Captain Cat review (iPad)

♫ “Everybody was dancing with the Captain”

10 word description: Puzzle adventure game. Guide anchor, avoid obstacles. 70 levels. Game Center.

Drop your anchor into the water …

… and guide it to the fish, collecting as much treasure as possible on the way

10 word review: Simple controls, addictive gameplay, attractive graphics, challenging fun, hilarious music.

You will like this if you enjoy: One-touch control puzzle games involving timing and an ounce of intelligence.

The good news: Good looking. Inventive puzzle mechanics develop as you progress. Very much a pick-up-and-play game that feels perfect on the iPad. Lots of normal levels, plus additional extra “one shot” challenge levels. The music (is that music?) is bizarre; it sounds like a drunk cat shouting incoherently – excellent! You can rename your boat.

“Perfect” mode gives you 20 extra levels where you have a single shot to hit the target. It gets very difficult very quickly!

The bad news: Personally, I don’t enjoy timers in games. There’s a timer in this game and it takes away some of the fun, particularly if you’re a more casual player and/or you don’t want to feel rushed while playing. Note – the timer doesn’t force you into a Game Over scenario, but you need to beat the timer on each level as well as meeting the other star rating criteria in order to get the 3 stars.

Arcadelife verdict: Captain Cat is a fun game, different enough to join your game collection without any need to flip a coin to choose which current game to replace. Although the control method is simple – navigating the anchor rope around with single taps – getting it right is a different story and relies heavily on your timing skills. Later on, puzzle elements are introduced which will seriously test those skills and you will be repeating levels frequently in order to get those 3 stars. Luckily the game is very enjoyable and replaying levels until you completely beat them is very satisfying.

Overall, Captain Cat is a very entertaining addition to the puzzle/action genre and I’m happy to recommend it. And the music, well, it’s worth getting this game just for that.

Arcadelife rating

Visuals – 9/10
Audio – 9/10
Controls – 8.5/10
Content – 8.5/10
Fun – 8.5/10
Final rating – 87/100

Rating categories explained here.

Version reviewed by Arcadelife is 1.0

Captain Cat website link

Arcadelife played and reviewed this game on:
iPad (iOS 5.1.1)