Overall 7.1 Graphics 7.3 Sound 6.7 Addictive 7 Story 6.5 Depth 5.3 Difficulty 4.3
7.8
Cat Dating Sim - minus the dating. MegaMarisa
Hey hey hey! Guess who's not dead! I'm here for a snappy, sassy, and potentially juvenile review! It's time for Catz, with a "z." Because that's kewl.
Alright! Lets start this stuff off. I actually owned (and still own) this game as a kid. I also owned Horsez (why not "Horzez" that would be twice teh kewls) which was the glitchiest game and also dumb, hard and kind of boring. But unlike Horsez, Catz is thankfully much more enjoyable. Alright, with drill No.1: the graphics! The graphics are very easy on the eyes and give this game a colorful boost. It's fairly cute and cuddly, but sometimes the art style shifts slightly at certain points, the greatest contrast being the cartoony human portraits and the realistic cat ones. But the difference isn't that jarring, and it's all really nice to look at. This game never really looks bad. I give the graphics a solid 8. And now for the grace of thine ears, the sound rating. The game starts off with a song mostly consisting of cat noises. Well, if you didn't know this was a cat game, now you do. The song's fairly okay, but while to say most of the soundtrack is not exactly outstanding, you hardly ever get annoyed by it. It doesn't hinder the game at all, but it doesn't help much either. The meowing noises and use of sound is pretty good, and the meow noise (or miaou or nya or whatever you prefer) sounds just like a cat would. The sound get a 7, lowered by standard music but heightened by the sheer quality of the noises used. I actually want an electrohouse or happy speedcore remix of the opening theme, though. You know, for meows. Addictiveness is a rather floaty subject for this game. If your into sim games (like me,) you will probably like playing this game. If you like multiple endings (like me,) this game is for you. If you dislike either, or are allergic to cute, well, uh... good luck? I enjoy it in a sort of guilty pleasure way, trying to find as many breeds of cats to raise and getting endings. But the only endings I get when playing normally are either one where it never gets sick or the one where it's more of a friendly stray. Right now I'm playing hoping to get some sort of cat gang leader ending by maxing out Mood and Punch. Yes, cats have "punch." It might be a little boring to some, but there's something just a little charming about taking care of a kitten, or just watching it run all over and take a pee on everything. From the perspective of moi, the addictiveness is a 7 (7.5 if I could) Now, what is the context that you are taking care of a cat under? Let's delve into the story! So you, the player of a limited six character name, are walking through the park after stepping on your friend's, who you later learn is Komugi, cat. Meandering through and fretting over your mistake, you bump into a girl and her cat. After chatting awhile and learning you can't hold cats right, she suggests you get one to help with your understanding of animals. You ask your mom and dad, who surprisingly agree to getting a cat rather quickly and then, well, you get a cat with a similarly restricted name option. It's not much of a story, but there is a bit of appeal to how the story can change depending on how you play. For instance, the park girl will eventually meet up with you to check up on your cat's condition. If you mistreat it, she will take it away. You also have to balance school with cat time. If you go to bed early, you will wake up early. If you're late to school, you come home late. This is a nice touch that makes the clock in the top left corner not only a way of tracking how long it takes for you or your cat to do things, but as to manage when to sleep or nap or go to school. There are also a surplus of endings depending on how high your cat's Friend, Mood, Punch and Looks levels are. If you want a specific ending, you figure out the boosts and reductions to these stats from activities and items. This adds a layer of depth, as you don't get a guide and must figure out how the foods, toys, grooming items and snacks will effect your cat. A food item might raise Friend and Mood a bunch, but lower Looks. A snack might heighten Looks but lower Punch. Toys generally heighten Punch, with some exceptions and/or add ons. The game's rather uneventful story has a nice, player decided twist. It's kinda unfortunate the game's text is all in caps, but it's kinda funny to think PEOPLE TALK LIKE THIS ON A DAILY BASIS, MAINLY ABOUT FELINES. The combination of plain story but with variability lands a nice 8. Hey, see that massive paragraph above? That's the depth of the story. I'll add a bit more, though. You get to choose from a variety of rather cute cats, the different breeds being added upon each time you replay the game. There are the aforementioned endings, which adds more replayability. There are gifts you can get from cats, a different one for each playthrough. This game is surprisingly deep for a cat sim! Depth gets a 10 in my book. Ah, now as we near the finale, the difficulty is the final hurdle to a final rating. Now, most of this game is pure management. You have to manage your cat, its hunger and environment, its stats, the time, the money you get, so many things. For most standard mortals, that shouldn't be too hard, but I'm a scatterbrain. You can also easily screw up in this game, but thankfully you have the option to save in between days, and days go by quite fast. There's also no real guide, so you have to figure out most of it yourself. While it's not hard to play, it can be tricky to get what you want. This snags the game a difficulty of 6(.5), nothing too hard, but you do have to work for your happy (or sad) ending. My final rating, with calculations of my preferred score of each category, is a 7.8, meaning it barely touches the higher ratings. While it's child centric gameplay and story makes the game lag a bit, it's the replayability and cutesy allure that helps it stay afloat. It's a kid friendly cat version of Hatoful Boyfriend. I think. Despite the kiddy aura this game emanates it still can bring fun to the common person. Or maybe I'm just a loser.
Graphics 8 Sound 7 Addictive 7 Story 8 Depth 10 Difficulty 6
Review Rating: 4.6/5
Submitted: 08-28-14
Updated: 08-28-14
Review Replies: 1
9.8
Catz Review CoolGrl197
I love Catz but only play it when my real cat is not here or when he's sleeping. I wouldn't trade him for a game. His name is Muning. When I needed to pick out a cat, I chose the same kind as Muning and named it Muning too. In this game, you get to choose a kitten. Some breeds are unlockable if you play with your cat chose from the limited breeds. When you do this and you reach up to 4 levels of each stat, your cat will give you a gift which is another breed. The A button is for selecting an activity you want to do like feed, play, etc. There is also a shop where you can buy all sorts of things for your cat. You cant pick a new cat for sure. To get a new cat you must reach the end and restart which has all the breeds you got from your former cat. But this will not work if you just start a new game. There are also other games by Ubisoft like Dogz, Dogz 2, and Dogz fashion, plus Hamsterz Life and Hamsterz Life 2.
Graphics 7 Sound 6 Addictive 8 Depth 3 Difficulty 1
Review Rating: 4.5/5
Submitted: 05-30-13
Review Replies: 3
7.5
Catz~ Octovan
Ah, Catz...Ever since I was a child, I had been fascinated by the concept of taking care of fantastic creatures on a virtual medium. So, I played the first Catz game on the Gameboy Color as well as a playing here and there of it's sister game, Dogz. When the GBA versions came out, I made sure to buy at least Catz, which quickly began my...interesting adventure, into the title. But enough rambling- on to the review.
Graphics:
For a Gameboy Advance game, you would expect the visual theme to be cartoony and pixelated. Catz is no different. The house in which the game takes place in is pleasant on the eyes and the cats, while small and a bit too pixel-ridden, are adorable to watch as they pounce, jump, hiss and scamper around the place in their full kitten glory. Menu wise, the options and interactions are just as cartoony and cutesy for a children's game: your "hand" is a Mickey Mouse glove, items float in the air, icons are chipper and flashy, the works. Overall, exactly what you would think a game about taking care of cartoon kittens would look like.
Sound:
Catz is one of the few games I recall from my childhood to have what I call "phantom tunes". That is, those catchy little songs that haunt your head for years that you find yourself humming to at the most random of times. It's a cute little melody, upbeat and staying true to the overall cuteness and childlike theme of the game. And of course, the kittens themselves are absolutely precious to listen to.
Addictiveness:
This game was a sort of a mixed bag for me on the enjoyment factor, and that is past the nostalgia glasses that I wore now that I recently replayed this as grown up. I found the experience to be addicting in the mindset of a completionist in that I feel like I HAVE to unlock everything to feel nerdy victory and that my money (or rather, my mother's) was well spent. That's right, not all of the cats are available to you when you start the game, and you will have to complete the "campaign" multiple times to unlock more sets of cats after each round (I believe there are are...30?...ish? types that you can choose, with the first 6 or so being the most popular types like orange tabbies and white Persians.) The reason that I rated this section a bit lower was because the Story, Depth and Difficulty sections frustrated me as a kid, which I will explain now.
Story:
It's your run of the mill, expected "child learns to take care of animals and be a responsible pet owner" sort of story, with some really odd twists that are forced onto you. For starters, your character is forced to fit into a mold of being so awkward (a point the writers would like you to know, at least 6 times) that you might as well not even leave your room to socialize with the world, let alone take care of a fragile little animal. You run into a girl and her cat while on a walk through the park, and are persuaded to adopt a kitten of your own after nearly squeezing hers to death with your vice grip claws (funny, how that works). With closed-eye grins abound, your parents agree to give you a kitten. Huzzah! So yeah, nothing too special, although the quirks get more frequent once you actually start playing.
Depth:
In a game about caring for kittens, you don't need to expect forced split decisions and gripping moral choices while you make sure little Mittens is hanging on. The game play is pretty simplistic: you get a daily allowance in which you can buy new items to feed, groom, play or spoil your feline rotten. Every day you wake up early, feed your pet, make sure the house isn't a war zone, go to school and care for your cat again before heading to bed. Rinse and repeat. Your actions and choices of items DO have an effect on the overall state of your cat, however, ranging from increases in their grooming to how aggressive and "punchy" you want them to be. Pretty basic stuff.
Difficulty:
Surprisingly, this game can be pretty tricky to "beat". Remember those twists I mentioned earlier? Well, they really shine here. It isn't enough that you are some quirky kid who has the luck and coordination you'd see in a Goofy cartoon- the developers must have decided that there needed to be some timed Olympic spectacle in taking care of a pet. Firstly, you only get about two weeks to bond with your kitty before the campaign ends, so there is a bit of pressure to not only provide the basic care in that short amount of time but to also actually bond with the darned thing. Secondly, that girl you befriend is apparently just as clueless to how domestic life works because she sorta just announces that she'll be barging into your home periodically to critique your cat-handling abilities. So, even if you want Mittens Fluffykins the Great to have max stats in his beauty and friendliness like a normal Persian, she is still going to act like you are a mess up because your cat isn't being raised perfectly balanced (and yes, you do get different endings for how much you want to favor those stats, rendering her visits sorta useless.) Thirdly, and what takes away from the depth and spikes the difficulty meter is that time flies stupidly fast in this game in ways that make no sense. For instance, giving your cat water is at least a twenty minute ordeal, while feeding the little furball his breakfast is like an hour and a half ordeal. What cat takes a straight hour and a half to eat his food in one sitting, let alone a little kitten? Yours does, apparently. So, even though you technically have all day (minus the six hour school thing) to care for your cat, in reality you are lucky if you are able to do maybe 6 or 7 actions on each day. And since you have two weeks and your cat's stats may fluctuate like the stock market in how much boosts your actions give, actually maxing a stat or balancing them all for a well rounded kitten can be a daunting experience.
So, overall, it's a cute game and pleasing to the senses and the heart, but it can be pretty darn stressful if you are looking for a more casual simulation game- what is odd is that Dogz, the sister game on the GBA, runs almost in the exact opposite direction as you can have essentially an infinite amount of time in the campaign, there are more actions, the story and characters are a bit more fleshed out (instead of just faces or not showing up period) and time passes by a lot more leisurely. But, I do recommend the game for players who like cats, enjoy simulation/pet care games and are more into games that present a more dynamic challenge.
Graphics 7 Sound 7 Addictive 6 Story 5 Depth 3 Difficulty 6
Review Rating: 4.5/5
Submitted: 09-01-14
Review Replies: 0
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