Kattish does one thing that’s notably odd. It doesn’t truly reveal what sort of sport it’s till after you get 1000G. It’s completely doable for achievement hunters to get their 100% Gamerscore and depart Kattish with out realising what sort of sport it’s.
For the primary ten ranges, Kattish is a particularly generic platformer. You’re a cat, and also you solely have eyes for the exit on the finish of the extent. In-between are some platforms and enemies, and the one weapon you could have available (on paw?) is a limp little bounce. So, you’re leaping from platform to platform, dodging the spikes and slugs, and attending to the interdimensional cat flap on the finish of the extent.
Stage one, 100G. Stage two, 100G. And so it goes all the way in which to degree ten, solely 5 minutes later. Cue loads of ‘1000G in 5 Minutes!’ achievement movies on Youtube. That may in all probability internet Kattish loads of £4.19s.
It’s solely on degree eleven that Kattish reveals what its gimmick is. Instantly, dotted traces seem throughout the map. Leap into the dotted line, and gravity will get reversed. When you had been to leap by way of a dotted line after which go away the pad alone, you’ll preserve switching gravity, again and again, falling forwards and backwards by way of that line. It’s sufficient to offer you movement illness.
It’s an ‘aha’ second that brings Kattish into focus. Now, that’s what it’s making an attempt to do. We had been prepping a 2.5/5 rating, and smug feedback of ‘good for achievements, paw for gameplay’, as we readied our our bodies for a generic platformer. That bought tossed within the bin.
The Xbox Retailer web page for Kattish presents it as a sport the place “every part has completely different mechanics from one another”, which might be over-selling it a bit. The gravity defying is the dominant mechanic, whereas the others are extra tacked on. Pushing bins, accumulating keys and hiding in shadows aren’t precisely game-changers, so the gravity fiddling is what Kattish hangs on.
Alas, we are able to think about a model of Kattish the place the gravity stuff works. If it moved extra into the route of puzzling, then it coulda been a contender. Navigating a map the place you’ll be able to strategy a given platform from any given angle sounds good to us, and we might have loved enjoying it. However Kattish goes some other place.
As a substitute, it goals for some twitchy action-platforming. It desires you to slingshot from one finish of an area to a different, rigorously pulling off a trajectory that doesn’t have you ever ending up as shish kebab. It desires you to tug off a sequence of gravity loops, dodging enemies as you go. The emphasis turns into ability and timing, and it’s nowhere close to as enjoyable.
There’s solely a lot management you’ll be able to have over a slingshotted leap. You’re on the whims of Isaac Newton, and that places a dampener on the enjoyable. Typically it could really feel too random. And pulling off figures of eight and others, all whereas dodging the patrol routes of enemies is extremely fiddly. One pixel within the improper place and it’s a must to do it yet again.
Consequently, we discovered Kattish extra painful than enjoyable. We knew precisely what wanted to be executed, however getting it executed wasn’t all the time gratifying. We hoped that Kattish would discover its puzzle facet, however it stored back-sliding again into motion.
It’s not unhealthy by any stretch of the creativeness. Positive, we’re executed with cats in puzzle video games (we are able to’t inform you what number of we’ve performed lately), however that is not less than a finely crafted one. The pixel artwork is properly introduced, the cat adorably cute, and the degrees are nicely designed, give or take some fiddly bits. And hey, there’s 5 minutes of 1000G if you need it.
However the over-reliance on navigating a cat mid-air makes for a cumbersome tackle motion. It by no means fairly grew to become one thing we wished to do: it was all the time the mandatory evil to finishing a degree.
Possibly we are going to retrieve that smug quip from our bin in any case: Kattish is, certainly, good for achievements and paw for gameplay. It’s simply not poor in the way in which we anticipated. The opening ranges make it appear painfully generic, however when the gravity gameplay kicks in, it turns into painfully fiddly. Kattish trades one itchy furball for an additional.
You should purchase Kattish from the Xbox Retailer
Kattish does one thing that’s notably odd. It doesn’t truly reveal what sort of sport it’s till after you get 1000G. It’s completely doable for achievement hunters to get their 100% Gamerscore and depart Kattish with out realising what sort of sport it’s. For the primary ten ranges, Kattish is a particularly generic platformer. You’re a cat, and also you solely have eyes for the exit on the finish of the extent. In-between are some platforms and enemies, and the one weapon you could have available (on paw?) is a limp little bounce. So, you’re leaping from platform to…
Kattish Evaluate
Kattish Evaluate
2023-02-04
Dave Ozzy
Execs:
- Presentation is relatively nice
- 1000G for no effort in any respect
- Cats!
Cons:
- Retains swapping genericness for awkwardness
- Gravity leaps by no means fairly work
- Over in two shakes of a cat’s tail
Data:
- Large thanks for the free copy of the sport go to – Weakfish Studios
- Codecs – Xbox Collection X|S, Xbox One
- Model reviewed – Xbox Collection X
- Launch date – 2 February 2023
- Launch worth from – £4.19
TXH Rating
2.5/5
Execs:
- Presentation is relatively nice
- 1000G for no effort in any respect
- Cats!
Cons:
- Retains swapping genericness for awkwardness
- Gravity leaps by no means fairly work
- Over in two shakes of a cat’s tail
Data:
- Large thanks for the free copy of the sport go to – Weakfish Studios
- Codecs – Xbox Collection X|S, Xbox One
- Model reviewed – Xbox Collection X
- Launch date – 2 February 2023
- Launch worth from – £4.19