An adorable, pixelated ascetic demonstrates a poor kitty cat with bird wings getting knocked from its homeworld, straight to another planet that is also… somehow a cat. It’s not important.
What’s important is the actual game, which takes place across a myriad of levels that see your flying cat attempt to dodge spikes, rolling balls of spikes and what can only be an actual sea of milk. Also, more spikes.[sc name=”quote” text=”Also, more spikes.”]
To get over, around and sometimes through these obstacles, you can jump across them quite simply. The “Bird” part of the game’s name comes in to play by holding down the jump button when already in the air, which allows you to float gradually down while fluttering your adorable little wings. This allows you to achieve more air time and ultimately reach a greater distanced platform.
These simple mechanics form the core of what is a quite traditional platformer, though with the additional slightly odd twists of setting, scenery and… a Cat bird.
With these kinds of platformer, the gameplay tends to not be the main focus – considering the standard was set years ago by such classics as Mario, most newer games simply need to rework the formula and integrate different puzzle designs. Most of the time, this is all that’s needed to really make a new game of lasting significance.
What really makes the difference is the choice of ascetic, the background and art style that provides the main feeling and emotion for the game. In this way, platforming games have the ability to create something for themselves, a different experience from all those that have come before.
In that regard, Cat Bird has done phenomenally well; it is certainly an odd experience watching the visuals progress and the art style express itself, but the ultimate feeling is one of adventure and exploration, cutesy pixilation meets platforming goodness.[sc name=”quote” text=”… the ultimate feeling is one of adventure and exploration, cutesy pixilation meets platforming goodness.”]
The controls of the game are extremely simple – left and right on the left hand side of the screen, jump on the other. Everything else is just up to your timings of jumps and the avoidance of horrible balls of death.
Considering Cat Bird is simply a fairly straightforward platforming game, it manages to cultivate something quite special – it creates a unique experience for its players through the art and music, without relying too heavily on new gameplay twists. Normally, such a description would be a wholly negative thing; all new games need something new to succeed right?
Cat Bird is that wonderfully singular game that doesn’t need new gameplay to give the player a new experience; it creates an environment to be enjoyed, both musically and ascetically.
For novelty’s sake alone, Cat Bird is worth trying, just to experience the serenity of floating around rolling spike balls to gentle music and gorgeous 8-bit graphics.
[review pros=”Adorable, cutesy ascetic. Decent complexity in platforming. Pretty enjoyable!” cons=”Some of the spike deaths can feel frustrating.” score=8]
[appbox appstore id1213493742]
[appbox googleplay com.raiyumi.catbird]
