Chris InglisDuring September I took my family to watch PAW Patrol: The Mighty Movie which is in cinemas now. We enjoyed this latest adventure with the mighty pups so once I got home I did a quick search to see if there were any upcoming PAW Patrol games. We have played each once released so far from the amazing people at Outright Games. I was excited to see that PAW Patrol World was releasing soon, developed by 3D Clouds, and launching on Nintendo Switch, PC, Xbox and PlayStation. Having now played through it on the Nintendo Switch, I can say it’s the biggest and best PAW Patrol game to date. It is much more open world than we have previously been able to play and also has two-player splitscreen local co-op which allowed me to play with my daughters with ease.
The PAW Patrol Day festival is almost here, and everyone in Adventure Bay is excited – everyone except Mayor Humdinger and his Kitten Catastrophe Crew, that is. Humdinger has taken all the festival posters and he’s causing mayhem in his new super blimp! It’s going to take the whole bunch of good pups – Chase, Skye, Marshall, Rubble, Zuma, Rocky, Everest and Tracker – with their unique skills to stop Humdinger and make the festival PAWsome. The familiar pup treats are also back to collect which has been the main gameplay element of most previous PAW Patrol games. This made it a familiar goal to collect them and they turn blue so the next time you play the game, you can spot any you may have missed.
PAW Patrol World is an open-world adventure game where players of all ages can explore the streets of the pups hometown of Adventure Bay and beyond. We have been able to run around in some of Adventure Bay’s iconic locations in PAW Patrol Mighty Pups – Save the World, but those were linear experiences. This is almost fully open world so you can be running along the beach as Marshall and then switch to Zuma, enter his hovercraft vehicle and drive across the water, switch to Rubble and continue up into the town centre. The game also features the original UK voice actors for the show, including Justin Paul Kelley as Chase, Solomon Brown as Ryder, Kallan Holley as Skye and Devan Cohen as Rubble and more.
It’s all very authentic as you start to do missions to help Mayor Goodway, Cap’n Turbot the fisherman and other characters. Sometimes you will see a park bench that is highlighted and you will need Rocky to repair it. There are signs that have been pushed over that requires Rubble to lift them up and then Skye’s helicopter to carry them back into place. The game provides helpful prompts if you’re not using the correct pup for the task. Bins can be searched through, fire hydrants can be repaired and there are the familiar pup treats to collect which have been a staple to previous PAW Patrol Games. As you collect pup treats and fill up a box, you will be rewarded with collectibles such as hats for the pups, stickers for their vehicles and other collectibles like postcards, posters to show in the town centre and others.
I played PAW Patrol World on the Nintendo Switch and the controls were responsive enough, however I had to change the camera controls straight away. The default mode camera mode was not responsive enough and a little disorienting, especially when my daughters were playing and are still learning. Switching camera mode to free look was much better, putting the camera controls into our own hands. The game played really well on the switch with you able to switch pups and summon their vehicles with ease. My only gripe with this Nintendo Switch version is there re occasionally frame rate drops, more so when loading back into the game the next session. For the most part though it performed well on the Switch.
Aside from Adventure Bay, we can explore three other areas which are Jake’s Mountain, the Jungle and Barkingburg. After I completed the story missions for Adventure Bay, the PAW Patrol bus was ready to take us to the Jungle. However a flashback mission became available and these allow you to replay key missions from the TV show. The second area has you helping Carlos in the Jungle and it was a great change of scenery. This is another location we explored in the Mighty Pups game but again, having the freedom of open world exploration allows you to explore every corner. We interact with monkeys and elephants and interact with the environment for some fun challenges and more collectible items.
Overall, PAW Patrol World is the biggest and best PAW Patrol game to date, allowing us to freely explore locations seen in the TV show. The UK voice actors reprise their roles and the pups and their vehicles are well animated. The game performed well on Nintendo Switch with some minor framerate drops, and I recommend switching the camera to manual for better control. This is a great game to play splitscreen co-op with your children and I highly recommend it for PAW Patrol fans.
This review utilised a Switch key provided by Outright Games and PAW Patrol World is available now on Nintendo Switch, Steam, Xbox and PlayStation.
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