In the vast animal kingdom, cats are God’s little snobs. Finicky to a fault, cats are much more independent and just aren’t as eager to play with humans as dogs are. Of course they still cuddle on a regular basis and love to be pampered, which makes them popular as domesticated pets, and guarantees them at least one game on the virtual pet crazy Nintendo DS.
Ubisoft’s Catz does a good job of accurately portraying the nature of a cat, which also makes it by nature just not as fun as games based on dogs and other animals. The player starts by adopting one of several breeds of cats, each with its own personality traits. After that, the game proceeds like one would expect from a virtual pet simulation. The cat has four different stats that must be maintained, including Bond, Grooming, Hunger, and Energy. To keep these high, the player must regularly feed and play with the cat, as well as create a comfortable environment for the cat to live in.
Maintaining your kitty of course requires money, which is represented here as Kitty Coinz. While some money is earned through a weekly allowance, the real money comes in performing tasks for others. Tasks come as emails on your PDA, and include emails from The Adoption Center (which provides tips and occasional opportunities to earn Coinz), Dr. Domore (who gives advice), and your neighbors. These tasks include things like getting a cat to play with a toy, or taking a great picture of a cat in a certain situation, and are the best way to earn money in the game. The tasks given to you aren’t that diverse on the whole however, and become repetitive over time.
Money earned is used to purchase items to keep your cat happy, including furniture, clothing, food, and toys. There is a good amount of variety in these, but its here that the game starts to show its limitations. Playing with a kitten just isn’t as interesting as playing with a dog, and the toys themselves aren’t that interesting. While its cute to watch a kitten scratch on a post or bat a toy mouse around, and the player can directly interact with the kitten and its toys, it just isn’t as interactive and engaging for the player.
In addition to the main game, the player can earn up to 50 Kitty Cardz. Often earned by performing tasks well, these are basic cards with various cat-related information on them. While not flashy, they’re interesting and should entertain and inform the audience this game is aimed at. Catz also supports wireless card and picture trading, which should be useful if the player has a group of cat-lovers nearby.
Catz actually looks pretty good, with nice 3D cat models, a good variety of furnishings and accessories, and solid isometric environments. Nothing fancy, but it gets the job done. Unfortunately the camera stays so fixated on your kitten that there’s no real way to get a good overview of the house, and even in Cuddle Mode (a close up petting session activated by pressing Y) the camera quickly pans back to the same overhead view for some reason. So good luck getting an extended petting session out of this game.
Music is fairly sparse in the game, although there is a good variety of accurate sound effects for kittens, toys, etc. Of particular note is the theme song by Nada Surf, which can only be described as entrancing. The band, best known for throwaway mid-90’s alternative song “Popular,” delivers a serene theme song with multiple “meow”s and catchy lyrics that may or may not be brainwashing thousands of young gamers at this very moment. We’ll know for sure if a cat wins the 2020 Presidential Election.
Bottom Line:
Catz is not a bad game, but it lacks the meaty gameplay that Nintendogs and some other virtual pet sims provide. Cat lovers will obviously get the most out of it, but it will provide some enjoyment for most younger gamers in general as well.
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| 6.0 |
Posted: 2007-10-06 13:59:29 PST