Double Pug Switch Xbox Review

On the bus ride home from school, I would sometimes pull up my phone and pass the time with some of the games I had downloaded. I had a few choices I’d cycle through back then, Infinity Blade, Angry Birds, and Fruit Ninja. Classics to some of us who grew up when mobile gaming was still a fresh face in the industry, but there was a specific game that always chewed up my time because of my drive to be good at it. That game was The Impossible Game for iOS, a difficult platforming game that featured a small orange box navigating a world of spiky triangles and dark pits. The subject of today’s review is Double Pug Switch – made by aPriori Digital & The Polygon Loft; it is available on Google Play, App Store, Xbox, PlayStation, Steam, and itch.io. It feels like a direct continuation of The Impossible Game and its unforgiving side-scrolling platformer action. For better or for worse.

Source: screen capture – Jonathan Sanchez

So, what is Double Pug Switch? To put it simply, it is a side-scrolling platformer reminiscent of The Impossible Game, and Geometry Dash. You play as a pug named Otis, owned by the brilliant scientist known only as Professor. As a pug to a caring owner, you live in bliss until one day Professor’s cat Whiskers knocks over a vial of portal fluid and opens a wormhole which sucks Whiskers and Otis into it. Now in a different reality, the Professors tasks you with finding Whiskers and bringing them home, but it won’t be easy. Otis will have to avoid pitfalls, spikes, fight bosses, and make split second decisions to succeed.

When I make mention of Impossible Game or Geometry Dash, I mean it. Besides the adorable pug and plot, this game has all the marks one could associate with this type of game: auto-scrolling, tight jumps, bounce pads, spikes, pitfalls, and an annoying number of resets. Double Pug Switch does do something a little unique (and what it centers its entire gimmick around), which is swapping between dimensions to Otis’ twin-brother to avoid traps. We’ll call this Orange Otis, and Blue Otis (simply because that is the colors they look like), Orange Otis can pass through blue colored objects and vice versa. The game will require you to keep your hand ready to swap between dimensions because floating platforms will also require you to swap dimensions on the fly. It’s very similar to what I’ve played before, in fact I’d say it’s much too similar to its contemporaries.

Source: screen capture – Jonathan Sanchez

When you’ve played one, you’ve played all. That’s my take away from Double Pug Switch, while it tries to bring in some variety with the dimension switching it feels too similar to other games within its genre. While not exactly a negative to some people, it feels a little more bland to me; someone who has put a decent number of hours behind Impossible Game or Geometry Dash. That isn’t to say the game falls short of what it means to do, in fact I’d say it does it well. Double Pug Switch succeeds in grabbing the players attentions and focus, like its predecessors before it. You’ll fail again and again, and you’ll keep trying again and again to succeed getting pass that one obstacle you know is preventing you from completing the level. It’s that drive that makes these games half the fun, conquering the challenges the developers have put in front of you is itself a reward. Whether you have 10 deaths, or 100, you’ll feel just as relieved to get over that hump every time. It also helps that this game has a checkpoint system in place, unlike others within the genre. While failure is a natural part in these games, it doesn’t hurt to allow for small but meaningful progress to occur.

Source: screen capture – Jonathan Sanchez

For what praise I give the game, I also have to criticize as the game doesn’t feel at 100%. There’s a certain stiffness whenever I play the game, something I’ve obviously taken for granted when playing other games. There are two big signs of this, and both are equally obvious once seen and hard to ignore. The first is Otis, our dear pug. Whenever he jumps and falls, he feels heavy all the time. It’s hard to get used to, Otis plays more like a brick than a running dog, I fear if he were to fall into water he’d never come back up. There’s no fluidity between his movements and it makes playing jarring, unfortunately it’s just an aspect of the game players will have to get used to (I’m still trying). The next is, the dimension switching; like I said with Otis’ movement, it’s both off-putting and lacks the smoothness I’d hope for. When swapping dimensions, the game abruptly stops for a few seconds to switch the levels traps and platforms. I won’t lie, this has killed me a couple of times and disrupts my flow when playing the game. Sadly, it’s just another part of the game that players will just have to adapt for.

Source: screen capture – Jonathan Sanchez

We’ve talked about gameplay, but what does Double Pug Switch provide outside of it? Well costumes of course! Otis is a fashionable dog and has plenty of options to choose from with plenty of references behind them. Throughout your journey, you might pick up gold coins and purple tokens while avoiding the spikes and pits. These currencies can be used to purchase hats in Homburg’s Hat shop. There are 40 hats to purchase and along with the purple tokens, act as the games 100% completion goal outside of actually finishing the levels. Each hat brings with it a charm that is hard to ignore, you’ll be hard pressed to find a reference that doesn’t make you chuckle a bit. In fact, it’s hard to play this game and not be mesmerized by its charm, the art style lends itself really well to it. The simple yet expressive nature reminds me of old cartoon shows I watched as a child.

Source: screen capture – Jonathan Sanchez

The creativity given to the game’s costumes and the charming simplicity of its art style doesn’t extend to its sound or graphics unfortunately. I’ll start with the sound because eventually it becomes the most annoying part of the title. For the most part, the only sound you’ll hear from the game is the music, there is noise for when you pick up coins and tokens but they are not very noteworthy. Music is all you’ll hear and after listening to it for a few hours on end (depending on your play sessions) it gets boring and annoying. There’s no voice acting to break up the music either so whenever a conversation starts its just background music to take its place. It’s not very impressive or memorable to me, and because all of the games story is text-based I tend to tune out the music. I have a pretty similar opinion on the graphics, it’s not very impressive, though I suppose it is held up by its charming cartoon-y art style. As a nitpick, whenever I have loaded into a level it starts with a zoom-in on a portal and pulls out to reveal the level, every time (without fail) I’ve loaded in that portal is not at the same standard resolution as the rest of the game. It’s like stretching a jpeg too far and seeing the pixels.

Double Pug Switch is an enjoyable game, if spending hours trying to complete a level making split second decisions is right up your alley. Sadly, it’s not an easy game but it does give the sense of accomplishment one might get playing Dark Souls. On the bright side, I don’t think anyone will be calling this the ‘Dark Souls’ of platformers yet so no need to worry about its extreme difficulty, it strikes a decent enough balance to allow for incremental progress with its checkpoint system. If you can look past its underwhelming music and graphics, you’ll see a small but charming game about a pug named Otis and his small family. At an average of $5 on the Xbox, PlayStation, and Switch or $2 on Steam, Double Pug Switch is definitely for those who want a challenge and are willing to overlook some rough edges. Maybe not the best game to sit down with, but definitely if you’re on the go and have some time to spare; perhaps if you’re on a bus coming back from school you might get the same experience I had years ago. Double Pug Switch earns a score of 63 from me.