Created by PHL Collective and published by Outright Games Ltd., DC League of Super-Pets: The Adventures of Krypto and Ace lets players suit up as Krypto and Ace to save the strays of Metropolis City. Lex Luther is catching them for his next big evil scheme, so take action and destroy the Lexbots to save the animals and find them loving homes.

The game is played from a third-person point of view as the hero dogs fly through the city and fight the Lexbots. Krypto, being Superman’s companion, shares in his powers of flight, laser eyes, and frost breath, whereas Ace is decked out with the Wayne Enterprises gear. Being Batman’s partner, he has the highest level of tech, like a jetpack and Batarangs that enable him to take down multiple targets at once.

Based on the upcoming movie, it features voice lines from actors Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson and Kevin Hart, which are looped during gameplay. When a Lexbot is destroyed, the character will make a quick comment about the target, but the voice lines do get exhausted rather quickly, so they get repetitive quickly. Equally, when you summon another assistant, they will fire off a quick one-liner, such as Chip mentioning the Green Lanterns as he enters to fight. The rest of the audio is mostly comprised of Superman’s theme music, punctuated by the sounds of lasers as Krypto unleashes his eye beams, or twirling metal as Ace throws his Batarangs. Equally,

The game is targeted at younger players so the controls are easy to learn, and with no difficulty setting, it is easy to play. The downside is that it gets rather repetitive, with short missions and no real difference in the levels’ designs. The levels are broken up into three sections, and when you reach a new section, you can use a new assistant super pet. The first one unlocked is Chip, a squirrel with the power of the Green Lantern. When the skill is used, Chip will make a clone of Krypto or Ace, depending on who you are playing as, and the clone will mimic every move and attack you do until the power fades away.

Next up we have Merton, the world’s fastest turtle. She is normally partnered with The Flash and shares his powers. Merton’s skill will have the recharge for attacks counting down faster as the speed force helps you get past refresh cooldowns. Finally, we have PB the Wonder Pig. PB is a massive fan of Wonder Woman and dresses like her, and as a result, will protect the player with a Themyscirian Shield.

Once you have rescued the stray animals, a secondary mode becomes available where you need to feed and play with them to increase their happiness before helping them find a forever home. After finishing a mission, you can interact with the strays either by feeding or playing with them, and a playing card with a bit of information on the particular animal shows their food preferences, how they like to play, or their home life. A Happiness meter is filled over time by feeding and playing, and once it is maxed out, they are ready to be adopted. Like the strays, the potential adopter will be on a playing card displaying information about their home and hobbies. It’s best to match the right pet with the right parent, so if you have a dog that loves farm animals and a human that goes to the farmers market each weekend, this will result in a strong match between them.

From what I have seen, there is no way to do this mode wrong. All the strays find a forever home, but the perfect matches will send you letters with updates on how they are going. It was rather surprising that, with two playable characters, there isn’t a multiplayer option, which is normally a given for games focused on a younger audience featuring multiple characters.

The cityscape looks amazing, with bright colours and a vibe that sort of resembles The Simpsons, but it feels like a bit of a loss not being able to openly explore it, and you’ll generally play in tight spaces like alleyways. This means a repeated use of choke points, and overall, it feels cramped and doesn’t really give the range of a flying superhero. Speaking of the heroes, we don’t see much of them, aside from their capes flapping in the wind as they take to the skies or beat up the Lexbots. In typical Luthor fashion, the enemies are shades of purple and green, but their designs can range from simple rockets to giant, cannon-bearing spider mechs.

DC League of Super-Pets: The Adventures of Krypto and Ace is a great game for younger players with the levels being short and gameplay easy to pick up and learn. Children will enjoy, this especially if it is their first step into the DC universe, but with it being so easy, it can also get very repetitive. I will say that I enjoyed the adoption side of the game more than the flying and shooting portion, but I would prefer if they had done a bit more with it in terms of interaction, as you’re pretty much just playing cards.

Written by: Shane Walsh