Paw Patrol World - PS5 Review

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Paw Patrol World, by devs 3DClouds and published by Outright Games, has recently landed on all consoles and PC. For all adults with young children, you will be very familiar with not only the theme tune but also the characters’ names!

“Dad, I can be all the Paw Patrol!”

For anyone who has escaped the likes of children’s TV and is not aware of the fabulous Paw Patrol, it is an animated TV show that follows the exploits of a team of pups and a boy named Ryder. Together they help keep Adventure Bay safe from Mayor Humdinger’s dastardly plans as well as undertake rescue missions.

With the recent Paw Patrol Mighty Pups movie released in the cinemas, Paw Patrol fever is not going away for a while. With my 6-year-old leading the way, what would he make of Paw Patrol World?

screenshot showing a play park featuring a yellow slide with a blue ladder and a yellow, blue and red climbing frame with chutes. Chase, wearing his blue police outfit stands on the path wondering what to play on next. A boy stands to his left and the sky is dark indicating it is the evening. — Chase is on the case!

Gameplay

Having played the previous side-scrolling Paw Patrol games together on the PlayStation, it was time to take the experience into the open-world 3D environment.

With each of the pups playable from the start, my son had great fun switching on the fly from pup to pup. Not only could you begin running around Adventure Bay, but you could also press a button on the controller and choose to get into the pup’s respective vehicle bringing more squeals of delight.

Be there on the double!

With Ryder summoning you to start giving you story missions, it was simple to navigate towards the waypoint. Along the route, there were numerous pup treats to collect, a staple of the previous Paw Patrol games. Each time you collect a bone-shaped biscuit you see a red prize box bar fill up. Once you have collected enough, the box opens and you are given a new outfit, emote, vehicle sticker or postcard stamp.

screenshot showing a blue customisation screen with Zuma alongside his iconic orange hovercraft. On the left are 2 columns that show various unlocked costumes and stickers. A purple bowler hat is highlighted and Zuma can be seen wearing it. — Unlocking the various costumes and stickers is great fun.

Explore!

Your rewards can be used to customise your pup and vehicle, helping make them your own style. Interactions are not limited to pup treats. All around you are things to do or play with. For example, there is a park where you can play on the slide and have a swing. There are shiny spinning Pup tags to find. Characters can be spoken to, and while some just say “Hi”, there are others that give you mini missions to undertake.

screenshot showing Tracker in his safari white vehicle. He is seen driving across across the adventure bay bridge. It is night time and the vehicle's headlights shine on the road. Standing on the left is a boy with an blue exclamation within a white bubble indicating that he has a mission for us. — No job too big, no pup too small!

With the whole range of usual pups available, as well as Tracker, there are challenges to seek out and complete that are unique to each pup. For example, we found some ramps that required Everest to jump them in order to win pup treats. Later on, we had a mission that required Chase to use his water cannon to find missing groceries buried on the beach. Sadly Liberty and Rex are not in this game.

screenshot showing Skye, the aerial paw patrol pup in the air searching for a boy named Charlie. Below is the sandy beach of adventure bay along with a vibrant blue sea and skyline. In the distance is a lighthouse. — Skye has gotta fly!

Join in!

One of the selling points for the Paw Patrol games has been the ability to play cooperatively. After all, who doesn’t enjoy gaming with their children? While the previous iterations did have the annoyance that the player leading the screen could leave you behind and your character would be teleported back onto the screen. In Paw Patrol World it is thankfully a split-screen affair. Rest assured, there are no frustrations to be had with losing one another as there is a handy teleport button on the touchpad!

While the game initially begins at Adventure Bay, you do get to explore Jake’s Mountain, Barkingburg and Tracker’s home, the Jungle. I know too much about the Paw Patrol.

screenshot showing the map window. It is easy to read with large text and clear icons on a simplistic light and dark blue map. — An easy to follow map aids with showing little ones where to go.

With some thoughtful game settings, Paw Patrol World is very inclusive for children of all ages. While my littlun is fine with having the right stick as a way of controlling the camera, you can set this to be auto and mean that the player can concentrate on just moving the pup on the left stick. Vibration can be turned on and off and dialogues can have the ability to skip. With the actual UK cast doing the voices, why would you want to do that!

Graphics & Audio

Paw Patrol World is a great representation of the TV show. Graphically it is enticing and rich. The game is full of colour as well as easy-to-identify characters. When missions are delved out, it is in true Paw Patrol tradition as Ryder explains simply what needs to be carried out and with what pup. Not only is it in text but like the rest of the game, it is also fully voiced. I feel quite strongly that any children’s game should be this way to encourage not only reading but also to help audibly understand what they need to do.

The music and voices are spot on, and to see my son’s face light up when his favourite Paw Patrol member Skye said “Skye’s gotta fly” was a treat.

screenshot showing an old lady with grey hair, black rimmed glasses, a pink cardigan, white blouse and purple skirt with her arms in the air as she needs help. Behind is a brown fence and green trees as well as a green park bench, blue bin and a wooden house. Ryder is shown below explaining what has happened in text and voice. — Having each character fully voiced is a great way of immersing your children.

Longevity

There are around 8 hours of gameplay to be had if you are seriously trying to explore and run through the missions. While exploring there is still plenty to do and if you are a young child I do not think you would be that fast as there is so much to wander off and interact with.

In total, there are five additional DLC packs that can be bought to provide your pups with themed costumes. On the PlayStation store, you can purchase each pack for £3.29 and they include; Aqua Pups, Halloween, Rescue Knights, Ultimate Rescue & of course, The Mighty Pups Movie. It would have been nice to have had these as unlockables within the base game but in today’s world it is to be expected I guess. The DLC costume packs are entirely optional and do not add any extra missions to the game itself.

screenshot showing split screen co-op being played. On the left is Everest following blue waypoints along a road. On the right is Chase at a mission that requires the fire pup Marshall. — Two player split screen is a great way to play along with your littlun.

Final Thoughts

To see a Paw Patrol game delivered as a 3D open-world explorer is met with mixed feelings. Not only does it show an evolution of the gaming franchise, but it also makes me deal with the fact that my son was 3 years old when he played the first side-scrolling Paw Patrol game. He is growing up too quickly!

Paw Patrol World is a must-have for any parent out there and serves to teach the basics of playing an open-world style game as well as promoting positive messages through its gameplay. Being able to co-operatively join in means that you can explore together and assist where it is needed. At the end of the day, we can all let our inner Rubble out and have some fun. While of course just tagging along. Not trophy hunting at all.

Paw Patrol World receives a Thumb Culture Platinum Award!