Dog's Life - PlayStation 2

In any case, you control Jake, the wisecracking mutt; the nominal goal of the game is to rescue your canine girlfriend from the city pound. Most of the game involves your wandering around a variety of locales, both city-based and in the countryside, worrying sheep, taking part in mini-games such as the Peeing Game (nice) and helping out humans with unlikely sounding fetch-and-carry tasks.

One of the highlights of the game is the smellovision view, which allows you to see the world from a dog's point of view. In this first-person (or first-dog) view you can also "see" smells, which you can collect for bonuses, and trigger various new tasks and games. It also allows you to track scents via footprints, which is rather cool and vitally important for many missions.

If you want to just wander off doing your own thing, you can though, and once you learn the right button combinations for various tricks and, erm... going for a number two, it's almost as much fun just doing that and seeing who you can annoy. Barbara Woodhouse is no doubt turning in her grave. --David Jenkins