Top 10 Easter Eggs

WARNING: SPOILERS AHEAD!!

Well, it's Easter again. Time for quiet reflection about family, friends, and faith. And also, strangely, time for brightly-colored eggs, anthropomorphic rabbits, and assorted candies. It's a strange holiday, and like many Christian holy days, is a mixture of Abrahamic, pagan, and secular traditions.

In recognition of Easter, and all the Easter eggs that will be dyed, hidden, discovered, and eaten, I present the top ten Easter eggs in video games. In media, Easter eggs are messages, features, or in-jokes intentionally hidden in anything from a crossword puzzle to a motion picture. The first video game Easter egg can be found in the 1979 Atari game Adventure. Since then, they have been covertly hidden away in hundreds of games for consoles and personal computers.

Part of the fun of Easter eggs is stumbling upon them yourself. Therefore, I would recommend that anyone who hasn't played the following games and is interested in experiencing them first-hand read no further. The games are, in alphabetical order: Banjo-Kazooie, Banjo-Tooie, Doom 3, Duke Nukem 3D, Epic Mickey, Final Fantasy, The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword, Metal Gear Solid, Metal Gear Solid: The Twin Snakes, Star Wars: Shadows of the Empire, Super Mario 64, and Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars.


You can still turn back.


Last chance!


Ok, without further ado, and in recognition of Easter, the top 10 video game Easter eggs.


10. Doomed Space Marine (Duke Nukem 3D)

Doom > Duke Nukem. Just saying.

Few games are as packed with hidden messages, secret rooms, and inside jokes as Duke Nukem 3D. The best is 3D Realms not-so-subtle jab at competitor id Software, which produces the Doom series. In episode 1, level 3, there is a secret button in the church that once pressed will open up a hallway to a hidden chamber where you'll find the hero of Doom, or at least what's left of him. Upon finding him, Duke declares, "that is one doomed space marine!"


9. Rabbit (Star Wars: Shadows of the Empire)

Max makes a cameo in Shadows of the Empire.

Scattered throughout Shadows of the Empire are challenge points, silver medallions in the shape of the rebel insignia. They are not needed to beat the game, but finding them unlocks some interesting features. Plus bragging rights. In Mos Eisley, there is a deformed challenge point hidden near the front walls of the city. It took me a long, long time to figure out exactly what this challenge point, shaped like a rabbit head, represents. It turns out it's Max from Sam & Max fame. And apparently Max has made many other secret cameos in LucasArts games.


8. Zelda's Room (The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword)

Tingle!!!

There are many rooms, caves, and chambers to explore in Skyloft in Skyward Sword, but one room in the knight academy would just not open its secrets: Zelda's room. Locked doors in video games are super intriguing. Locked doors to the rooms of major Nintendo characters are unbearably intriguing. Luckily for me, I found a secret way in while searching at night for gratitude crystals. Inside Zelda's room, you'll find some very cool things: a heart piece (hidden in her closet), a gratitude crystal, a Tingle doll, and Zelda's diary.


7. 8-bit Mario (Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars)



Role-playing games by tradition have lots and lots of hidden items, secret rooms, and Easter eggs. This is one of the coolest, and a real treat for Mario fans. On one level of Booster's Tower, instead of following the door out of the room, move Mario behind a nearby curtain. When he emerges he has magically transformed from a 16-bit Mario to an old-school 8-bit version of himself. The music and sound effects change too. Check out the video.


6. Psycho Mantis (Metal Gear Solid/Metal Gear Solid: The Twin Snakes)

Who doesn't?

Some critics – including myself – have complained that Metal Gear Solid games are sometimes too clever for their own good. But in the boss battle with Psycho Mantis, clever works. Mantis is meant to be a mind reader, and to that end Kojima and company designed the game so that it would read the memory card in the system. If there was a save file for a Konami game (like Castlevania) on the card, Mantis would "know" that you played it. The same goes for The Twin Snakes, a Gamecube remake of Metal Gear Solid. Somehow Mantis knew that I had played Eternal Darkness and that I liked Zelda.

5. Walt's Apartment (Epic Mickey)

The original Disney Vault.

Epic Mickey is a real labor of love. There are dozens of references, in-jokes, and memorabilia crammed into the game for fans of Mickey and the entire Disney gang, past and present. In fact, Mean Street (the main hub in the game) is very faithfully modeled after Main Street in Disney Land, right down to the fire station that houses Walt Disney's apartment. That's right, Disney kept a private office/apartment in the second floor of the fire department, one of the first buildings built in the park. If you collect enough power sparks, one of the gremlins will open the door to Walt's apartment. Inside are e-tickets and an original Walt Disney sketch.


4. Here lies Erdrick (Final Fantasy)

Alas, poor Erdrick!

Before RPG giants Square and Enix merged in 2003, there was a healthy rivalry between the two companies. This is clear as early as 1990, when the original Final Fantasy debuted in North America. When you arrive in Elfland, go to the top right corner of town. There you'll find three gravestones. The one on the left reads, "Here lies Erdrick 837-866 R.I.P." Erdrick is a character from Enix' Dragon Warrior. In the Japanese version, the grave reads, "Here lies Link."


3. id Software PDA (Doom 3)

No human being would stack bricks this way.

I'm particularly proud of myself for finding this one. On the last level of Doom 3, Excavation Site, right before you face the game's final boss, there is a passageway that goes left. Follow it to a dead end. Under a few protruding bricks you'll find a strange sight: the id logo. Activate it and you'll enter a room with a PDA on a pedestal. Pick up the PDA and download its data, and you'll find messages from id developers thanking their fans and loved ones, and making general commentary on the game.


2. Ice Key (Banjo-Kazooie/Banjo-Tooie)

So close, yet so far away...

You know an Easter egg is good when it spans two games. The infamous ice key can be seen first in Wozza's cave in Banjo-Kazooie, but it sits behind a transparent, unbreakable wall of ice. It just sits there, taunting you. I can't tell you how long I tried to get into that chamber and get that key. Alas, it was not to be. The key is impossible to obtain without cheat codes. It reappeared, however, in Banjo-Tooie. It can be found by smashing open a Banjo-Kazooie game pak, and then used to open the gigantic ice safe in Hailfire Peaks.


1. Yoshi on the Roof (Super Mario 64)

Reunited and it feels so good.

This one has a special place in my heart. Super Mario 64 was probably the first game I ever completed 100%. If you're lucky enough to finish the game and collect all 120 stars, the closed grate on the castle grounds will open to reveal a cannon. Jump in and fire Mario onto the castle roof. There you'll find Mario's old friend Yoshi, who promptly gives Mario 100 lives. The extra lives are superfluous now that all the challenges are complete, but that's not the point. Meeting Yoshi on the roof is one of those special moments in gaming that you'll never forget.

Asteroids at The New York Times

No one ever accused The New York Times of being too much fun, but one of its most recent articles has something super fun embedded in it: a playable version of Asteroids. Go here to play. It's especially amusing to blast away reader comments.

The article itself is flawed. It describes Angry Birds and Fruit Ninja as the "offspring" of Tetris. Gross. Having played both Angry Birds and Fruit Ninja, I can tell you that they are offspring of Tetris in the way that Oasis is offspring of The Beatles.

The author goes on to write "Angry Birds, it seems, is our Tetris: the string of digital prayer beads that our entire culture can twiddle in moments of rapture or anxiety — economic, political or existential." God help us. I don't know about you, but playing Tetris is an event; playing Angry Birds is a diversion. Yes, they can both be played on the go, can be played for moments or hours, can both trigger the serotonin in our bodies. But Tetris is a test of endurance, of willpower, of farsightedness. Angry Birds is a test of battery life.




Thanks to Aaron R. for the link.

Metal Gear Solid 3: Subsistence

A shining example of how prequels – and gaming in general – should be done. 

I don’t throw this word around carelessly, but Metal Gear Solid 3 is a masterwork. It’s not just that Hideo Kojima, who directed the game, fixed some of the flaws in the Metal Gear formula. And it’s not just that Metal Gear Solid 3 (MGS3) finally gives fans an origin story worthy of the franchise. It’s that MGS3 has diverse, deeply layered, perfect gameplay. It’s getting harder and harder to reconcile Kojima’s reluctance to identify his own games as art with the cold, hard fact that his games, especially MGS3, are some of the most captivating, seamlessly constructed, and emotionally powerful video games I’ve ever played.

MGS3 is a prequel to Metal Gear Solid. In fact it takes place before the first Metal Gear. Set at the height of the Cold War, MGS3 follows CIA operative “Naked Snake” as he attempts to infiltrate the Russian jungle and rescue a captive Soviet scientist. Things go dreadfully wrong, and the operation suffers a major setback. But soon enough, Snake is redeployed in the field, this time with a much bigger, more challenging mission that will test his endurance, resolve, and sense of duty like never before.

If that last paragraph was overly vague, it’s because MGS3, like the Cold War spy movies that inspired it, is filled with enough plot twists, shifting political alliances, and double agents to make your head spin. Kojima, however, tells his story deftly. Unlike the story in Metal Gear Solid 2 – which was convoluted at best, impenetrable at worst – the story in MGS3 makes sense, at least according to the rules of Metal Gear. Moreover, it is told poetically through some of the best cut-scenes you’ll ever find in a video game with some of the very best voice acting. By the end of the game I had tears in my eyes.

Cut-scenes are a major part of Metal Gear Solid 3.

Critics and fans alike have complained about the length and abundance of cut-scenes in the Metal Gear franchise, but apart from the first three hours – which are weighed down with long cut-scenes – MGS3 strikes a careful balance between playing and watching the game. Many of the cut-scenes are actually interactive, so it never quite feels like the player is totally out of control. Thankfully, though, the majority of the game is spent controlling Snake as he navigates jungles, swamps, mountains, and buildings. It is necessarily to be stealthy to make progress in MGS3, and to that end the designers introduced a new camouflage system whereby players can change Snake’s face paint and fatigues to match jungle, urban, and mountainous environments, to name a few. A camouflage meter in the top right corner of the screen informs players to what degree they are hidden from the enemy.

Keep an eye on that camouflage meter!

Combat is sometimes unavoidable, however. Thankfully there is a new combat system in MGS3 called close-quarters combat (CQC) which is a huge improvement over previous Metal Gear games. Snake can perform combo attacks; grab enemies from behind and interrogate them; and even use captured enemies as human shields. Combat is even more necessary during encounters with enemy bosses in MGS3 which, I have to say, has the best collection of boss battles of any video game ever. Gunplay has never been the smoothest operation in Metal Gear Solid, but in MGS3 it works. Snake can aim his weapons in first-person mode and, more importantly, aim down the sight. This is absolutely essential to take down bosses.

Try to avoid this whenever possible.

The third part of the MGS3 trinity, in combination with stealth and combat, is survival. Snake is deployed miles away from his target in a harsh and unforgiving jungle filled with hostile sentries, poisonous snakes, and lethal traps. Whereas previous games in the franchise had only a life bar to monitor Snake’s health, in MGS3 Snake has both a life bar and an endurance bar, which depletes as Snake performs strenuous actions or if he is burdened with heavy supplies. Low endurance levels are bad news: Snake’s hands shake when he is aiming weapons, nearby enemies can hear his stomach gurgling; and wounds heal slowly or not at all. To restore endurance levels Snake must eat food, either captured from storehouses or unconscious soldiers, or gathered from the local flora and fauna. Some food items restore lots of stamina, some restore very little, and some will actually poison Snake. There is also a “cure” tab in the start menu where players can identify and treat Snake’s wounds. For example: applying a splint to a broken bone. It makes for a much more immersive game experience.

It's not half bad.

MGS3 is surprisingly long. It took me about 16 hours to complete, but I easily could have spent several more hours exploring everything there is to see and do in the game. There are many secret areas, weapons, camouflage, food items, and Easter eggs hidden throughout the jungle and in storehouses, many of them off the beaten path.

MGS3 is not for everyone. It takes a great deal of patience to move quietly through the jungle past enemy patrols. It is also slower and more deliberate than the majority of action games. But for those who want a gaming experience that represents a near-perfect combination of narrative, gameplay, and new ideas about what a video game can and should be, look no further.

 Score: 10

Editor's note: The version of Metal Gear Solid 3 I played came bundled in the Metal Gear Solid: The Essential Collection. That version is based on Subsistence which is an expanded release of Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater. Konami recently released a collection called Metal Gear Solid HD Collection that has a remastered port of Snake Eater as well. Just play whichever version you can get your hands on.

Google Goes 8-bit

Google has a particularly mischievous streak when it comes to April Fool's Day, and this year the company started a day early. The result is Google 8-bit maps, real world locations lovingly redrawn in glorious 8-bit. Just go to Google Maps and click on the quest button in the top-right. Suddenly those boring, accurate, and helpful landmarks and cities look like something torn from the screen of Final Fantasy or Dragon Warrior.

From the Google Maps blog:

"Our engineering team in Japan understood the importance of maps on retro game systems. With the power of Google’s immense data centers, and support from Nintendo and Square Enix, we were able to overcome the technical and design hurdles of developing 8-bit maps. Today, we’re excited to announce the result: a version of Google Maps for NES, with beautiful low-res graphics, simple and intuitive controls, and a timeless soundtrack."

Check out the very funny video from Google below.
 


Thanks to Kenny Z. for the story.

Wii Sports Resort

One of the best games – and deals – for the Nintendo Wii.

Wii Sports Resort is a title that could easily be overlooked or dismissed as a sports bundle for the very young or very old. On the contrary, Wii Sports is one of those rare games that appeals to all generations, has something for everyone, can be played – and enjoyed – alone or in a group, and can be used ad infinitum. It ranks among Super Smash Bros. Brawl, Twilight Princess, and Super Mario Galaxy as one of the best Wii games. Do yourself a favor and play this game.

Wii Sports Resort (WSR) might share a title with Wii Sports, which was bundled with the Nintendo Wii in 2006, but it is light years ahead of its predecessor in terms of quality. Instead of five sporting events, WSR boasts 12, almost all of them winners. They include: swordplay; wakeboarding; frisbee; archery; basketball; table tennis; power cruising; canoeing; cycling; air sports; and golf and bowling, both returning from the original Wii Sports. All events make use of the Wii MotionPlus add-on, which is necessary to play the game, and therefore respond much more accurately to player movements.

Like the games in the first Wii Sports, those is WSR are not created equal. Table tennis, which mimics the real deal alarmingly well, is the best of the bunch. Players can even put topspin on the ball by rotating the Wii remote as they swing. Swordplay, archery, and power cruising are also excellent, and find creative ways to use the remote and nunchuk. In archery, for example, the remote is gripped vertically, simulating the center of the bow, and the nunchuk is drawn back, simulating the cord. The weakest sporting events are canoeing and cycling, both of which feel like a chore.

Not only does WSR boast more events than the original, but it just looks, sounds, and plays better. The graphics are hardly high definition, but Nintendo did the best with the technology available, producing bright, clear, and diverse environments and models. The water effects are especially good. Mii characters are back as the stars of the game, but this only adds to the fun. It's a lot more fun to wallop a cartoon version of your best friend than some random avatar.

But let's stop comparing WSR only to Wii Sports, because it compares favorably to the best the Wii has to offer. WSR is the kind of game that reminds us why video games are so popular, so fun, and so enduring. It's enjoyable to play alone, insanely fun with a group of friends, and produces new and unexpected results each time it is played.

 
Score: 9.5

Army of Two: The 40th Day

Rios and Salem are back...God help us.

The original Army of Two was a pleasant surprise. It wasn’t overly ambitious, it had a fun and addictive weapon customization platform, and it was a blast to play with a friend. Its sequel, however, is a small step backward for the franchise. Credit is due to Electronic Arts for introducing new ideas and new mechanics into Army of Two: The 40th Day (TFD), but all too often the changes damage the core product.

TFD takes place sometime after the events of the first Army of Two. Elliot Salem and Tyson Rios, two self-employed mercenaries, are tasked with setting beacons around Shanghai. Before they know what is happening, all hell breaks loose, and Salem and Rios are trying everything they can to escape a city on fire.

Unlike its predecessor, which took Rios and Salem all over the world (e.g. Afghanistan, Iraq, China), TFD is based strictly in Shanghai. Players must navigate half-destroyed buildings, an abandoned mall, and even a ransacked zoo in order to reach an extraction point. Along the way, Rios and Salem encounter hundreds of enemy mercenaries, all of whom want them dead. My friend Rob, with whom I played Army of Two and its sequel, lamented TFD’s one-city premise in place of the globe-trotting adventure in the first game. I’m inclined to agree. It’s not that a single location will always become tedious – just think of Rapture in BioShock or Shadow Moses Island in Metal Gear Solid – but in TFD, Shanghai is just not that interesting.

Rios holds a human shield while Salem ties up an enemy.

Equally uninteresting is the story. The game’s writers didn’t do much to captivate an audience, explain the enemy forces and their motives, or make players root for Salem and Rios. In fact, Salem and Rios, who are basically contract killers, are two of the more unlikable video game heroes or, more appropriately, anti-heroes.

Where TFD does shine is in its gameplay. Stripped of its lackluster setting, uninteresting story, and unlikable characters, the game still plays well, especially with a friend. Salem and Rios can each equip three weapons – primary, secondary, and special – with which to take on wave after wave of mercenaries. TFD uses a cover system, not unlike Gears of War, whereby players run from cover to cover while engaging with enemy targets. They can either peek out and accurately target the enemy or fire blindly from behind cover. Rios and Salem can also perform co-op maneuvers, like simultaneous sniper shots or mock surrenders, to outwit and outperform opponents.



The weapon customization which made the original Army of Two so much fun returns in TFD. Players can purchase or unlock new weapons and then completely customize them by exchanging gun barrels, stocks, clips, sights, silencers, and appearance. There are more combinations in TFD than in Army of Two, in large part because weapon parts from one gun can be fitted onto others. For example, an AK-47 barrel can be attached to the body of a FN SCAR. It makes for some particularly ugly but effective weapons.

Two major additions to TFD include the ability to interact with hostages, and morality moments. The former I think works, the latter seems oddly out of place. At certain points in the game, Salem and Rios will come across some very frightened hostages held at gunpoint. Players can choose either to leave them to their fate or rescue them. Hostages can be rescued by killing armed guards or by disarming them, usually by capturing an officer. These encounters add much-needed diversity to TFD.

Choose carefully.

Morality moments, conversely, don’t exactly work. These are moments that appear at pre-determined points in the game, and ask players to make a moral decision, e.g. whether or not to steal guns from a weapons locker. Whichever player chooses first chooses for the team. After the choice is made, players are shown the consequences, good and bad, of their actions through graphic novel panels. Some of the consequences are unexpected. Morality moments are an interesting idea, and certainly give TFD more replay value (players can experience the campaign again but make completely different choices), but they seem out of place in a third-person shooter, especially one that stars two mercenaries and that is already very dark.

Although not as good as the original, TFD offers enough fun with friends to recommend. The story, characters, and atmosphere may not make much sense, but the gameplay works. And, in the end, that’s more important.

Score: 7.5

Top 10 Video Game Dogs

This post is dedicated to Lucky the dog, who passed away this week. Lucky was a very cute, very smart, very lovable dachshund who lived with my friend Jason. Like most dachshunds, she was energetic and playful. She would greet all of us when we visited Jason at his house in Connecticut by tap dancing across the kitchen floor and wagging her tail so excitedly that it looked like she might take off. She was also a little stubborn, and a bit of a burrower. She loved hiding rawhide pieces underneath pillows and between couch cushions. And she also enjoyed video games, or at least enjoyed all the excitement that video games brought to the room. She would often climb up her miniature set of stairs onto the couch and bound across our laps trying to get a piece of the action during a particularly gripping game of Mario Kart or Smash Bros.

Dogs, and especially Lucky, have a peculiar way of creeping into our hearts and staying there long after they've gone. They are very much our best friends, as the idiom says. They are loyal, protective, and emotionally available. We have coexisted with them for tens of thousands of years, and the primordial relationship is stronger than ever. But it never gets any easier when one of them slips away from us.

I know Jason loved Lucky very much. I know his friends and family loved her also. And I know that all of us have a special place in our hearts reserved only for her.

***

The top 10 video game dogs, in honor of Lucky.

10. Shadow (Dead to Rights)

Grant City is a dangerous place. I mean, if you come under fire from armed goons at a construction site, imagine what the seedier places in town are like. Keeping the streets safe are officer Jack Slate and his K-9 partner Shadow. Jack has an impressive arsenal at his disposal, but his greatest asset is Shadow, who can attack enemies on command, and will automatically destroy whichever bad guy he targets. Not only that, but he will return to Jack carrying items from the downed enemy. In some Dead to Rights levels, players take full control of Shadow in order to reach inaccessible areas, solve puzzles, and disarm bombs.

Shadow tackles a bad guy.

9. Lupus (Jet Force Gemini)

In Jet Force Gemini, players control three different characters in their quest to save the galaxy from the insect tyrant Mizar: Juno, his twin sister Vela, and their cybernetically enhanced mascot Lupus. Tough, unshakable, and completely loyal, Lupus is as important a member of Jet Force Gemini as Juno and Vela. In fact, players will need to use Lupus' hover ability to reach all areas of the game, find spaceship parts, and rescue every Tribal.

Vela, Lupus, and Juno

8. Interceptor (Final Fantasy III)

One of the most mysterious, misunderstood, and awesome characters in Final Fantasy III is the mercenary Shadow, who joins and leaves and rejoins the party suddenly and without warning. But Shadow wouldn't be as cool a character without his faithful canine sidekick, Interceptor. If Shadow is in the party, Interceptor can help out during battles. There is a chance he will parry physical attacks directed against Shadow, and a smaller chance he will counterattack with Wild Fang or Takedown, both of which deal magic damage to enemies.

Shadow and Interceptor

7. General Pepper (Star Fox series)

Commander in chief of the Cornerian Defense Forces, General Pepper is one remarkable dog. He has appeared in (or been mentioned in) every Star Fox game, and has played an important role feeding information to Fox McCloud and his Star Fox team. He is perhaps most important in Star Fox 64. Before each mission, the team would report to him, and he would brief them about the upcoming area and the dangers associated with it. General Pepper previously served in the army with Fox's father, James McCloud.

General Pepper

6. Wolf Link (The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess)

Ok, so he's not exactly a dog, but I think we can make an exception in this case. Wolf Link is the alternate form of the hero Link, who transforms into a wolf when he enters an area covered in Twilight. In his wolf form, Link cannot use items but gains enhanced senses. He can learn scents and then use that knowledge to track missing people. He can also dig in the ground and communicate with other animals. Just like his human form, Wolf link is courageous, noble, and intelligent.

Wolf Link and Midna

5. K.K. Slider (Animal Crossing)

The first animal you meet in Animal Crossing is K.K. Slider, also known as Totakeke. K.K. Slider is a guitar-playing dog that introduces the game to the player. From then on, he appears in town every Saturday night, sitting on stool in front of the train station. He sings songs for the player and gives him or her a copy to take home afterward. There are a total of 55 songs in Animal Crossing, some of which K.K. will only play if you request them.

K.K. Slider

4. Laughing Dog (Duck Hunt)

I know that many out there are not the biggest fans of the dog in Duck Hunt, who mocks you without mercy when you fail to hit a flying duck. But he is such an important part of the game, and such a video game icon that he deserve this high spot. For those of you who don't know, the laughing dog in Duck Hunt appears at the beginning of each game, sniffing the ground, and finally jumping into and hiding in the grass. If you tag a duck with the Zapper, the dog will emerge with the duck(s) in his hands; if you miss all ducks, prepare for your self-esteem to hit an all-time low.

I like to think he's laughing with me.

3. Poppy (Samurai Shodown series)

One of the more interesting characters in Samurai Shodown is Galford, an American ninja who fights alongside his pet husky Poppy. She has two main powers: teleport, during which she teleports short distances above the opponent; and grapple, during which she throws, bites, or charges opponents on command. Galford adopted Poppy before he departed for Japan to train. Her puppies, all female, are Pahpa, Pippy, and Pippa.

Galford and Poppy

2. Amaterasu (Okami)

Ok, another wolf. But she's the mother of all creation, so maybe we can let it slide. Amaterasu (or Ammy, as she is called by her companion Issun) is the hero of Okami, a brilliant game that brings to mind The Legend of Zelda. Ammy appears to mortals as a common white wolf, but to those who can perceive her true brilliance she is covered in bright red markings, cloud-like fur above her shoulders, and a celestial weapon on her back. She is a beautiful, powerful, and compassionate goddess.

Amaterasu, goddess of the sun

1. Your Dog (Fable II)

The Fable series is very much about relationships, and none is quite as special as the one between the hero and his dog. The dog is found at the very beginning of Fable II and stays with the hero for the rest of the game. Mechanically, the dog serves to assist the hero in combat (he can attack and destroy downed enemies) and in finding treasure chests and dig spots. Emotionally, however, the dog serves a much more important purpose. The dog is your constant companion in Albion. You can heal your dog, teach him new tricks, and even play fetch. So strong is the bond that the dog's physical appearance changes to reflect the hero's moral alignment.

A hero's best friend