Russian Subway Dogs from Spooky Squid Games brings us a fun arcade-style experience to PS4. Check our Russian Subway Dogs review!
Summer is in full swing, and with heavy rain pretty much every single day, I was looking for a new game to take for a spin, aiming for an indie game and not an AAA release. Right now, Russian Subway Dogs is the game that’s scratching that indie itch with a fun arcade-style game about dogs scavaging for food in the Russian subways – hence the game’s name. Apparently, this is something that happens in Russia in real life, with stray dogs living in subways in search of food – and probably warmth as well. It’s a shame as I believe every animal should have a loving, happy family and home to live out their lives in!
For Russian Subway Dogs from Spooky Squid Games, you’ll be traveling from subway station to subway station as you bark at people to try and make them drop the food they’re carrying. Your goal will be to eat as much food as possible to keep your dog’s hunger in check, all while trying to boost your combo as much as possible to get a high score for that particular stage. There will also be bonus objectives to complete along the way if you want to 100% the game.
There are two modes you can play. First up is the Campaign Mode, where you’ll work on progressing through each level by getting the minimum score and completing the main goal. The other one is an Endless Mode, where you’ll try to get as high a score as possible by making the most of everything you’ve learned from playing through the Campaign Mode. For both modes, you’ll have to worry about the hunger bar at the bottom of the screen. If you don’t eat something fast, your dog will end up too tired and hungry to carry on! The hunger depletes at a fast pace, especially when you’re barking at people.
This is why you have to collect food to keep the bar as full as possible by stealing food from the commuters getting off the trains. You must bark at them from behind to scare them so that their food goes up in the air. Catch the food before it hits the floor, and you’ll get more points. Get several food items in a row, and you’ll receive a higher score boost while also recovering a bigger chunk of your hunger bar. If the food hits the floor, you’ll get fewer points from eating it, and your combo will also break. You only have a few minutes to eat as much food as possible, and you also need to keep other animals from eating it!
It is a very short burst of playing time type of game, which makes sense since the game was previously made available on PlayStation Vita. You can easily play through a level or two and then give Endless Mode a try in a single gaming session. As you progress through the game and complete objectives, you will unlock more subway stations as well as additional characters you can play as in Campaign Mode and Endless Mode.
The game has a full trophy list with a Platinum trophy, with 16 Bronze trophies, 15 Silver trophies, and 4 Gold trophies in said list. If you want to add a new Platinum trophy to your collection, you’ll need to get an S-rank on all levels in Campaign Mode, collect every single bone you get from completing all objectives, play Endless Mode with 13 different characters, as well as complete miscellaneous objectives such as defeating three poodles with a single vodka bottle or drinking four cups of coffee during a single Endless Mode run. Will you be able to get the Platinum trophy?
Russian Subway Dogs is a fun arcade-style 2D experience that is a lot of fun on PlayStation 4. The pixel graphics are colorful and very polished, and the whole premise makes for an interesting journey. As you play through the Campaign Mode and try to improve your score in each run in Endless Mode, you’ll certainly appreciate the care that went into creating this game and how the music does a great job of complementing the whole experience. If you bought the PlayStation Vita version of the game, you’ll be happy to learn that you can download the PlayStation 4 version of the game at no extra cost. Russian Subway Dogs is available with a $14.99 price tag.
Disclaimer
This Russian Subway Dogs review is based on a PlayStation 4 copy provided by Spooky Squid Games.
