PAW Patrol: Dino World takes the familiar formula of the long-running children’s franchise and gives it a prehistoric makeover, sending Chase, Marshall, Rubble, Skye, Rocky and Zuma to Dino Island to deal with yet another Mayor Humdinger-induced crisis. This time, the trouble involves frightened dinosaurs, separated families and a volcano that threatens to make matters considerably worse. It is not exactly a story that will keep older players on the edge of their seats, but that is hardly the point. The narrative is straightforward enough for younger players to follow without assistance, while the colorful cast and gentle presentation make it feel like a playable episode of the television series. The lack of much narrative depth can be noticeable, though, especially when the game starts without much setup and largely relies on the familiar PAW Patrol formula to carry things forward.
Where Dino World does considerably better than we might expect is in the way it uses its six playable pups. The island is split into four distinct regions, covering areas such as the Dino Plains, jungle, riverfront and volcanic surroundings, and each one contains environmental obstacles that call for a particular pup’s ability. Marshall can use water to deal with certain obstacles, Rubble can break through rocks, Rocky can repair damaged objects, Zuma can explore underwater, Skye can reach otherwise inaccessible places and Chase can interact with objects from a distance. Switching between them is quick and encouraged throughout the adventure, giving what could have been an extremely basic children’s game a surprisingly coherent layer of environmental puzzle design. We particularly like that the game does not simply let Chase do everything while the others stand around looking cute; the whole team gets opportunities to contribute.
The vehicles add another useful wrinkle to exploration, allowing us to cover the relatively large environments more quickly while also providing additional pup-specific interactions. There is a pleasant rhythm to driving around, spotting something that needs attention, selecting the appropriate pup and then using their ability to progress. A collection of minigames breaks up this exploration, ranging from caring for dinosaurs to environmental clean-up tasks and other simple interactive sequences. The problem is that the simplicity sometimes goes a little too far. These activities are clearly designed around young players, and there is very little danger of getting stuck, failing or being seriously punished for mistakes, but some challenges are so straightforward that older children may find them lacking. A few of the vehicle sections can also feel imprecise, while certain minigames occasionally demand timing that doesn’t quite match the responsiveness of the controls.
The decision to make the adventure cooperative is therefore a welcome one. Local two-player split-screen play gives parents, siblings or friends a reason to explore Dino Island together, and the low difficulty makes it an approachable option for children who are still learning the conventions of 3D adventure games. The game also goes out of its way to make sure young players know what to do, with visual prompts and other guidance helping identify the appropriate pup or objective. We can see the value in that approach, although the constant hand-holding does mean there is very little room for discovery in the traditional sense. There is some exploration involved, but Dino World is much more interested in making sure players succeed than testing whether they can figure something out for themselves. That is a perfectly reasonable design decision for its intended audience, even if it limits the game’s appeal as a conventional platformer.
Exploration is nevertheless rewarded with enough collectibles to make wandering away from the main objectives worthwhile. Bones or treats scattered around the environments can be exchanged for cosmetic rewards, while eggs, treasure and habitat decorations provide additional reasons to search every corner. Rescued dinosaurs can also be cared for back at the hub, where we can feed, clean and interact with them, giving the prehistoric setting a little more personality. None of these systems is particularly deep, and completionists are unlikely to spend dozens of hours here, but they fit the target audience well. One minor annoyance is that collected bones can apparently reappear visually even after they have already counted towards their objective, potentially giving younger players the impression that they still have something to collect.
On PS5, Dino World is an attractive game from a distance, with bright environments and plenty of colorful scenery that captures the cheerful look of the franchise. The four regions also have enough visual distinction to stop the island from feeling like one enormous interchangeable playground. Up close, however, the limitations of the production become more apparent. Textures can look muddy or generic, character and especially human animations are not particularly sophisticated, and the overall presentation sometimes feels closer to a polished PS3/PS4-era children’s game than something specifically built around the PS5. The camera is the bigger technical irritation. Because it is largely automated rather than freely controlled, it can occasionally behave awkwardly around walls, narrow spaces and directional changes, producing moments where we lose sight of what we are doing or encounter distracting visual glitches.
The audio presentation fares better, with cheerful music and voice acting that helps sell the impression that we are playing through an extended episode of PAW Patrol. Ultimately, PAW Patrol: Dino World succeeds because it understands exactly what kind of game it wants to be. It is not a challenging platformer, its story is lightweight, its minigames can become repetitive and its PS5 presentation is hardly pushing the hardware, but it offers a colorful, accessible adventure in which young players can freely switch between their favorite pups, explore a dinosaur-filled island and collect plenty of goodies along the way. For older players, there is little here to justify spending much time on Dino Island, but for its intended audience – particularly children discovering 3D adventure games or families looking for a simple co-op experience – this is a competent and surprisingly well-structured PAW Patrol outing.
Score: 7.6/10