Right here’s the pitch. “What if Blade Runner, however kitties?”
I do know what you’re pondering. “About freaking time!”
Cat’s Request is a point-and-click journey set in a near-future world. The town streets are solid in darkness and lit by neon, the place a lone wanderer (Ash) is in a rush to avoid wasting his trustworthy assistant (Root).
Root is a pc program, and desperately wants a physique. The issue is that Ash is useless broke, and everybody who might assist him is, slightly unhelpfully, caught behind a sequence of locks and puzzles that require a really particular set of objects to be utilized.
Sure, it’s a type of > USE GOLDFISH ON JANITOR’S HAT video games, the place you’re meant to run round to assorted areas, selecting up objects and interacting with weirdos to seek out out what they want in order that they’ll open the door to different areas. It’s a nonlinear sport the place the exploration and trial-and-error utility of objects is the purpose.
The world of Cat’s Request is intriguing, and I’m not joking after I say that it’s the Neo-noir of William Gibson blended with I Can Haz Cheeseburger. All the pieces is tinged with an Asian taste, and the glowing lights venture a world that superior to the purpose of holograms to promote eating places, then gave up.
The issue is that the whole lot that strikes is animated like a cell sport, with just one or two expressions. Stroll or run, and it’s only a matter of two character frames shifting at totally different speeds. Name for a flying taxi, and it’s a nonetheless picture of the car touchdown, then your character fades out. That is hardly a knock towards Cat’s Request particularly, because it looks like most video games have adopted this fashion, I’m simply not a fan of it.
You’ll spend a variety of time retracing your steps in Cat’s Request (as you do with a variety of level and click on video games), making an attempt to determine which objects work with what characters. One other twist is that you just’re capable of swap management to Root, who can work together with computer systems (typically) to assist you to hack into methods to search for anomalies.
The design of Cat’s Request, each its look and ranges, is enjoyable sufficient to maintain you off-balance. The noir temper is often spoiled by ridiculous quests to earn a living by cleansing up a bar, recording music, and searching for recipes (aren’t I speculated to be a gritty detective?), in addition to off-the-wall parts like touring by means of house to reap satellites.
Ultimately although, it’s type of onerous to care about what’s taking place. Discovering bizarre methods to make use of objects is at all times a great time in point-and-click adventures, however the targets all felt extra like a grocery listing than a very powerful mission in these characters’ lives.
And maintain a walkthrough open; it’ll be useful for mentioning objects within the background with which you didn’t know you possibly can work together.
