Dog's Life tells the story of Jake, a dog searching for another dog kidnapped at the start of the game. Jake's adventure starts out in the town of Clarkesville and will take him to various other areas in his world, through ski fields and cities in his quest to find his lost friend. Each area is made up of several smaller areas, which essentially make up the levels in the game. The pace of the game and of each level is purposely quite slow. Players are free to wander and explore. It actually seems to be encouraged with full exploration of each area needed to collect everything. Each of these smaller areas have various objectives. These objectives can usually be done in any order, and completing all the objectives is not necessary to continue on to a new area. Some objectives are related to advancing the story while others just contribute to getting Jake bones.

Collecting bones plays a large part in advancing Jake through the story. In each level Jake will meet other dogs. These dogs have a certain skill level, denoted by the number of bones they have collected. In each level Jake will need to beat each dog in a mini-game. These mini-games can consist of such thing as races, tug-of-wars and hole digging contests. Jake's ability to win these games not only relies partially on the player but also on the current skill level of Jake. Trying to beat a dog with a higher skill level can be a reasonably difficult challenge. Collect enough bones to at least equal or surpass the level of the other dog and mini-games become easier to win. As Jake collects more bones he visibly becomes faster, and is able to jump higher and dig faster. It is a great way for the player to control difficulty of the game to suit their own skills, in a similar manner to levelling up in an RPG. While there are only a limited number of bones in each level, there are certainly enough to collect to enable the less skilled players to advance.

Just as much as bones, smells are also important to a dog, so it is fitting that a large part of the game involves looking for smells. Through the wonder of Smellovision the player can identify smells throughout each location, designated by a coloured cloud. By running Jake through these clouds smells can be collected. From Jake's description of some of the smells it is pretty lucky for players that Sony hasn't been able to enable real Smellovision on the Playstation 2. Jake's passion, it seems, is for really bad smells. Also lucky is the lack of any gameplay that involves smelling other dogs butts. That may have taken the simulation aspect a little too far.

Many of the objectives involve collecting a certain number of smells of different colours in a similar fashion to normal platforming games where coins or stars need to be collected. For instance in each level there are 50 purple smells, and exploring the level and collecting all 50 will reward Jake with a bone. Other colours will unlock such things as the dog mini-games or signify where bones are buried. As well as these collectable smells there are other smells around each level. Humans, dogs, sheep and other living things also have smoke trails, often making it easier to spot where they are from a distance. Jake can talk to all of the humans, and often talking to them will reveal further objectives.

The smells can only be seen in Smellovision, otherwise known as the first person (dog) view. A lot of the game will be played in this first person view, and switching between that and the default third person view is fairly seamless and easy. Both views allow good control, although controlling Jake can take a little time to get used to. Just like a real dog momentum seems to play a part. Run too fast and stopping or turning takes a little longer. Reversing is slow enough to make it virtually useless. The control of Jake is well done, and the delays in movement seem quite natural. Contrast this with a lot of other third-person action games, where movement can seem quite stilted and jerky and quick turns are possible straight away. We're not sure if the game was designed to be this way, but it seems surprisingly natural.

Throughout the game players can learn new moves for Jake to perform with some of these tied to objectives. Performing these moves is done with the d-pad, and are fairly easy to learn. The moves can range from the standard dog moves such as sit, lie and beg through to the slightly grosser pooping and peeing moves, which are strangely entertaining right throughout the game. Pretty much anything a dog does can be done in the game, from digging holes and herding sheep to marking territory and swimming, and controlling Jake through all these actions is well done and quite intuitive.

Not only can the player control Jake, but by winning the mini-games over other dogs they can gain control of those dogs. Each of the other dogs will have characteristics or skills that Jake does not possess, such as being small enough to crawl into tight places and controlling these dogs will then enable players to complete objectives they wouldn't have been able to with just Jake. Controlling each dog is quite similar to Jake although Smellovision is not available. Each breed of dog also controls slightly differently, in the same way the different cars behave differently in a racing game. It is not a huge difference but it is large enough for it to be noticeable, which is a nice touch.

Visually Dog's Life is done in a bright cartoony style that retains a real-life perspective. The environments are all very realistic and believable, with no additions such as platforms or obstacles that do no fit with the environment. The dogs themselves are well animated and move as dogs should most of the time. Swimming is particularly well done, with Jake's dog paddle looking quite natural. Occasionally Jake's run will look a little funny but it is not enough to detract from the game. In contrast to the realistic nature of the rest of the game the human characters are almost caricatures of real life. This fits in well with the game and almost reinforces the feeling of playing a cartoon.

Sound also fits in well with the overall game experience. Dogs in this world talk, not only to each other but to humans as well. Jake in particular is quite talkative, providing random comments about his surroundings or particular smells throughout the game. Humans have over the top voices to go with their overly cartoony appearances. The human input into the game actually reminds us of the human element in a similar type of movie, 101 Dalmations. Not that this is a bad thing as it fits well into the overall game when viewed from a dog's perspective.

In the end Dog's Life is a fun game with some original elements. The free-roaming nature of the game means that players can opt to pursue specific objectives, or just wander around exploring. And it is definitely a game with a sense of humour, even if it is toilet humour. Each of the levels is varied enough to maintain interest throughout, and there is a good variety of objectives and mini-games to complete. The difficulty certainly aims the game towards a younger audience although a lot of the enjoyment actually derives from experience of being able to play as a dog. It could have been a little longer, although it could be argued that the audience it is aimed at may not have the attention span to keep up with a longer game.