"A Mechanically Limited Spiritual Pac-Man"
"Pix the Cat" seemed like a strange title given away on PS Plus when I had first played it years ago, and revisiting it recently reminded me of why I found it to be subpar. The game has an interesting presentation but ultimately fails at creating a gameplay loop that would keep me playing for an extended period. It's heavily influenced by "Pac-Man", though it goes for a puzzle-oriented approach rather than a free-form high-score attack mode. Both are still incorporated, but I found the mash-up to feel unpolished.
The gameplay is pretty much "Pac-Man" orb (in this case, eggs) collecting except you have to drop them off in specific locations. Doing this awards you with bonus points and boost meter. Timing your turns properly also allocates more boost, making gameplay faster and riskier but more rewarding at the same time. At first this was fine, and playing through the stages felt like a neat little homage to "Pac-Man". However, things got sloppy really fast...
The gameplay turns out to be really repetitive, and there isn't really any dynamism to runs. The same stages are presented to you, and thus it feels more like a restrictive puzzle than a free-flowing arcade-style experience. Additionally, turns would be registered inconsistently (tested on two different controllers that have never had performance issues), causing combos to be lost and score attacks to be fumbled. This made the experience tedious and frustrating, and I started to dislike the holes in the design fairly quickly.
Overall, I didn't really enjoy my time with "Pix the Cat" as much as I had hoped. The visuals are fine enough, and the inspiration is somewhat there, but there's something missing that ended up making the experience feel dull and restrictive. I would Not Recommend it unless you don't mind the idea of a more puzzle-focused "Pac-Man" title.
Final Verdict: 4/10 (Below Average)
"Pix the Cat" seemed like a strange title given away on PS Plus when I had first played it years ago, and revisiting it recently reminded me of why I found it to be subpar. The game has an interesting presentation but ultimately fails at creating a gameplay loop that would keep me playing for an extended period. It's heavily influenced by "Pac-Man", though it goes for a puzzle-oriented approach rather than a free-form high-score attack mode. Both are still incorporated, but I found the mash-up to feel unpolished.
The gameplay is pretty much "Pac-Man" orb (in this case, eggs) collecting except you have to drop them off in specific locations. Doing this awards you with bonus points and boost meter. Timing your turns properly also allocates more boost, making gameplay faster and riskier but more rewarding at the same time. At first this was fine, and playing through the stages felt like a neat little homage to "Pac-Man". However, things got sloppy really fast...
The gameplay turns out to be really repetitive, and there isn't really any dynamism to runs. The same stages are presented to you, and thus it feels more like a restrictive puzzle than a free-flowing arcade-style experience. Additionally, turns would be registered inconsistently (tested on two different controllers that have never had performance issues), causing combos to be lost and score attacks to be fumbled. This made the experience tedious and frustrating, and I started to dislike the holes in the design fairly quickly.
Overall, I didn't really enjoy my time with "Pix the Cat" as much as I had hoped. The visuals are fine enough, and the inspiration is somewhat there, but there's something missing that ended up making the experience feel dull and restrictive. I would Not Recommend it unless you don't mind the idea of a more puzzle-focused "Pac-Man" title.
Final Verdict: 4/10 (Below Average)