S. (Fuzzy Little Evil Animal Squad) and it is up to Dog Man hand his pals to get it back.

Taking place over five areas, each with nine levels and a boss fight, Dog Man: Mission Impawsible will have you jumping on enemies, platforms and more. At first, you can only play as Dog Man, but after a short while, you’ll soon add Li’l Petey the cat and 80-Hexotron Droidformigon, or 80-HD for short. 80-HD is a robot and all three characters have their own strengths and weaknesses. For instance. Li’l Petey is little and can get into small areas, he doesn’t jump very high but he is light so will not destroy destructible platforms. 80-HD is big and heavy, he moves slower but jumps high and will fall right through destructible platforms. Dog Man is somewhere in the middle and the all rounder of the three.

Along the way, you will unlock skills for all three characters. Dog Man can learn to dig, Li’l Petey can climb walls and 80-HD can move heavy blocks. This leads to a slight puzzle element of the game and you’ll be swapping between all three characters to use their skills to get to the end of the levels. More skills become available as you play. As with any mascot platformer, there are collectables. Bones will be the main pick up and there are four shields to find on each level. Two shields will be somewhere on the level, the other two are earned by collecting enough bones and for finishing the level. You can also find a tadpole somewhere hidden and these unlock some Dog Man art work.

Overall, Dog Man: Mission Impawsible is an enjoyable platformer. It is very easy, we are talking about an IP based on kids books. An experienced gamer will get to the end in a handful of hours and 100% is not much of a challenge. However, for a younger audience, this title provides a great deal of fun. I let both of my kids play and they said they really liked it. It’s simple enough to get to grips with, but there is a level of challenge there that’ll keep the little ones on their toes.