Beating the odds, we’ve somehow gained a Dog Man game before a gaming adaptation based on fellow children’s book stalwarts Captain Underpants and Diary of a Wimpy Kid – both of which have gained silver-screen counterparts. The fact that a Dog Man film from DreamWorks is just around the corner likely had something to do with this. That, and the fact that nobody wants to play a game based on a wimpy kid. The Super Nintendo’s often forgotten Lester the Unlikely taught us all a very valuable lesson back in 1994.
Dog Man: Mission Impawsible comes from not regular licensed game purveyors GameMill or OG Games, but rather Mindscape. They’ve taken the iconic comic panels from the long-running graphic novel series and adapted them into a 2D puzzle platformer that’s visually authentic. It isn’t going to keep the likes of Nintendo and Cuphead creators MHDR awake at night, but it doesn’t look or feel cheaply made, which was our biggest concern. The three playable characters (Dog Man, Cat Kid, and the spherical robot 80-HD) control well and have a few different stances when jumping, etc, helping give them personality. Cut-scenes are limited to after boss battles though, and there’s no voice acting whatsoever. More detrimental is the lack of music variety, with only a handful of BGMs playing across the game’s 3-4 hour duration.

What we have here, then, is a relatively straightforward side-scrolling platformer with character swapping and puzzle solving. Our colourful cast can withstand three hits, and once defeated are placed back to the start of the stage. A generous 50 stages are on offer, lasting around five minutes each, and there are five worlds that all end with a brief boss battle. The focus is on finding police badges hidden within each stage, along with a much more elusive tadpole that unlocks a piece of artwork. Predictably, the difficulty level is low – even the boss battles have prompts informing how to defeat them. There is challenge to be had by trying to find and collect everything though, and some stages need to be revisited with new items in tow.
The drip-feed of new items is how Mission Impawsible keeps things fresh. The cast is introduced not long after the tutorial – with Piggy being the villain of the piece – and each gain a new upgrade every five or so stages. Dog Man can dig underground to access new areas and later use a grappling hook, Cat Kid can climb walls and hack computers to make blocks appear, while 80-HD can move large blocks around and later double jump. Cat Kid can also safely walk along cracked tiles whereas 80-HD will fall through them instantly.
You’re going to be switching characters often, harnessing their abilities to progress. Puzzles are mostly of the block shoving variety, placing blocks onto switches or making walkways. It’s perfectly pitched for younger gamers; not too taxing, and always engaging. Or rather, moderately engaging. The pace here is quite plodding – this isn’t about sprinting through stages like a certain blue hedgehog, but rather casually strolling through them, leaping from one platform to another and dealing with one enemy at a time.

As children’s games go though, Mission Impawsible feels like it understands its audience. It has a non-violent nature (enemies are stunned rather than killed,) the controls are easy to grasp, and there’s a little bit of humour present within the backdrops. Every thirty minutes a prompt appears suggesting players take a break too. While a couple of puzzles are on the more experimental side of things, including luring enemies onto pressure plates, it’s doubtful that a parent will have to step in and help often – save perhaps for the final boss, which sees a slight increase in difficulty.
While all of this may sound positive, Mission Impawsible will likely seem a little basic and mundane to anyone over the age of ten. Compare it to something like Super Mario Bros. Wonder – or any Nintendo game, for that matter – and it doesn’t come off favourably, especially with the £30 price point in mind. For younger gamers yet to be subjected to the razzle dazzle and complexities of Fortnite and Roblox, it’s ideal. More importantly, it’s faithful to the graphic novels on which it’s based. There’s obviously a well-read stack of Dog Man books within the walls of the game’s developers, and the attention to detail here makes this worthwhile for fans, if nobody else.
Mindscape’s Dog Man: Mission Impawsible is out now on all formats. Developed by Floor 84 Studio.