Scram Kitty DX Review (PS4/PS Vita)

After wooing us with the wonderfully named Floating Cloud God Saves the Pilgrims and The 2D Adventures of Rotating Octopus Character the mad cap humour of Dakko Dakko studios returns with the once Wii U exclusive now moving onto Playstation platforms.

The plot is mad and sends us back to the 16-bit days of lunatic ideas. Basically, your cat sends you a message from the international space station saying super intelligent mice have taken over and you need to get up there and rescue all the cats and take it back from them. What this amounts to is jumping on your spinner and blasting, leaping and spinning your way around some top down puzzle/platform levels.

The puzzle elements are based around shooting switches, finding different weapons to destroy obstacles and simply working out how to make jumps to different rails. It’s nothing massively complex but when combined with the past paced gameplay and onslaught of enemies it’s more than enough to deal with.

The game draws a lot of influence from Rotating Octopus but there are a ton of new ideas going on here. Working out the movement is key to success and your character controls in a fairly unique way. Your spinner is magnetic and attaches to any rail. You can move along the rails under your own steam but the only way you can reach another rail is to jump to it. What this means is that you need to use the rails carefully to get the right angles to jump and fire.

You will be attacked by various types of mice on your adventure and making sure you can actually hit them with your variety of weapons forms part of the crux of the game. Your character only fires directly in front of themselves so if you are on a side rail and they are coming at you from below you need to jump to a rail facing towards them in order to hit the pesky vermin. It starts out tricky but you soon get the hang of how it all works and it adds to the puzzle elements of certain levels. 

The goal of each level is to rescue four cats and reach the exit door. You can just find the exit if you want but you’ll need cats to unlock levels as you go so replaying earlier stages is vital to progression. The four cats each have their own characteristics to be found. The lazy cat just sits by the exit and the lucky cat requires all the lucky pennies to be found in a level before appearing. The black cat requires a super tough mouse to be destroyed before it will come out and finally the scaredy cat, when picked up, will run off to somewhere else on the station and requires chasing around and capturing in a strict time limit.

Scram Kitty is a tough game and you’ll need both patience and perseverance to get through. You have an energy bar but once it’s gone you’ll have to start the level again from scratch. This includes finding cats, coins and weapons again or taking down the big bad mouse commanders. The levels are fairly compact but the amount of skill required from the player means dying near the end of a stage can be exasperating. 

The main problem with Scram Kittyfrom the Wii U version has now been removed. On The Wii U proverbial Scram would appear on screen to give advice. When this happened he pretty much took up the entire screen and this led to a number of deaths and missed jumps as we simply couldn’t see what was going on. Scram no longer does this. While this means you don’t get the advice it also makes for a much smoother experience overall.

Overall, Scram Kitty is still an excellent game. There’s a lot of invention and originality on show in terms of the games mechanics and we certainly haven’t played anything like this for years and there’s nothing else like it on PSN. It’s a pretty essential purchase for anyone who wants an old school challenge mixed with some clever design. Dakko Dakko seems to go from strength to strength and they are producing games that stand out in a very crowded market. We can’t wait to see what they come up with next.

Overall 8/10

Scram Kitty and his Buddy on Rails Review (Wii U)

After wooing us with the wonderfully named Floating Cloud God Saves the Pilgrims and The 2D Adventures of Rotating Octopus Character the mad cap humour of Dakko Dakko studios returns with the Wii U exclusive and equally epically named Scram Kitty and his Buddy on Rails. 

The plot is mad and sends us back to the 16-bit days of lunatic ideas. Basically, your cat sends you a message from the international space station saying super intelligent mice have taken over and you need to get up there and rescue all the cats and take it back from them. What this amounts to is jumping on your spinner and blasting, leaping and spinning your way around some top down puzzle/platform levels.

The puzzle elements are based around shooting switches, finding different weapons to destroy obstacles and simply working out how to make jumps to different rails. It’s nothing massively complex but when combined with the past paced gameplay and onslaught of enemies it’s more than enough to deal with.

The game draws a lot of influence from Rotating Octopus but there are a ton of new ideas going on here. Working out the movement is key to success and your character controls in a fairly unique way. Your spinner is magnetic and attaches to any rail. You can move along the rails under your own steam but the only way you can reach another rail is to jump to it. What this means is that you need to use the rails carefully to get the right angles to jump and fire.

You will be attacked by various types of mice on your adventure and making sure you can actually hit them with your variety of weapons forms part of the crux of the game. Your character only fires directly in front of themselves so if you are on a side rail and they are coming at you from below you need to jump to a rail facing towards them in order to hit the pesky vermin. It starts out tricky but you soon get the hang of how it all works and it adds to the puzzle elements of certain levels. 

The goal of each level is to rescue four cats and reach the exit door. You can just find the exit if you want but you’ll need cats to unlock levels as you go so replaying earlier stages is vital to progression. The four cats each have their own characteristics to be found. The lazy cat just sits by the exit and the lucky cat requires all the lucky pennies to be found in a level before appearing. The black cat requires a super tough mouse to be destroyed before it will come out and finally the scaredy cat, when picked up, will run off to somewhere else on the station and requires chasing around and capturing in a strict time limit.

Scram Kitty is a tough game and you’ll need both patience and perseverance to get through. You have an energy bar but once it’s gone you’ll have to start the level again from scratch. This includes finding cats, coins and weapons again or taking down the big bad mouse commanders. The levels are fairly compact but the amount of skill required from the player means dying near the end of a stage can be exasperating. 

There is one problem with Scram Kitty which can be a pain. Every now and then the proverbial Scram will appear on screen to give advice. When this happens he pretty much takes up the entire screen and this led to a number of deaths and missed jumps as we simply couldn’t see what was going on. You can move the advice to the game pad but then you miss what he is telling you as by the time you hear the voice and look down he’s already said what he was going to. It’s a minor issues but one that does become annoying at times.

Overall, Scram Kitty is one of the better Wii U exclusive games. There’s a lot of invention and originality on show in terms of the games mechanics and we certainly haven’t played anything like this for years. It’s a pretty essential purchase for anyone who wants an old school challenge mixed with some clever design. Dakko Dakko seems to go from strength to strength and they are producing games that stand out in a very crowded market. We can’t wait to see what they come up with next.

Overall 8/10

Floating Cloud God Saves the Pilgrims HD Review (PS Vita)

First we had the rather lovely Adventures of 2D Octopus Character make the jump to become a native Vita title and now Dakko Dakko’s other much loved Playstation mini has joined it. One of the best of the mini crop, Floating Cloud God is a fun and fresh take on the side scrolling shooter and is another great example of indie games showing simple concepts are sometimes the best. 

 Floating Cloud God has players in control of said deity as he rides a cloud around shooting monsters and being worshipped by his followers. The pilgrims must be protected as if all of them die it’s game over. You start the game with ten pilgrims with the aim being to get them all to the gate at the end of the level. If they all reach the end alive a special pilgrim will join you wearing a different hat. You need to be very careful with the little guys as you only get one back per level if any die so losing a few in one area can be fatal later on.

As well as effectively acting as your lives, they also release hearts throughout their journey  which increase in size as you blast monsters. Collecting these powers you up and this becomes a continual process as you also lose power with every shot you fire. It’s an excellent play mechanic that works really well. If the Cloud God is hit by a monster he will completely power down, He won’t die however so this can be used tactically to block a stray incoming bullet from time to time.

There are seven worlds in total, each split in two stages and a boss fight. Every stage offers something new and they soon become incredibly difficult to get through with all your followers intact. There is a nice variety of enemies and obstacles to overcome and each area is significantly different from the last. It all looks rather lovely as well, with a clean cut oriental style that gets across all the humour and magic we have come to expect from the studio.

The bosses are a particular highlight with each one full of personality and requiring some thought by the player in order to take down. Once you have worked out their weakness the real challenge is to take them out without losing any of your Pilgrims. A monster with a giant flying nose springs to mind as a particular highlight.

In truth the game isn’t going to last you that long in terms of completion. However, this is clearly a score attack kind of title and getting through the levels without losing pilgrims or keeping your special pilgrims alive is going to take a lot more time and effort. It’s such an easy game to get drawn into and what starts out as replaying a single level will see you staying on to try and complete more and more stages.

Overall, if there was ever a game you could describe as delightful then this is it. It just has a lovely fun feel to it and a hint of nostalgia that brings to mind old television shows like Monkey. It’s a game you’ll play continually to beat your old scores, rescue pilgrims or just to have fun for a few minutes. It just goes to show how strong the original mini was that it only needed a graphical facelift to still feel like an excellent Vita game.

8/10

HD Adventures of Rotating Octopus Character Review (PS Vita)

Like Velocity, Rotating Octopus character has made the leap from being a Playstation Mini to a fully native Vita title. It’s a pretty straightforward conversion with very little changing apart from the look of the game. But for those that haven’t experience Dakko Dakko’s endearing character before there is much here to enjoy.

The game sets itself out as a number of single area arenas filled with different obstacles for the octopus to navigate. You start with three lives and must complete an entire worlds levels in one go in order to progress to the next. Losing all of your three lives will see you returned to the first level of the world to start again. 

Rotating Octopus Character is in perpetual motion as it spins around the level sticking to whichever surface it comes into contact with. You can change direction and head off in the other way, but the real skill comes from leaping from place to place and completing levels without the need to alter your direction.

The goal of each stage is to collect the hidden octopus’ spread around the area. Some of these are visible from the start while others will drop in as you progress. On latter levels players are required to bounce balls and balloons out the way and move sandcastles in order to reveal any that are hidden away. As well as finding the octopus’ lost friends you can also pick up raindrops and acquiring enough of these will give you an extra life.

It sounds fairly simple and in principle it is. However, this can be one tough cookie of a game to crack at times. Each new world introduces new enemies and hazards and things get hectic very quickly. The stationary barking dogs of the first world are easy enough to get by, but the snakes and mad fez hats found only a few worlds latter are incredibly tricky at times. Couple this with level design thought out to make things as awkward for you navigate as possible and a tight time limit and you suddenly find yourself amidst a series of real twitch gameplay levels. You'll need fast reactions and the ability to think up new strategies and approaches on the move in order to succeed.

The game is perfect for short bursts of play and each level will only take a few minutes to complete - that's as long as you don’t keep dying and having to restart. The limited amount of lives does add tension to proceedings but it can also lead to a fair amount of frustration as you find yourself stuck on one of the later levels of a world and continually have to go through eight or nine others just to reach it again. That said, many of the super tough levels tend to have an abundance of raindrops in them to keep you stocked up with lives. On these occasions it’s just a case persevering until you eventually prevail.

The upgraded visuals really help to bring out the artistic charm of the game and it helps add a more defined humour to the graphics and level design. The sound is also joyful and good fun, though the noise of rotating octopus moving around continually can become a touch on the annoying side when you find yourself continually crashing into things.

In terms of size there is a substantial amount of content on show. Aside from the plentiful main worlds there are also a host of challenge levels which unlock one by one. The urge to try and finish stages without changing direction or in a quicker time is also continual draw. 

Overall, this is another mini that is more than welcome on the Vita in a native form. Beneath the cute visuals is an excellent and tough piece of reaction based gaming and we can see many Vita owners drawn to it for far longer than they probably expect to be. It’s tough but fair and offers something a little different to what is currently on offer. We recommend you give it try and we’re sure we haven’t seen the last of the Rotating Octopus Character either.

Overall 8/10