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Just in time to coincide with the movie's theatrical debut, 102 Dalmatians on PlayStation lets players control two of the puppies, Oddball and Domino, on a quest to save England's dogs from the malevolent Cruella De Vil. Upset that children prefer to spend time with their pets rather than with her own toys, Cruella decides to imprison every dog in the country. In the two puppies' pursuit to defeat Cruella, the young Dalmatians travel through 20 levels that take place in settings such as a snowy outdoors area, a museum, a castle and Cruella's mansion. Younger players will probably enjoy 102 Dalmatians' characters and its decent but standard play mechanics. Older or more experienced players will prefer a different game.

The game plays similarly to many other 3D action games. Oddball and Domino leap onto platforms, attack villains and solve puzzles. Additionally, each level contains 100 bones that the puppies can find by defeating enemies, digging in the ground or exploring more thoroughly. If they discover every bone, the Dalmatians' parrot friend Waddlesworth will take them for a quick flight through the level. Unfortunately, players cannot control the flight at all, and it reveals no new areas or surprises. In addition to the main adventure, 102 Dalmatians offers six surprisingly complete mini-games. Players can immediately choose a miniature golf game or a clone of the card game Memory. Dalmatians rewards players for completing levels with additional mini-games such as checkers. Many of the mini-games provide options such as multiplayer settings and selectable challenge levels.

102 Dalmatians' light challenge reflects its younger target audience. Oddball and Domino can kill most of the enemies with a single bark, and the levels contain very few harmful obstacles. Players will solve most of the puzzles quickly as well. In case the player gets lost, the puppies can always sniff around to find their way out of a level. Due to the main adventure's lack of awards, more experienced players will finish the game quickly and not want to play again. For less advanced players however, the difficulty is near ideal and the mini-games increase Dalmatians' overall value.

The graphics look decent for a 3D PlayStation game, although they won't amaze anyone. The colorful levels suffer from problems common to many games on the system, such as texture warping, pop-up and disappearing polygons. Although these glitches rarely interfere with the gameplay, when polygons vanish from objects such as bridges or narrow ledges it becomes tricky to decide whether or not the puppy can walk forward safely. The game tells its story through real-time cinemas, which are graphically competent but exhibit terrible lip-syncing. The music will irritate players quickly. Much of the background music sounds like random noise samples thrown together and repeated after a period of time. Luckily, the game provides an option to mute the music. During the cinema scenes, Oddball and Domino speak to their friends who offer hints and advice on how to complete a level. The main game also employs plenty of voice acting for all the enemy characters who chant menacing phrases as the puppies approach.

Younger players will find 102 Dalmatians at least worthy of a rental. Even though the mini-games add to the overall value, they the game doesn't quite justify a $40 price tag. Advanced players should select from the many other choices available on PlayStation.