Quick Review: Cat Quest

It’s Cat-astrophic! Okay, brace for cat puns, because this game has them all.

The start of a great... uhhh... cat-venture?

Cat Quest, developed by The Gentlebros, published by Kepler Interactive and released to Steam on August 8th, 2017, begins on a tragedy. Two cat siblings are on a boat at sea when it is attacked. A darklord kidnaps the sister and destroy the ship, leaving the brother for dead. However, a helping guardian spirit named Spirry comes to the cat’s rescue and lands him safely on the beach of Felingard. A glowing mark behind the kitty’s head identifies him as a Dragonblood, of a legacy of dragon slayers. Well, that’s good, because our enemy, the nasty Drakoth, seems to be quite fond of summoning dragons. I guess we’ll just deal with those, and then with him, if that’s what it takes to rescue our sister!

Wham! That's no clawing but it will do the trick either way.

This adorable action RPG begins easy enough – on PC, you slash your sword around with the left-click button. Over time, you will obtain magic; up to seven different skills, of which you can have four equipped at a time. You can assign them to number hotkeys or use them with the right-click button (which opens a wheel with the skills at four ends, and you drag towards the skill to use it). The cat can dodge-roll with the Space bar. As you defeat enemies, you gain EXP to level up, and Gold which can be used to upgrade your magic skills or get new equipment.

It's not rare for quests to make you level up pretty much
instantly once you finish them.

Hat, Armor, Weapon. That's all you need.

You can find equipment in dungeons and caves around the map; if you find something you already own, that item gets an upgrade to level and stats instead. Across the map, you can stop at towns for a quick catnap refilling your HP and mana; these also save your game. These towns have bulletin boards with plenty of quests you can take on, solving various townskitten’s problems and learning more about that world. Every quest comes with rewards in XP and Gold, and you can level up fast through those. Still not enough? You can choose to visit any cave across the map, kill everything inside and loot the treasure chests! Quests and caves come with a recommended minimum level – which you can disregard, if you’re feeling brave.

Yes, we're walking on water. Don't question it. It gets better;
we can learn to fly later. As for this ice dragon? Aside from
sword slashes, it can do both ice and thunder attacks.

Whoom! When the sword isn't mighty enough, the
fire, thunder, ice, whatever, spells save the day!

The combat system is simple, simplistic even; enemy attacks are represented by red marks, be they circle or arrows. You can attack, then dodge to safety with the right timing. Your mana remains low, and spells cost from 2 to 5 MP to cast; however, you regain 1 MP each time you slash at an enemy with the basic attack. Thus, many late-game battles follow the pattern of “Use all your MP on spells, play slash-then-flee to refill the gauge, rinse and repeat”. The spells you learn are the same you’ll see enemies use against you.

When you beat the story, you unlock a Mew Game+ (Gosh, the puns in this game) with modifiers to make the game harder. Stronger enemies, keeping the Dragonblood at Level 1, and/or forbidding any equipment. Yes, I said “and”; you can stack these. Good luck.

Lots of bonus bosses, too, if you're willing to fight them.
That one was tough as all Heck.

It’s a good, fun game. The main quest is interesting and takes advantage of every comedic opportunity it can take – such as by slipping a cat pun every other sentence. The plot is mostly lighthearted. It’s not a hard game – Game Overs are a slap on the wrist where you merely respawn where you last saved, and keep all the equipment, experience and money you’ve obtained before dying. The game looks nice and has good music, and though its combat system is simple, it does offer some level of strategic planning (mainly in terms of spell loadout). There’s a lack of variety in gameplay (as most quests get resolved through fighting enemies/bosses or exploring caves), and you are left to level-grind whenever you realize that you’re too weak for the next mission or story beat, but for a game so short, I think that’s excusable.

Cat Quest is available on Steam for 12.99$ USD. It’s got two sequels too, if you try the original and like it!

Crash Bandicoot 4: It's About Time (Part 3)

Crash Bandicoot 1 – 2: Cortex Strikes Back – 3: Warped!

4: It’s About Time (Part 1) – (Part 2) – (Part 3)

Back where it all started... But it's not exactly gonna
go the same way.

Assorted Annoyances

This is the kind of game where, if you are not focusing
on getting Gems, you will have a hard time, but it will
be doable. My mistake was trying to go for the All Crates
Gems every time I entered a level.. and suffering a lot
because of it. In my defense, I thought it wouldn't be
that bad, after playing the previous games!

You know what, let’s get the annoyances out before the finale. So, this game is… Well, I have already brought up the difficulty. I think I haven’t made it clear yet. Dying 20 times per level? That was at the beginning. The closer to the end I got, the bigger that number got. It wasn’t rare to die upwards of 50 times in a level’s first go-through, as I discovered, one painful mistake after the other, all the ways in which Crash/Coco/Tawna/Dingodile/Cortex could die. It is, by no means, the only tough platformer I’ve played all year, but it is among the hardest I’ve ever played – and, honestly, I think it might be the hardest I’ve pushed through, all the way to the end credits.

I remember hating the "Run on walls" parts. If your momentum
is stopped, you fall and die. And these parts love to put crates
in your way, so you have to break them. Oh! And combine
that to the gravity shenanigans in later worlds, too! Ugh.

I know I said that the original three Crash games had cruel platforming moments; I found that out as I was discovering them through the N. Sane Trilogy (though, as has been mentioned, the remasters aren’t entirely identical to their originals, which I haven’t really played). In comparison to Crash 4, Crash 1 through Warped! feel like a goddamn walk in the park. And I think a part of that might be caused by Crash 4’s own excesses. The levels are too long, several levels have too many crates, every instance with a Quantum Mask throws something new at you…

A lot fo bonus stages are all about using your abilities at
very specific moments and slapping steel ! crates in
what order, and when, for a chance to destroy every crate.
I miss the simplicity of the average Crash 1-through-3
Bonus Stage.

Speaking of crates, Bonus levels make a return. They keep the system from the remasters: If you die in them, you don’t lose a life, and the Bonus level transporter counts as a free Checkpoint. But! In the remasters, they were generally easy. Well, no more. Bonus levels in It’s About Time decided, “you know what? The player doesn’t lose lives playing these, so fuck it, we’re gonna be insanely hard!” In an utterly brutal game, these manage to be even worse. They often require use of the Quantum Masks, and are designed like puzzle platformers. You must figure out the right path, often backtracking both ways, to break every crate, and in what order, as there is sometimes only one correct “answer” to catch everything. And! Let me remind you that these bonus levels are mandatory, because their crates still count within their level’s total! Can’t figure it out? Tough shit!

Making things phase in and out, including barriers that can
get in your way, while you are also running on walls and
carefully timing your jumps. It's... a little much.

After a while, Crash 4 starts to feel more like a puzzle platformer than just a platformer. In fact, I know I have seen or played games with the exact mechanics brought forth by the Quantum Masks – but usually they aren't all in the same product. Making things appear and disappear to progress? Seen it. Messing with time? Seen it. Gravity shenanigans? Seen it! Hell, even ‘Akano’s ability involves some degree of knowing when to turn the special spin on or off. At the end, you must often adapt to using the masks interchangeably within the same level… or, in the very final stretches, one after the other in quick succession. Crash 4 is basically 4 puzzle platformers in one Bandicoot-shaped trench coat.

Crash Bandicoot 4: It's About Time (Part 2)

Crash Bandicoot 1 – 2: Cortex Strikes Back – 3: Warped!

4: It’s About Time (Part 1) – (Part 2) – (Part 3)

A new ally? And more coming? Things are about to get interesting.

Super-Spinning, Magic Potions, and Funny Costumes

At the end of Salty Wharf, the group finds the second Quantum Mask, as confirmed by Lani-Loli. The new guy is named ‘Akano and he represents dark matter. Though he doesn’t say much, he packs quite a punch.

This is not flying, this is spinning with style!

The next dimension we visit is Tranquility Falls, which looks like a fantasy land. Spyro could live here! The enemy wanting a rematch with our heroes is N. Brio, whose chemical concoctions can do so much they might as well be magic. This world is our first use of ‘Akano. This mask’s ability is a powered-up spin, not unlike an ability gained in Warped!. Unlike the regular spin, it is triggered by pressing the X button (like all mask abilities), and will make the Bandicoot spin and as long as you haven’t pressed X again to cancel it. While spinning through this method, Crash and Coco’s jumps become very floaty, giving them extra reach, and they will instantly destroy any breakable crates they touch. This can be a double-edged sword since the heroes still get hurt if they spin into TNT and Nitro crates.

Ah yes, Legally Distinct Big Green Angry Smasher Guy.

At the end of this world, we square off against N. Brio, and this fight begins similarly to the one in Crash 1 and its N. Sane Trilogy version. In the second round, Brio drinks his own potion and becomes a hulking brute that attacks directly. To damage this form, we need ‘Akano, as the boosted spins are the only thing that can knock Hulkbrio off-stage and hurt him.

Gotta tough out the sonar-style chase sequence.

After N. Brio is defeated, we unlock the N. Verted Mode. It opens a new version of every level beaten so far; and for every subsequent level, an N. Verted version is unlocked after beating the original. A few things change in this new challenge; for starters, Wumpa fruits are replaced by… Grape-like Berries! Gasp! The second is that the stage is horizontally flipped; Bonus stages and 2D sections are crossed right to left, and all 3D areas are mirrored.

Oh, they still haven't learned to swim. They just don't
need to in the Sn@xx Dimension N. Verted.

Each N. Verted world has its own design twist that makes it trickier to navigate – as if they weren’t so goddamn hard already! As an example, on N. Sanity Island, the level will be made of silhouettes, and the place will go dark unless you periodically use the spin, lighting up the area like the ping of a submarine sonar. In Salty Wharf, the world starts in black and white, aside from crates and enemies; several actions will bring back the color, which will stick even if you die. The screwy design changes for the next world, and again in the next, and so on. One world ends up underwater, with all the screwy physics this implies!

Oh, and the Gems return, making for a possible total of 12 for every level; six normal, six N. Verted. Same requirements, too; the only difference is that the hidden Gem is moved to a different spot. Still, good luck getting them all – this takes the game's Gems total from 228 to 456! But hey, at least you can get some cool skins out of them.

Crash Bandicoot 4: It's About Time (Part 1)

Crash Bandicoot 1 – 2: Cortex Strikes Back – 3: Warped!

4: It’s About Time (Part 1) – (Part 2) – (Part 3)

After its first three installments, the Crash Bandicoot franchise seemingly hit a lull. Plenty of games came out, with some following the Mario Spinoff formula: Make ‘em race! Make ‘em go around a board and play mini-games! Platformers still happened amidst all these new concepts, with varying levels of quality. However, fans felt like there was no true return to form until the N. Sane Trilogy came out. This renewed vigor eventually led to the making of a new, proper, “official” sequel to the OG trilogy.

We're starting on known ground.
Don't worry, that's gonna change real soon.

And yes, I played and talked about the N. Sane Trilogy these past three weeks exclusively so I could have the necessary background to talk about this one. Fans had to wait 22 years after Crash Bandicoot: Warped! for it to come out. But Crash 4 finally did, with a release for PS4 and Xbox One on October 2nd, 2020, then to Switch, PS5 and XSXS on March 12th, 2021, then two weeks later on PC. You’ve already seen this game’s title at the top of this article, and it’s very tongue-in-cheek, considering the long time between this entry and the one that precedes it in the strange chronology of the Crash series. For the needs of this story, it acts like no new games happened between the franchise's third and fourth installments; you can bet they will make a joke or two about that. Well then! It’s about time we cover the conclusion of this epic! (…Unless a Crash 5 comes out eventually.) For the record, I am playing this one on Switch.

They’re Back

N. Tropy is a surprisingly much darker villain in this game
than just about any other enemy Crash has ever faced.

Following their defeat in Crash 3, Neo Cortex, N. Tropy, Uka Uka, N. Gin, and for some reason, N. Brio as well, are stuck in a place out of time. They’ve been stuck there for what feels like decades. (I mean… at least two of ‘em). Cortex keeps self-pitying over his repeated failures, while Uka Uka attempts to open a portal to get them out of this place and back to the world they desperately want to take control of. In a stroke of luck, the evil mask finally makes a tear through the fabric of reality that will allow them to return, but the task is so exhausting that it falls unconscious. The scientists opt to escape while leaving the commanding, nasty mask behind. In its place, Nefarious Tropy, the time master, takes leadership of the group. He’s already seeing far beyond full control of the world…

Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy: Warped!

Crash Bandicoot 1 – 2: Cortex Strikes Back – Warped!

4: It’s About Time (Part 1) – (Part 2) – (Part 3)

Finishing the trilogy today!

Crash Bandicoot 3: Warped!

This guy scares the biggest enemy we've had so far. That
usually means nothing good.

The game begins after the good ending of Crash 2 – the one you get by collecting all the Gems and beating Cortex again. The diminutive scientist’s space station explodes and crashes onto the planet, striking an old temple. Out of it comes an evil spirit known as Uka Uka; if you’ve played the rest of the N. Sane Trilogy, you may recognize this mask as the guy who threateningly says “Game Over” when you lose all your lives. Cortex has been working for Uka Uka this entire time, first by making the animals into smart but docile soldiers, and second by making Crash gather magical crystals. The evil mask was the one trying to enslave the entire planet all along. In an attempt to do it right this time, the mask summons a new, blue-skinned scientist with a clock theme…

Sounds important, I should listen to what Aku Aku is sayi-
Oh, the Bandicoots adopted Polar? Awwwwwwww!

And so we begin in the medieval era, with frogs that turn
into people if they kiss Crash, and lab assistants behaving
as if they were at the renaissance fair.

The wind turns on Wumpa Islands. Aku Aku immediately knows what’s up. The guardian mask of the islands (now voiced by Greg Eagles, whom you might know as Grim from The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy) tells the Bandicoots about the villainous Uka Uka. He teleports the two to the Time Twister. This floating base owned by Cortex’s new scientist ally will allow the villains to hunt down the Crystals across past eras, since we’ve already found them all in the modern day. It’s up to Crash and Coco to get the Crystals (and the Gems) first, beating out their enemies. Oh, that’s it? We’re doing a Time Heist? Let’s go! I can't wait to see the endgame of that!