Pix The Cat

Developer: Pastagames
Steam Release: Jan 2015
Hours Played: 3.8
Similar To: Nimble Quest / Pac-Man Championship Edition / Zombillie 
Rating: 3/5 Parsnips

GAMEPLAY

With gameplay being a cross between speeded up versions of Pac-Man and Snake, Pix The Cat offers a quick-fix for those after some fast-paced arcade-style fun. This one is about weaving around maze-like areas in top-down view while picking up eggs, Flicky style, who then turn into chicks and follow you like links in a chain. Drop these off at the target points, preferably after collecting all the eggs in the maze and without stopping (and definitely without bumping into your own trail of chicks) to wrack up a good score. With just three levels to choose from in the main game (Starter, Main and Dessert) action is continuous and kept flowing with a variety of mazes and an interesting zoom-in/out feature as you transition between each maze or area. Keep going and when the timer runs out it's game over. 

BALANCE & PACE

In some cases you'll even have to exit a maze, enter the previous one, and then dive back in to finish it off all the while with the camera zooming in and out accordingly. Although success hinges on memorising optimum routes, carrying out a perfect run in each maze can prove quite a challenge. A huge spanner is thrown into the works by the speed-up mechanic which literally speeds up Pix the more he avoids hitting walls. The good news is that this helps to increase your score but the bad news is that you're more likely to miss a vital turn and hence either fail to achieve a perfect with a 100% drop-off bonus or, even worse, end up colliding with your own trail and thus erasing any chance of scoring any drop-off points at all. The game will definitely frustrate but will also reward those with nimble fingers, good timing and a large dollop of patience.
 

PRESENTATION & DESIGN 

With a home-page of Pix himself staring into a TV screen, striking Play will switch the options to four different modes. Arcade is the main game giving those three difficulty settings mentioned earlier. Laboratory is an uninspiring take on the Quell puzzle series where you pick up and drop off chicks in a limited number of moves. Nostalgia (a kind of black and white version) unlocks after the player scores 1m in Arcade mode at Main difficulty but probably remains unseen by the majority of players. Arena is the multiplayer section. The soundtrack hits all the right notes with catchy party music played on starting the game, a repetitive trance-like number played while at the menus and a jolly bouncy tune emanating from the speakers while playing. The zoom feature is the real crowd-pleaser though.
 

PROGRESS SYSTEM

With Laboratory being a bit of a bore, Nostalgia being locked to most players and Arena being pointless for the single-player, Arcade is probably the only mode worth noting here. With different voice-overs being unlocked and available at various points, your main progress will come in the form of a local and online leaderboard which can be conveniently viewed when scrolling through the three grids of Starter, Main and Dessert. A Top 10 is shown for local scores while you may also view how you fair in comparison to the rest of the world by viewing your rank. Additionally, at the start screen, you can see how much of the game has been completed as a percentage by looking at the top left corner and view achievements at the Mission Gallery.   

CONCLUSION

While the comparison with Pac-Man and Snake is obvious, Pix The Cat actually plays out like the more popular Pac-Man Championship Edition DX+. Unfortunately, as an indie game without the huge financial backing, it has been totally eclipsed by that game and as an admittedly better game the majority have understandably flocked in that direction. However, with plenty of bells and whistles and crazy sounds plus the excited announcements of the voice-overs, if you are a convert to PMCE, Pix The Cat does offer a compelling alternative and would definitely be worth scooping up in a sale. One suggestion I would make to the developers would be to unlock Nostalgia mode earlier so that more players get to see more of the content of the game.