Bad Cat |
Copyright/Publisher: Rainbow Arts, Music By: Chris Hülsbeck,
Release Year: 1987, Genre: Multi Events, Number Of Players: 1 to 4
The year is 1984 and the feline equivalent of the Olympic Games are about to
take place.
The player takes the part of Bad Cat - a street-wise Tom who travels around
the city, competing in the game's four events.
The first veunue is the city park, where Bad Cat walks, crawls, jumps and
somersaults his way across a hazard-filled course. At the finish he collects
a set of keys, allowing him to start a motorcycle which carries him to other
venues around the city.
Between events, a local map of LA appears with the feline motorcyclist
appearing as a small yellow dot. The next location is displayed as a red
pulsing circle, and Bad Cat is guided across the landscape, avoiding the
patrolling police cars to reach the next venue. Success is rewarded with a
bonus, and beach balls are collected along the way to increase score.
The second game takes place in an open air swimming pool. The hero jumps
between two floating 'bumpers' while trying to punch geometric figures from a
board at the top of the screen. A large display shows the next target and the
score mounts as the shapes are successfully dislodged.
A sewer is the unlikely setting for the third event, where Bad Cat negotiates
water and falling blocks. Again, rotating balls are balanced upon, and attacking
rats are kicked and punched into the murky stream.
Bad Cat faces his final challenge in a pub, where he plays a head-to-head
'bowling' match against a bulldog. Standing on opposing sides if a five-lane
alley, both contestants hit each other with bowling balls. Every time a character
is hit, he goes to the bar and drinks a glass of beer, making him less easy to control.
After the last event, the total scores are displayed and the game ends.
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P.S. |
The average graphics and average animation are ruined by the awful control
methods - balancing on the ball is very hard, and often the slightest mistake
spells doom to the hero.
The main character is neither cute nor appealing, being a curious combination
of an arthritic homo erectus and a grey semi-feline blob. The pointless interludes
where you guide a tediously uncontrollable and slow cursor (your cat?) around a
blocky map backdrop in search of a flashing red spot provided my greatest excitement:
getting squashed by a car that was as well-drawn as those in Grand Prix Simulator.
There is nothing new to inspire, nor anything particularly brilliant to draw
you back- unless you like staring at title screens.
|
S.J. |
This latest German offering suffers from contrived and unrewarding gameplay and
overcomplex control methods. The graphics are smart, and the package is well
presented, but polish cannot begin to make up for poor playability.
Only the first event really enthuses to any great degree, and even that
proves annoying after a short while due to the precision required to complete
the whole course.
Thereafter, the events simply get worse and worse, culminating with the
totally pointless 'bowling' event. Defeating the computer opponent is
incredibly easy: just stay in one lane and bowl continously.
That's it - game over. To be fair, Bad Cat isn't completely worthless:
the badly translated German instructions are easily the most hilarious I have
ever seen!
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