If someone were to present you the game Where is cat? and ask you to play it for an extended period of time, your reaction may be something like this:
"Absolutely not. This game looks like it was drawn by children, and the title alone makes it sound like something I would never play in a million years."
Yet, strangely enough, Where is cat? is actually a charming hidden-object game, with fiendishly tough puzzles, and just enough feline magic to keep you smiling for its duration.
Feline goodAs you may have gathered, Where is cat? tasks you with finding the household cat in a series of screens.
A quick tap on any part of the cat will advance you to the next screen, where it may be a little harder to spot.
And I say "a little" because this game is almost painfully easy. There's no penalty for mis-clicks, so if you get stuck you can just hammer your fingers around the screen and carry on.
Reach the end and the cat will ask you to bring some glasses of water, plates, cupcakes, and mice, with each object proving harder to find as the game goes on.
And then ten minutes later you're done, the credits roll, and it's back to the start menu.
Claws outThis may not sound like a fantastic game, but that's where the other two adventures come into play, with a Christmas level and a Japan-inspired level to play through too.
These chapters require some serious lateral thinking, along with using items acquired through searching to trigger certain events, and reading subtle clues in the environment to open locks.
The sudden spike in difficulty is surprising, to say the least, but not unwelcome. You could give the main chapter to your kids, for example, and then take the rest of it on by yourself.
Or with your kids, if you feel so inclined, I guess.
And to address the graphics – they are actually drawn by children. That fact let's Where is cat? "get away with it", if you will, and it adds to that charm.
Leader of the packWhere is cat? is genuinely a charming game. Once you've settled in, and got past the rather basic graphics, there's something about it that keeps you coming back for more.
The puzzles are fiendish but clever, and you'll kick yourself for not working them out sooner, although a hint system might've been nice.
And, overall, it's actually pretty fun. It's put together nicely, it flows well, and it's got several cute endings to see.
People often say not to judge a book by its cover, and in the case of Where is cat?, I heartily agree.